Today our friend Nicole, from Tribute Books is stopping by to introduce us to a very distinguished author and gentleman.  So I ask you in helping give today’s visitors a warm welcome.    Greetings Mr. Haskell G. Edwards!!

HASKELL G. EDWARDS, D. Min.

Haskell G. Edwards, D. Min. has vast professional experience for more than forty years as pastor, administrator, family therapist, and director of a family therapy center. His extensive experience gained from working with immigrant families in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic setting, as well as his own personal journey and genuinely encouraging approach, positions him not only to help immigrant families adapt to new surroundings, but grow stronger together in their journey.

He has successfully held immigrant seminars, workshops, and lectures throughout North America. Now a retired pastor, he continues to help immigrant families of a wide cultural heritage transition into their new homeland.
You can connect with Mr. Edwards at the blog tour website here.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Adaptation is a must. But how does one go about doing this? It takes great planning, finances, and courage to leave one’s homeland; but then finding support and comfort or anything of familiarity in a new land presents a whole new set of challenges. The stress is overwhelming. How do you gain the happiness and success you dreamed of attaining in the new land?

Immigration and Adaptation is here to help you navigate through these challenges. With the information herein, immigrants coming to North America will be prepared to identify and resolve social, family, and personal challenges with confidence. Mr. Edwards’ vast professional experience with diverse immigrant families, as well as his own personal journey and genuinely encouraging approach, not only help immigrant families adapt to new surroundings, but grow stronger together in their journey.

This book includes:
– A family wellness test
– Step-by-step guidelines
– Real-life examples
– Inspirational stories
– Family, parenting, and spousal exercises
– Illustrations
– Single-parenting advice

Immigration and Adaptation also includes tips on: building self-confidence, resolving conflicts, tuning communication skills, networking and building social supports, budgeting, parenting, enhancing spousal relationships, helping teenagers adjust, communicating effectively, and more.

Book Details:
Paperback
Publisher: Langdon Street Press
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 9781936782239
Pages: 272
Release: September 15, 2011
Purchase Links:   Amazon    B&N      Books-A-Million     IndieBound

THANKS TO AUTHOR, HASKELL G. EDWARDS, D.MIN,
I HAVE ONE (1) PB COPY OF HIS BOOK TO GIVE
AWAY. U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or
Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affliate.
I am providing link(s) solely for visitors
that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: DO YOU KNOW, FROM

YOUR FAMILY TREE, WHO WAS AN IMMIGRANT

TO  THE U.S. AND FROM WHERE?*

*U.S.  RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*

**HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Robyn, our friend from WOW, has come back to visit us today and as usual, has brought a very multi talented and impressive female author to introduce us to, Ms. Destiny Allison.  So without further ado, let’s welcome them to the CMash blog!

DESTINY ALLISON

Destiny Allison is an artist, a business woman and a writer.  Her work is collected by public institutions and private individuals internationally.  In addition to her numerous awards for excellence in art, she was also recently named Santa Fe Business Woman of the year for 2011.

In addition to being a full time artist, she is also a managing partner in La Tienda at Eldorado — a commercial complex, community center, and arts center inSanta Fe,NM.

She is represented in prominent galleries across the country and owns her own gallery, Destiny Allison Fine Art, located at La Tienda.

Allison’s first love was writing.  Her first poems were published while she was a child and she received numerous awards during adolescence.  The story of how she became a visual artist is told in her book, Shaping Destiny: A quest for meaning in art and life.  While her focus over the last 20 years has been primarily on sculpture, Allison also paints on steel using acids and natural oxidation, and in acrylics.

The eloquence of Allison’s language dates back to her childhood when art was constantly discussed and debated by her father, a writer, and her mother, a painter. Born and raised inSanta Fe,N.M., Allison moved toBostonafter college where she worked as a freelance journalist while raising her three children. It was there that she discovered her voice through sculpture. Predominantly self-taught, Allison apprenticed at a bronze foundry in Massachusetts, and later taught sculpture at the Attleboro Museum of Art and the Fuller Museum of Art, both in Massachusetts. In 1997, Allison returned toSanta Fewhere she currently resides.
Connect with Destiny Allison at her website here.

GUEST AUTHOR POST

Our lives are our greatest works of art:

This morning I woke to possibility.  Sun and birds, the sight of my husband opening his arms to me as I staggered one-eyed into the kitchen, the sound of my dogs rising to greet me, and the smell of breakfast gone cold overwhelmed my senses like the first strokes of  vivid color on the vast white of a blank canvas.  What picture will I paint today?

Will I push the dogs away as they nuzzle against me?  Will I ask my husband why he didn’t wait for me to join him for breakfast?  Will I rub the sleep out of my eyes and settle into my computer chair to greet the day electronically – placing emails and analytics over the realities of my life?  Will I let habit win, or will I do something different?  What would the day look like if I made time to kiss my husband deeply or dropped to the ground to play with my loving mutts?

It seems that every minute of every day, I am faced with these kinds of choices.  Most of the time, my decisions are out of habit or necessity.  My husband is ok with his quick hug and the dogs never seem to mind when I ignore them.  They all know my routines and understand that I will greet them, if there is time, once my eyes are fully open. But what if I surprised them?  What if I surprised myself?

Making art is wrought with similar questions.  Every day I am faced with the possibilities of a blank canvas, a blank screen, or the cold grey sheets of metal on the floor of my blackened studio.  What will I make today?  In art, every line and plane matter.  A sculpture that leans as little as an eighth of an inch must be cut apart and re-welded. In sculpture, balance is everything.  When I muddy a canvas because I was impatient, I kill the painting.

The challenge of being an artist is that I never really know where I’m going until I get there.  I have to listen to the voices inside me as they manifest on canvas, page, or metal.  I have to throw away all the junk that comes to the surface as I try to find that one shining thread I am called to follow.

I believe that living my life is just like making art.  When I listen, am not afraid to try new things, and clear my junk (habit, self-indulgence, and my need to control), my life becomes rich, clear, and filled with meaning.  When I don’t, days blend into a long, running stream of muddy memories and my life is without form.

The beauty of living life like making art is that everything matters and contributes to the whole.  The kiss we shared in the kitchen forms shape of my day.  That couple of minutes on the rug wrestling my dogs becomes an ongoing joy that balances mundane frustrations.  Over time, those moments shared deeply and authentically with my husband and dogs become some of the lines, planes, and colors of my life.  My junk will always be in the way, but if I want my art to speak and my life to be art, I have to clear it to the best of my ability.  Then, my life will have form, my smile will be contagious, and my days will be wrought with meaning.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Shaping Destiny is the inspiring story of Allison’s life from the creation of her first sculpture to her acceptance into a prominentSanta Feart gallery.  The book, which recounts her journey from traditional female roles to self-actualization and independence, is told with three voices: the emotional, the intellectual and the instructional.  Though she had no formal training, Allison moved quickly from small, Plasticine clay sculptures to an apprenticeship at a foundry to teaching in a small museum. Along the way, the author wrestled with shedding and then reclaiming family. To add to the extended metaphor binding her story to the theory and language of sculpture, Allison infuses an ample dose of popular philosophy in lessons culled from childhood days spent with her father. The 22 lessons at the beginning of each chapter intend to guide readers’ passage through the complexities of clay and life; each lesson works with the idea that art is a process, as is life.

Watch the trailer:

THANKS TO AUTHOR, DESTINY ALLISON, I HAVE
ONE (1) SIGNED COPY OF HER MEMOIR TO GIVE
AWAY. OPEN TO U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: HAVE YOU EVER VISITED

 AN ART GALLERY AND/OR ART MUSEUM?*

*U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS*
*NO P.O. BOXES*

**HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a sticky post.
Scroll down for daily postings!!!

Hosted by Bout of Books

Goals:
To read a minimum of 2 hours a day
To start and complete current read and next book on deck.

Daily Progress Report:

08/13 Monday:
Challenge/Giveaway Sites:
Literary BFFs:  Auggie Talk
Passing Books:   Reading in Texas and The Space Between
****tell us what happens to your books after you have read them
I host personal giveaways.
Pages Read:  105
Book:  Started and Finished Cabernet Sauvignon by Sara J. Fasolino, CS, CSW, AM (wrote review)
Started The Serpent’s Bite by William Adler
08/14   Tuesday
Pages Read:  81
Book:  The Serpent’s Bite by William Adler
Pages read to date:  186

08/15  Wednesday:
Challenge/Giveaway Sites:
Book Word Search: The Musings of ALMYBNENR:
Match the Zombie Book Cover: The Busy Bibliophile:
Pages Read:  30 (not a good reading day…work interfered)
Book:  The Serpent’s Bite by William Adler
Pages read to date:  216

08/16  Thursday
Challenge/Giveaway Sites:
A Book for Every Season: Reading in Winter:
Candy Challenge: BookSmartie:
Contemporary: Books with Cass:
Pages Read:  -0- (so busy didn’t even have time to open a book  🙁
Book:
Pages read to date:  216

08/17  Friday
Challenge/Giveaway Sites:
Book Spine Poetry: bookgoonie
Most Looking Forward To: Pages of Forbidden Love
Pages Read:  76
Book:  The Serpent’s Bite by William Adler
Pages read to date:  292

08/18  Saturday
Challenge/Giveaway Sites:
Music: My Not So Real Life
Page 99 Test: My Seryniti
Virtual Travels: Ex Libris
 Pages Read:  40
Book:  The Serpent’s Bite by William Adler  (finished). Wrote and posted review.
Pages read to date:  330

08/18  Sunday
Challenge/Giveaway Sites:
Giveaway: Kelsey’s Cluttered Bookshelf
Movie Cast: Pretty Deadly Reviews
 Pages Read:  ?  Kindle  18%
Book:  Leaves By Michael Baron
Pages read to date:  330 pages and 18% Kindle

08/20 Monday WRAP UP
Total Pages Read:  330 print pages   18% Kindle
Book(s):  
Finished Cabernet Sauvignon by Sara J. Fasolino, CS, CSW, AM 
Finished The Serpent’s Bite by William Adler
Started Leaves by Michael Baron
WRAP UP:  Goals/Thoughts
I did meet my initial goals, however, since it never fails when I sign up for a Read-A-Thon, RL interferes,  I set my goals at a minimum.  I was hoping that this would  be an incentive for me to read more and spend less time in front of the computer.  It did, except I was also hoping that I would spend much more time reading than I did.  But due to work associated with Partners In Crime Tours, I had to put work before pleasure.

I want to thank everyone who organized and hosted the Read-A-Thon, the daily challenges and giveaways.  Kudos!!  It was well done and I am looking forward to the next one!!!!!

August is being hosted by 5 Minutes for Books

          

1. How was your weekend?
I was quite busy with doing work for Partners In Crime Tours. Even though it was all work related, it’s work that I enjoy and pride that the company, in one year, has become so successful. I also watched and listened to the weekend’s Olympic events while working.
2. What is your favorite kind of candy?
Chocolate.
3. If I say the word ‘high’ what do you think?
High fives!
4. What are you most looking forward to about Autumn?
No humidity, however, I’m not really looking forward to the cooler weather because along with that comes the change of clocks whereas the days seem too short and also knowing that winter is right around the corner, which I definitely don’t like.
5.  Did you watch the closing ceremony of the Olympics?
Most of it.

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: FROM READING THE SYNOPSIS,
WHAT MAKES YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK?*

*U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*

**HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

DISCLAIMER / RULES

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.

I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL

ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
*LEAVE COMMENT: FROM READING THE SYNOPSIS,
WHERE DO YOU THINK BERNADETTE IS?*

*U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY*
*NO P.O. BOXES*

 **PER PUBLISHER**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
IF YOU AR EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY
USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

a Rafflecopter giveaway