moth-er n. 1. A woman who conceives, gives birth to, or raises and nurtures a child. The bible tells us that the Lord will turn our mourning into gladness and our despair into praise (Is 61:3). To Be A Mother shows us how God turns our sadness into joy, desperation into hope and loss into victory. Follow as Deanna Jones takes you through her difficult childhood and painful abortion decision to miraculous redemption in Christ and victory in the birth and adoption of her children. To Be A Mother reminds us that in Christ we find true empowerment and fulfillment as the Lord turns our ashes into crowns of beauty. "To Be A Mother truly highlights the healing presence of Christ in Deanna's life. She eloquently travels from her painful past to her redemption and new life in Christ. This book would be an inspiration to any woman, or man, who has suffered, as Deanna has, and is searching for healing." -Theresa Burke, Ph.D, author of Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion and founder of Rachel's Vineyard Ministries. "Finally, in To Be A Mother, Deanna beautifully redefines the term Pro-life...Pro-life and Pro-Adoption become one. An elegant portrayal of the choice to give redeeming love that makes receiving it in return so much sweeter. -Carolyn Twietmeyer Founder, Executive Director, Project HOPEFUL "Deanna's story, TO BE A MOTHER, is an honest and poignant journey of God's love and redemptive power that is available to all who seek Him."-Mary Singer Wick author of My Heart's Desire: A Journey Toward Finding Extravagant Love "The poignant and compassionate words of Deanna Jones articulate America's latent sorrow in the aftermath of our abortion culture. Deanna's sympathetic perception is borne from a personal encounter with grief. Listen to her and be illuminated, healed, and refreshed." -Troy Newman, President, Operation Rescue "Every pro-lifer, every person of good will should read this book. In it we see the real face of what abortion is doing to the women we love. Thankfully, we also see how the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ not only heals but restores the fullness of life and joy to those who will trust in Him." -Kevin Rilott, Rockford Pro-Life Advocates The poignant and compassionate words of Deanna Jones articulate America's latent sorrow in the aftermath of our abortion culture. Deanna's sympathetic perception is borne from a personalencounter with grief. Listen to her and be illuminated, healed, and refreshed. -- Troy Newman, Operation Rescue To Be a Mother truly highlights the healing presence of Christ in Deanna's life. She eloquently travels from her painful past to her redemption and new life in Christ. This book would be an inspiration to any woman, or man, who has suffered, as Deanna has, and is searching for healing." Finally, in To Be a Mother, Deanna beautifully redefines the term pro-life--pro-life and pro-adoption become one. An elegant portrayal of the choice to give redeeming love that makes receiving it in turn so much sweeter. About Outskirts Press, Inc.: Outskirts Press, Inc. offers full-service, custom self-publishing services for authors seeking a cost-effective, fast, and flexible way to publish and distribute their books worldwide while retaining all their rights and full creative control. About the Author: Deanna Jones was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, and is currently a bandleader and singer for the New York based band The Deanna Jones Orchestra. She considers her greatest assets to be her six children--two by birth, and four by miraculous adoption. The Right to Be Anything . . . With One Exception At the time, the women's movement was fighting for my rights. But in their well-meaning desire to allow women equal opportunity to do anything men could do or even better, they inadvertently squashed this little girl's dream.They turned my desire to be a mother into something that was considered "old fashioned" and not as exciting as traveling the world, enjoying the freedom to do anything I wanted to do (as long as it wasn't simply to get married and have children). I eventually bought into the idea that motherhood wasn't enough to earn people's approval. I had to be more than "just" a mother. As the years passed, I began to feel like it was my responsibility to validate the hard work of the generation of women before me by taking advantage of the newfound freedom and rights they had worked so hard to implement. The only problem was that my honest desire was to be a wife and mother. What did I want to be? I wanted to be loved. I wanted a peaceful life. I longed for security, normalcy, and time to spend with the children I longed to have. In some ways, I did aspire to something my mother never had. In that way, my dream reflected more than what was possible for my mother. She had to endure a life taking care of four children in a home with my father, who was diagnosed as paranoid/schizophrenic. In our home, there was no normalcy. There wa