Books

I have been passed several books over the past few weeks. These three books are really good and have been helpful to me in coping with my grief. I will post more as I come across other books.

Grieving the Child I Never Knew by Kathe Wunnenburg is a devotional for women who have suffered a miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death. It is scripturally based and deals with a range of emotional issues. I felt some of the devotions didn't really apply to me at the time I read them, but I have a feeling I'll be going back to this one a lot.

Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman is the story of Stephen Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman and the loss of their daughter, Maria, in a tragic accident. I really enjoyed reading this one and identified with many of the feelings she expressed after losing Maria. One other interesting aspect about the book is that she inadvertently, or maybe not so much, promotes international adoption, especially of little Chinese girls. Obviously, that's probably because that's where their passion is, since they adopted three girls from China and started an organization to help others adopt. I have heard several negative stories about international adoption recently, so it was nice to hear a positive one.

I saved the best for last... Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo is one of my new FAVORITE books. A friend gave it to me and I finished it less than 24 hours later. Burpo's son had an emergency appendectomy just before he turned four years old and barely survived. Almost a year later, the little boy started to say things that revealed he had been to heaven during his surgery. The things he says about heaven match up perfectly with the Bible, but he also provides other information and a visual image of heaven. It was so neat to read a little boy's perspective on heaven, while thinking about my little boy in heaven. I highly recommend this book!