Beauty for Ashes: Letters from a Mother's Heart : Strategic Book Publishing : 9781625164087 : 1625164084 : 10 Jul 2013 : Dear Reader, Why do ordinary, intelligent, and loving women end up having abortions or putting their own child in foster care? The author did both. This is her story as told through a series of letters from the heart to all her children. Laura John's first book takes readers through a very personal account, from being a child with no roots, who has a teenage abortion and a mental breakdown in her forties, to the woman she now is. An unshakable faith and preservation of family have become the driving forces in her life, and she describes through a series of heartfelt letters to her eight children how one very dysfunctional family is torn apart and reconciled to survive rape, alcoholism, divorce, miscarriages, drug abuse, and autism. The "blended" family that emerges through these pages will encourage anyone who has experienced a breakdown in relationships. This is not