AdoptTogether Featured in PEOPLE Magazine

PEOPLE magazine recently named Hank Fortner as one of their “Heroes Among Us.” Hank stared AdoptTogether, an organization that allows would-be adoptive parents to invite their friends, family and strangers alike to help them meet the costs of adopting (which can reach up to $40,000). This is close to our heart as we have used AdoptTogether to raise funds for our next adoption (which we are still waiting on) and we have friends who have used it as well.

Here’s a couple of cool statistics that PEOPLE magazine highlighted::

 

• AdoptTogether has raised over $8.6 million to help people adopt.

 

• AdoptTogether has helped 2,100 couples, families and individuals open their homes to children in need.

 

There is a great article about AdoptTogether on the PEOPLE magazine website along with an interview with Hank. It is well worth your time!

Fearless review

I just finished reading the last 60+ pages of Fearless.  While the cover of the book gives away the ending, it does not reduce the emotions the reader feels as the story reaches its end.  The author expresses in the Afterword the same thoughts I had:  “…the final chapters of this book were heartrending to write.  I knew what was coming, but I hoped for a different outcome…somehow.”

Fearless is not just the story of Adam Brown, but of parents who would not give up on their son: a girlfriend turned wife who would stubbornly stayed beside her husband to battle his demons; and friends who stood by their friend.

As a reader who has not served in the military, this book brings out the sacrifices made by those who serve in our armed forces and their families who give up so much.  Just this week a high school classmate of mine welcomed home her husband from a year’s deployment out of the country.  This book brings into greater clarity what it means for both solider and family as these missions separate husbands, wives and children.

Fearless shows not only the heroic side of Adam Brown, but also the real struggles he faced through his life.  It is an inspiring read and challenges the reader to overcome whatever obstacles he/she may face.  Adam’s faith is on prominent display throughout the book and reveals the important role his walk with Jesus played in his life.

All I can really say is to read the book.  Fearless is a powerful story of family, faith and service to country.

(I received this book from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for my review.)

Crater: A Helium-3 Novel review

I’ve really enjoyed reading Homer Hickam’s previous works, including October Sky, The Coalwood Way, Sky of Stone and The Keeper’s Son.  His love of space and rockets, along with his mining background, really come out in his Coalwood series.

It took me a little while to get into Crater as it seemed Hickam was trying to bring together both his upbringing in a mining town and his occupation in space and rockets.  The reader is kind of thrown into this new world – a civilization on the moon – and you spend the first few chapters figuring out the setting and the characters.  After completing those chapters, you adjust to life on the moon and are able to get into the storyline.

Crater is an orphan who has grown up on the moon and has no understanding of life on earth, apart from what he has been told by others.  He works as a miner, helping to bring Helium-3 from the dust on the moon.  Crater has a positive outlook on his life, even though survival on the moon is a difficult.  Through the story Crater gets caught up in some of the politics of moon life and is sent on a mission that he knows very little about.  He accepts it because the Colonel – the man responsible for the town in which Crater lives – asks him to go.  The assignment is filled with dangerous travel on the moon’s surface, conflict with some enemies that end in hand to hand combat and a realization of what his mission is all about.  Through it all, Crater becomes the hero of the story and sees there is much more to his life than just mining in the moon dust.

If you like science fiction or wonder what life would be like on the moon, Crater is for you.  While it doesn’t quite match up with Hickam’s other works, it was a good book with possibilities for future adventures for Crater.

(The publisher provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through BookSneeze®)