save my children
**See review in Faith Today magazine, and article in Christian Week.
**Available for purchase at TARGET, AMAZON, Castle Quay Books or by contacting Bethany Homes for Children directly. All proceeds go towards Bethany Homes for Children**
REVIEW by Sharon Fawcett, author of 'Hope for Wholeness' (NavPress, 2008)
Save My Children: The Story of a Father’s Love
by Emily Wierenga
BayRidge Books, 2008, 303 pages
Reviewed by Sharon L. Fawcett
Withering under the negligence of a step-father who neglected and abused her, Stormy turned to the solace of imaginary friends. The man who was to care for her after her mother’s death routinely used her as washerwoman and a punching bag, and then left her home alone for weeks on end with empty cupboards. Stormy was likely near death herself, frail and filthy, when she awoke in a clean bed with a kind woman mopping her brow, smiling like an angel and smelling like cinnamon. Her name was Elsie Jespersen and she and her husband, Harvey, operated Bethany Homes for Children. Stormy soon flourished under their care and made so many new friends at the home that she no longer needed her imaginary ones. “The sky was so blue and the grass green, and everybody loved each other, and Stormy wasn’t afraid anymore.”
Stormy’s story is just one of the many Emily Wierenga shares in her debut novel Save My Children, a fictional re-telling of the true story of the founders of Bethany Homes for Children. From 1948 to 1991 the Jespersens fostered more than 800 children, caring for up to 55 at any given time. Their home was a set of old army barracks on an expanse of Albertan farmland that they transformed into a haven of hope and a hospital for broken little souls. Mended by love, “children who had never been taught how to smile…cracked the world in half with laughter.”
A freelance writer and artist who served on Bethany Homes’ Board of Directors, Wierenga has lovingly written Save My Children in honour of Bethany Homes’ 60th anniversary. The novel chronicles the Jespersen’s “50 years of army-barrack service, kissing boo-boos and breaking bread, planting gardens and training young boys in farm work, driving 35 youngsters around in a big yellow school bus, and bleeding with pain as the children they loved were forced to leave.” Even as adults Bethany’s brood remembered Harvey’s offer that wherever they were and whatever they needed, they could always C.O.D.—“Call On Dad.” “For many he was the only father they’d ever known. For others he was the only father they wanted to remember.”
Within the pages of this book Wierenga inspires with illustrations of sacrificial love, entertains with the antics that took place on the farm, and encourages with evidence of God’s provision in honour of the Jespersen’s faith and obedience. Her keen powers of observation of creation, emotion, and the human condition are revealed through beautiful prose and metaphor. Readers will want to live in Wierenga’s world where the early morning sun licks bedroom windows “with weary lemon strokes” and clouds are like “whipped cream on a blueberry pancake.”
Wierenga weaves a strong cord of hope through the stories she shares in this compelling and heart-warming novel. This is “the heavenly Father’s story…written upon the hearts of hundreds of children, a story of love.”
REVIEW by David Brollier, author of The 3rd Covenant and co-founder of The Christian Fiction Review Blog
This is redoubtably the most unique work of Christian fiction I've read to date. The reason I say this is that it's based on real people, real events, and it's difficult to figure out where the "fiction" in the story really is. Putting that aside, and the fact that many stories seem to be incomplete, another minor annoyance, SAVE MY CHILDREN, by Emily Wierenga is also one of the most powerful statements of love and faith in our world today, fiction or otherwise.
The story follows the Jespersens, particularly Harvey Jespersen, who from a youth had a calling of God upon his life to minister to children. The beginnings of this ministry are further off than he and his wife Elsie expected. Yet through this they learn patience and build upon the faith and trust they already have for their Lord. The ministry itself seems to be the burden of the local pastor, and a land owner who gives much of his land for the ministry. As people begin to grow cold to the idea and drift away they look and see Harvey and Elsie Jespersen continue on as if nothing had interrupted them. Soon they become "Mom" and "Dad" to the troubled youth who are sent there.
Youth come from all backgrounds, but mostly from some kind of abuse. Many, however, came simply because their real moms and dads couldn't afford to properly raise their children. You'll see story after story of these lives as they come in contact with the love of Jesus Christ as displayed in the Jespersens. This love is like an immovable rock that refuses to stop loving even under the most extraordinary circumstances. Yet once understood and accepted becomes like a healing salve to many wounded hearts. In the end, the children find that "Mom" and "Dad" Jespersen have become their real mother and father, people they have grown to love themselves and who will always be their for them.
The book takes you all the way to a bittersweet ending, where the Jespersens can no longer live on the place that has become known as Bethany House for Children. Their love for the children never dies. The book is a challenge to us to reach those around us with very real needs and to love them as Christ loves us. Whether your life or my life will be enriched by this challenge depends upon whether or not we respond to God in full obedience as did Harvey Jespersen. As far as fiction goes, you may want to skip this one. As far as good Christian writing goes, you'd be foolish to not read it.
Chasing Silhouettes
*With editors at three major Christian publishing houses*Millions of North Americans battle Anorexia Nervosa, starving themselves in a misguided attempt to become ‘beautiful’. Chasing Silhouettes is a faith-based response to a physical, mental and spiritual disease, designed to help the families of both adults and children who refuse to eat.
A non-fiction resource, Chasing Silhouettes is intended to bring hope, guidance and insight to Christian families dealing with anorexia nervosa. It addresses four major stages of the disease through both a child’s and adult’s perspective, taking into account the roles of parent, sibling, friend, in-law, spouse and professional. Sections consist of Recognizing, Rendered Helpless, Recovery, Renewal and Related Accounts.
mum's dance
*Currently with Interested Publishers*On fuzzy days, Yvonne Patricia Dow can’t walk—but if there’s music, she can dance.
Mum’s Dance is the story of a woman who fulfills her dream of becoming a dancer after she’s been diagnosed with brain cancer.
One in four people battle cancer. For most, it dilapidates and destroys. For Yvonne, it made her come alive. Having a tumour removed her inhibitions and allowed her to dance on the darkest of days, unable to stop tapping her feet or bopping her head. While others cried, she laughed and raised her arms, twirling to the sounds of familiar songs. She could no longer feed, dress or wash herself, but she could dance. She couldn’t cook, clean or garden, but she could sing.
Yvonne had no reason to believe in miracles; no reason to cling to a faith which most would say had let her down. After all, it was the stress of her mother’s suicide which triggered the tumour. Countless prayers for healing had been uttered on her behalf—to no avail. Yet, with raw honesty she continued to worship a God she couldn’t see or, some days, comprehend. She longed to go to heaven, a place where she believed the music never ended.
As told by a ‘rebel’ daughter who returns home to care for her Mum, this memoir journeys through past and present. Yvonne’s deprived British upbringing is woven together with present-day incidents which are sure to leave the reader laughing, weeping and believing in life after death.
This is a story which celebrates, and marvels at, the faith and forgiveness of a woman whose own childhood was void of love. It draws readers into the reality of brain cancer, and the ‘role-reversal’ which subsequently occurs between mother and child. As well, it shows the ‘other’ side of cancer: its softening effect upon a mother’s heart (and mind) and the laughter-filled moments which ensue.
Mum’s Dance doesn’t offer answers; in fact, it proposes a lot of angry, pain-filled questions. Ultimately, however, it paints a picture of faith in the face of suffering.
Butterflies in Cambodia
**Commisioned by family; currently with agent**Thousands of butterflies blanket the children’s graves in the Killing Fields of Cambodia. At 19, this sight inspires Renee VonDyke, a young filmmaker, to become a symbol of hope in a dark and dying world. Despite dying of leukemia just four years later, Renee’s metamorphosis of faith encourages countless others to believe in what they cannot see.
Butterflies in Cambodia takes place both in heaven and on earth, contrasting the pain of this world with the beauty of the next. It describes the coming of age of a young girl, and the maturity of her faith.
Born without an immune system, Renee is expected to die in her cradle as her siblings had before her. But when Renee’s heavenly self pleads with God to let her live, for her parents’ sake, he concedes. Renee proceeds to spend 23 years traveling the world, chasing truth and fighting to believe, even when leukemia takes her life. Heaven and earth collide in this story which challenges earth’s injustices, and makes the after-life a reality. It encourages readers to live each day to its fullest, and to believe in a good God, even when bad things happen.
Butterflies in Cambodia will appeal to those who enjoy compelling fiction; to anyone who’s ever lost a child; to anyone who’s ever battled leukemia or knows someone that has; to those seeking to understand how both good and evil can co-exist, and to those wanting a greater understanding of heaven.
The Boy from Beirut
*Currently with agent*Set during Lebanon’s civil war, The Boy from Beirut is a historical novel which explores the wastefulness of grace.
A missionary couple working in Beirut, Lebanon, adopts a Palestinian boy who, in pursuit of his identity, ends up killing his adoptive mother; when the boy’s life is later endangered, the adoptive father dies on his behalf.
Canvas Child
*Shortlisted for The Word Guild's Best New Author Award*As a postmodern, compassionate look into the inner thoughts of a young woman dealing with the disease, Canvas Child takes the reader on a journey into the devastating yet all-too misunderstood landscape of this common disease. It not only traces the origins of Anorexia, but shows how the disorder itself becomes a "person" to contend with, a force which ultimately demands the main character's undivided attention.
Twenty-to-thirtysomething females will be able to relate to Canvas Child's main character, Teresa Thompson. Teresa is both the "heroine" and "victim" of the story; she is a painter who falls in love with Nathan Abraham, marries him, then relapses into the grip of Anorexia, which she experienced as a child. The reader observes as Nathan gets overlooked and eventually abandoned, while Teresa submits increasingly to the demands of the disease. It also shows how the sickness affects individual family members like Teresa's parents and siblings, as well as her friends. The story's point of view is second person, allowing for an intimacy with the characters. The time frame slides between present day and past, weaving together the mosaic of experiences which comprise Teresa's current state of mind.
A miraculous pregnancy makes Teresa want to live, and she tries to recover, yet dies, due to weakened organs, while giving birth to a girl.