Featured Author: Amie Lands

Amie’s writing journey began when her daughter died in 2011. Her newborn daughter Ruthie Lou received a life-limiting diagnosis soon after birth and knowing that she would eventually die, Amie needed support, or an experienced friend, to walk her through this loss. After leaving the hospital with limited resources to guide her, she searched high and low for a book to help her on this journey. She never quite found what she was looking for. After five years of grief work, tending to her broken heart and eventually becoming a person of support for other bereaved moms, Amie found that she was often answering the same questions that she had in her early grief. Through helping others Amie realized there was a need in this community for a book, an experienced friend, to walk families through this unknown journey. This was the book that she was looking for, and came to write. Navigating the Unknown was released in January of 2017 by Kat Biggie Press.

Our Only Time, Amie’s follow up to Navigating the Unknown, was created to motivate, inspire and show appreciation for medical professionals through experiences told from a patient’s perspective. Through heartfelt stories, families share the sacred time spent with their baby — whether in utero or after birth — and offer insights into how medical professionals positively impacted their experience. Also included are recommendations on how best to be supportive of patients and what types of actions to avoid during this devastating experience.

Through these incredibly intimate stories of loss, medical professionals can better understand a grieving family’s experience and become equipped to support bereaved parents when they leave the hospital without their baby. Medical professionals will come away with new insights on how to guide parents, empowering them to have the least amount of regret during this loss, and allowing for the greatest chance of healing in their grief as they re-enter the world.

Amie Lands is a teacher, wife, and mama to three beautiful children. She is the author of Navigating the Unknown:An Immediate Guide When Experiencing the Loss of Your Baby, a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist®, founder of The Ruthie Lou Foundation, and an ongoing contributor at Still Standing Magazine. Since her daughter’s brief life, Amie’s passion is offering hope and providing support to bereaved families during their grief journey. Amie lives in northern California with her husband and their two sons.

Visit Amie on Facebook, Twitter and her website.

Featured Author: M.B. Antevasin

Keeping secrets makes us sick.
But what if you have never been allowed to speak your truth?

As she gives birth for the first time, her plans for a well-prepared natural birth are pushed aside. To make sense of this traumatic birth, she is forced to reexamine her entire life and the circumstances that brought her to this point. In the stories that we keep secret, we hear the betrayals of trust that keep victims frozen in their wounds. In a clear voice, M.B. Antevasin asks the difficult questions that we all wish to hear answered.

Breaking the silence holds the key to healing.
But what if sharing your story is what terrifies you the most?

There is nothing like becoming a mother to make a woman find her courage and push through her fears. This is a recipe for true transformation. As a mother she demands more; from herself, from the world on behalf of her children, and on behalf of all women.

M.B. Antevasin takes us on a healing journey through the exquisitely powerful lens of birth and motherhood. From Cesarean birth to VBAC, to an empowering home birth, this insightful narrative verbalizes her transformation from a victim into a woman with her own power and her own voice. Throughout The Birth of Magdalena, M.B. Antevasin provides resources, tools, and inspiration for other mothers and survivors to create a new story for themselves and for their children.

About Michelle:

Michelle has been studying the science of Health and Wellness for over twenty years. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology and is a Certified Science Teacher. While raising her 4 children she became an accredited La Leche League Leader and a Professionally Trained Birth Doula and recently completed a 3-year Energy Healing training and is a Certified Family Trauma Professional. She currently runs her own health consultation business and is a Professor of Business, Health and Science. She volunteers with Children and Families in her community and she works to end patterns of abuse and trauma by sharing her own healing journey through her writing and she brings to her classes and workshops her experience as a teacher, a mother, a survivor and a healer. Michelle also holds support groups monthly and is available for private healing sessions.

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Featured Author: Athea Davis

Today’s Gonna Be Awesomesauce!

Available Wherever Books are Sold, September 2017

Today’s Gonna Be Awesomesauce is a daily mindfulness meditation book for youth, parents, and families (and educators too!) filled with practical wisdom, quirky wit, and edgy savviness created with an educator’s lens, a yogi mom’s heart, and a superhero love for humanity.

It’s also a book about turning grief (including our daily roadblocks) into rainbows. There are a lot of plans, strategies, checklists, and classes out there that help us try to cope with the stresses of life. Yet, if we don’t know how to practice focus and sustained concentration; identify and self-regulate our emotions; commit time to self-inquiry to gain better awareness about ourselves, how we relate to others and our environment; and learn tools that spark our creative power, then all those plans, strategies, and checklists are nothing more than what appears on the surface. My book takes readers below the surface to tap into a limitless reservoir of the special sauce, Awesomesauce, which feeds all that stuff on the outside to bring authentic transformation to how we relate in and to life.

Also included in the book are 365 mindful breathing mantras. If you are short on time and can’t read the day’s entry, take note of the mindful breathing mantra. The book isn’t meant to be analyzed; it’s meant to be felt and practiced and, to be read with a contemplative lens. Let the words clear your mind and dance in your heart space.

The book has something for everyone in the family and it’s great for educators too. Whether you read an entry a day or read a few, mindfully breath in the mindful breathing mantras in solitude, with your family, or your class, you will notice a shift in your heart and mind space. In that shift you will feel deep inside that Today’s Gonna Be Awesomesauce !

Athea’s Story:

My story in conceiving and writing my first book, Today’s Gonna Be Awesomesauce: Daily Meditations for Youth, Parents, and Families began over two years ago when my life, as I then knew it, completely changed from the inside out. I had to dig deep inside for something beyond myself that gave me vision and purpose.

The words you will find in Today’s Gonna Be Awesomesauce infused my life with the breath of new meaning and I trust they will infuse your life with new meaning, too.

My former spouse and father to my son unexpectedly died in a tragic accident in the spring of 2015. My son was 9 years old at the time (he is now 11). There are seemingly no words that can describe the tailspin of unfathomable pain that this event ignited in my life. But, paradoxically, it was through words – both written and spoken – that healed a deeply seeded wound in my body, mind, and spirit.

So, I tuned into my own Awesomesauce and spread it in the pages of my book. As an educator, youth mentor for youth in the juvenile justice system, and mom I use all the tools and techniques that I write about in this book. I live and breathe the Awesomesauce every day and I’ve experienced and see the transformative impact that they’ve had in my life, my son’s life, my students’ lives, and the lives of our youth serving time in our state’s prison system.

About Athea:

Athea Davis, CP, E-RYT, RYT 500, RCYT, is a health and wellness educator, youth mentor, and owner of Sol Sense Yoga. She writes, lectures, and consults youth, families, educators, and businesses on topics such as mindfulness, meditation, health and wellness, classroom management, family/conscious parenting, and a variety of social and emotional learning topics. Athea has a multi-faceted background of corporate and public law experience with health and wellness education. She brings an innovative and unique approach to the education/health and wellness sectors. She is committed to increasing social and emotional performance for youth, parents, and educators. In her spare time, Athea takes adventures of all kinds, relishing her most favorite adventures with her son. Together they love to create and spread the awesomesauce in each breath, step, and light and love dab along the way.

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Featured Author: Suzanne Brown

Mompowerment: Making Work-Life Balance Easier

After working part-time for a year once her older son was born, Suzanne Brown began her entrepreneurial journey as a strategic marketing and business consultant. Several years ago, Suzanne discovered a passion for helping moms define their own version of success and work-life balance.

When moms consider their career options, they traditionally think only of working full time or staying at home. What about the huge area in between? How can you be the mom you want to be without walking away from your career and all you’ve worked so hard for? What if you could work part-time, continuing down your professional path, and actually spend quality time with family?

Suzanne Brown shares her expertise combined with detailed research and advice from other part-time working moms. In her book, Mompowerment: Insights from Successful Professional Part-time Working Moms Who Balance Career and Family, she recounts stories, advice, and insights from her own experience and more than 110 other professional part-time working moms to:
• empower you to think differently about career and work-life balance
• provide a how-to for transitioning your career model

By the end of this book, you’ll be able to see if the professional part-time option is right for you, think through mindset shifts, make changes at home and at work, and set yourself up for success in your new career approach.

More About Suzanne:

Suzanne Brown is a part-time strategic marketing and business consultant, TEDx speaker, author, and avid international traveler. For more than 12 years, Suzanne worked at various large marketing agencies in Austin, New York, Miami, Chicago, and San Antonio, managing integrated marketing campaigns for large international corporate clients. While still at a large marketing agency, her part-time work story started, after the birth of her older son. Suzanne started her entrepreneurial venture after having a consulting side business for 7 years while still in the corporate world. As a consultant with her own clients, she had more flexibility and control over her schedule. A year into being an entrepreneur, Suzanne realized that there were limited resources for career moms interested in transitioning to a professional part-time role. And the idea for her book was born. Suzanne received her MBA, Bachelor of Business Administration, and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from The University of Texas Austin. Suzanne and her husband live in Austin, Texas. You can often find them during non-work time trying to keep up with their two active young boys, whether on a local hike or a far-off adventure. Read more from Suzanne about topics related to being a busy, working mom and find more resources and templates to help you on your own professional part-time journey on her website.

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Featured Author: Samantha Munoz

Samantha Munoz is a wife and mother. She blogs about how she parents her daughter with children’s literature. She doesn’t just randomly throw books on her shelves or give her a stack of books Sam hasn’t carefully read herself. No, she is creating an intentional bookshelf™ for her. In fact, she wrote an entire book about it so that you can parent intentionally through your book choices as well.

5 FACTS ABOUT SAM:

I absolutely love coffee. I actually have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to it.
I am a software developer / consultant engineer at an amazing company with a very dynamic, wonderful team.
My hubby is in the military which makes me a military spouse. We move around a lot and I enjoy every minute of it.
I never thought I wanted more than one child but now I’m reconsidering because Addison brings my life so much joy.
Oh, and I’m sarcastic. So get used to it. If you’re a love of sarcasm and humor, welcome!

SAM’S BOOK:

The Intentional Bookshelf: Parent with Literature and Build Your Unique Child’s Perfect Little Library

Do you need direction to help guide your child through different stages of life?

Are you searching for specific topics to help you teach your child about specific situations?

You are a parent and with that title comes both endless joy and an incredible responsibility.

You have the opportunity to mold and shape your child in any way imaginable, and that fact alone is scary and overwhelming.

You CAN convey the importance of certain values, morals, stories, and educational information through the books that you choose to read to your children.

Stop thinking you have to do it all by yourself! In The Intentional Bookshelf author, blogger, and bibliophile-mama, Samantha Munoz shares how her daughter’s carefully curated bookshelf has saved her sanity as a parent and can save yours, too. Through actionable tips, thoughtful personal stories, and tongue in cheek humor, Sam teaches you:

The value of literature for parents and children
How to plan and build your child’s library
The types of books to choose from
How to organize your shelves
Unique activities to go outside the book
and more!

As one happy reader stated, “No matter what you’re dealing with in parenthood there is a book out there that covers that situation. If you buy your children’s book ‘intentionally’ like Sam explains then you will have books for each season of life.”

Emily P says, “Sam offers a practical and simplified approach to parenting through a curated library of books for your little one. By being selective about which books you incorporate into your child’s library you can convey the importance of certain values, morals, stories, and educational information. Sam tells you step by step how you can start your own intentional library, from budget ideas and how to display and organize your collection to examples of books that suit every reading stage, theme, and book type. She doesn’t stop there though! Sam also provides ideas for exploring concepts and books outside of the pages that you and your child read. At the end of the book, Sam provides a great checklist and resources for celebrating your library milestones and ideas on how to make your collection personal to you and your family. What a great gift for expecting or new parents! I can’t wait to give a copy of this to friends & family as part of their baby gifts!”

The choice is yours; either struggle through parenting with no backup or learn to craft a library of resources that is a reflection of your child and your family. (Hint, if the second option sounds amazing the Intentional Bookshelf is for you!)

Add this book to your cart TODAY so you can spend more time reading and less time finding the perfect books!

Check out all of our books here.

Keeping secrets makes us sick. But what if you have never been allowed to speak your truth?

Breaking the silence holds the key to healing. But what if sharing your story is what terrifies you the most?