Books

Beyond Tears by Ellen Mitchell

Thumbnail image for Beyond Tears by Ellen Mitchell August 5, 2011

There are certain truisms in life. One of them is that it goes against the natural order of things to bury one’s child. However, as bereaved mothers we can no longer believe in natural order. Our comfortable, secure lives, our innocence, all were shattered with the deaths of our children. Now our reality is upside [...]

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Heaven Is For Real – Book Review

Thumbnail image for Heaven Is For Real – Book Review March 14, 2011

Heaven is real. Can there be more important or beautiful words that any grieving parents could hear? Yeah, there could be better words. “Honey, wake up! You’re having a nightmare,” or “There’s been a big mistake, your son isn’t dead, he’s just been in the witness protection program. But it’s all OK now, so he [...]

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Review: life after the death of my son: what I’m learning – by Dennis Apple

Thumbnail image for Review: life after the death of my son: what I’m learning – by Dennis Apple February 6, 2011

Several months before his death, Richard was home for the weekend and he was looking at one of my bookcases. On one shelf he spotted a stack of books about seizures and epilepsy. He looked at them and asked me, “Why do you have all these?” “Because you have that little time bomb in your [...]

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Good Grief by Granger Westberg

Thumbnail image for Good Grief by Granger Westberg January 27, 2011

This little 64 page book is the first book about grief I added to my library. Joanne, wife of Deacon John Shoulta from our church handed it to me at the funeral home during the visitation. It’s so small it fit in the inside pocket of my suit jacket. I think I read it that [...]

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Grieving Dad’s Project

Thumbnail image for Grieving Dad’s Project April 5, 2010

I stumbled upon this site today. Geared toward grieving dads. Kelley Farley is a bereaved father that’s had two children die. He has decided to write a book to help grieving fathers. His website tells his story and leads to a survey where you can tell yours. He hopes to get enough stories about dad’s [...]

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When There Are No Words – A Review

Thumbnail image for When There Are No Words – A Review April 3, 2010

It seems most of the books about surviving the loss of a child are written by women. This probably isn’t a surprise. Grieving is all about feelings. Most of us guys get queazy when we have to deal with feelings. We just don’t talk about feelings much. We have them, but we would rather you didn’t [...]

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On Grief and Grieving – Book Review

Thumbnail image for On Grief and Grieving – Book Review January 5, 2010

Dealing with the loss of a child is exhausting. After reading On Grief and Grieving by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler I understand why. Grieving is hard work. I never knew there was so much to deal with. First the authors outline five stages of grief: Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance I think that last [...]

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Quit Kissing My Ashes Review

Thumbnail image for Quit Kissing My Ashes Review October 9, 2009

I don’t remember how I stumbled onto this book. I guess I was looking for some hints on dealing with grief. Certainly the thought that our son isn’t really dead is a nice one. That our physical death is just the transformation into another phase of our life. Stop Kissing My Ashes – A Mother’s [...]

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