Böcker utgivna av Covenant Books

Pirmasens, their hometown in Germany, was one of the first cities that required the citizens to evacuate as the town was located in close proximity to the French border. The adventures started with the first evacuation from Pirmasens. The evacuees were required to report to the local train station and taken to a safe city by train. During the evacuations, the family was often attacked by machine gun fire from the vertical dive bombers known as Stucka's.Among other adventures, they found bones of an aborted baby in the woods after they had evacuated their hometown. Going for days without food was not uncommon. They became very creative about obtaining food, clothing, and other necessities which were in rare supply. Pauline recalls the postwar time in 1945 when the Americans came into town to take control. Hitler portrayed the enemy as dark, hunched-over creatures. Posters were hung throughout every city, depicting the enemy. Surprisingly enough, Inge met the first time an American who was tall and handsome, nothing like the creature she expected to see. That was also the first time she ever tasted chewing gum. Chewing gum was the treat the American soldiers handed to the German children during the first encounter. Soon thereafter, the family received care packages from American citizens with food, toys, and clothing. The postwar years were plagued with people starving. At least, shortly after the war, August was able to return home to his family. Together, August and Pauline were able to assure the family that the war was over and now begins the journey of becoming valued members of the German society.

A man plumbs the depths in a struggle with opioid addiction in this searing memoir.Hayward was sober after decades of heavy drinking and owned a swimming pool construction business in Southern California when, in the early 2000s, he started taking the opioid OxyContin for back pain. The drug eliminated the pain and induced a euphoric high, but while it was touted as nonaddictive, it proved quite the opposite. The author was soon snorting huge quantities every day to appease his craving; stealing money from his company to support his habit, which he fed with prescriptions and illicit street purchases; and alienating his family and employees with his manic bluster. A medical detox regimen got him clean, but he immediately relapsed and plunged further into chaos, including an incident in which he accidentally spilled his OxyContin pills into the pit underneath an outhouse--and dove in to retrieve them. Hayward finally went cold turkey at his isolated ranch in the Sierras, whereupon the memoir becomes a squalid but gripping story of wilderness survival. Snowed in at a freezing cabin with bears prowling outside, he endured horrific withdrawal symptoms--"I was crying, tears falling, snot dropping from my nose, drool from my mouth, throw up in my mouth, yellow/orange vomit shooting out in the front, black liquid squirting out from behind"--that sapped his will to live. The author's account lays bare the dynamics of opioid dependency, from the corrupt collusion of doctors in promoting addiction to the egotism and hubris of addicts in imagining they can control their habits. His prose is vivid and evocative in conveying the rush of opioid highs--"The colors of the forest and lake were vivid and pulsating....I sat on a boulder and wallowed in my addiction, exhilarated beyond ecstasy, a whole body and mind orgasm throbbed through my entire mind, body, and what was left of my soul"--and unsparing on the relentless taskmasters the drugs become. ("They turn you into a robot--going through life's motions, yet everything revolves around your next dose, next hit, next snort, next visit to the doctor or dealer, the endless counting and recounting of pills.") When Hayward finally writes of gleaning hope from God, his redemption feels authentic and moving.An engrossing account of degradation and hard-fought recovery. - Kirkus Reviews