Posts Tagged ‘Melanie Wright Zeeb’

Experience Haiti’s Earthquake Through Lives of 152 Orphans {Giveaway}

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In the length of time it takes to recite the Lord’s Prayer twice, the ground shook violently, lurching beneath Melanie Wright Zeeb’s feet. Panic and terror seized her as the earth roared, windows shattered and babies screamed. Beauty From Ashes: An Eyewitness Account of Haiti’s Tragic Earthquake tells the story of the 2010 disaster from the eyes of a young woman and the 152 orphans in her care.

Beauty From Ashes

This week we’re partnering with God’s Littlest Angels, the orphanage featured in Melanie’s gripping book, to giveaway a copy. So enter to win and learn more about this amazing organization.

 

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99¢ Sale: One Day Only!

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For 24 hours we’re offering one of our hot non-fiction titles for just 99¢! Pick up Melanie Wright Zeeb’s new bookBeauty from Ashes: An Eyewitness Account of Haiti’s Tragic Earthquake for less than a buck for the Kindle during our one-day sale event. After Thursday the price will go up to $2.99 through the weekend and then it will return to regular price.

Beauty from AshesSynopsis: The shaking was only the beginning. When a massive earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince, the staff at God’s Littlest Angels orphanage knew their biggest challenges were still ahead. Their buildings had stood and the 152 children in their care were alive, but the future was uncertain and survival was by no means guaranteed.

In this honest and heart-wrenching account of living through the struggles of the earthquake’s aftermath, Melanie Wright Zeeb shares her own experiences as well as those of other staff members and adoptive families around the world. In Haiti, the staff faced shortages of food, water, medicine, and other supplies, and the fear of not being able to acquire more. The nerve-rattling aftershocks continued, adding to the stress of survival and the emotional and psychological trauma of living through a horrific natural disaster.

Around the world, adoptive families waited anxiously and helplessly from afar, knowing that their children were in the middle of a disaster zone. For most of those families, their heartache transformed into unbelievable joy when their children were evacuated out of Haiti and into their arms.
Beauty from Ashes is a story of suffering, pain, and loss, but also of hope, survival, and healing. BUY NOW!

 

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5 Things About Author Melanie Wright Zeeb

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Learn more about your favorite Ambassador authors with our “Five Things” series. Author Melanie Wright Zeeb wrote the recently released book Beauty From Ashes: An Eyewitness Account of Haiti’s Tragic Earthquake, available now. Here are Melanie’s “five things”:

Some would call me a disaster magnet. When I was 7 years old, my family’s home burned down in a house fire the day after Christmas. My town was hit with tornados when I was in high school and college, and I experienced several hurricanes and tropical storms during my time in Haiti. Of course, the worst disaster I have lived through was the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. After I moved back to the U.S., my apartment was flooded by an overflowing creek 2 weeks before my husband and I were scheduled to move out. I am currently avoiding all volcanos and anywhere tsunamis are likely to hit!

Beauty from AshesThere is a part of me that has always been fascinated with disasters, perhaps because of my own early experience with tragedy. I knew that disasters happened to real people, and knowing as much as I could about a disaster and those it affected was one way I processed the tragedy. After Hurricane Katrina, I was in a position to help with relief efforts, making several trips to the Gulf Coast and working to rebuild houses there. In spite of my exposure to the disaster zone, living through the Haiti earthquake was an entirely different experience. I was no longer the fascinated observer; now I was the one struggling to survive. As a child I had trusted that my parents would provide for me after our house fire; now I felt the weight of responsibility for more than 150 children at the orphanage. Since the earthquake, I no longer view disasters with the eyes of a child, believing that someone else will make everything all right. Instead, I sympathize with the victims who bear the responsibility of creating a new life out of whatever remains.

I believe that hope is one of the most powerful forces at work in the world. Even in the midst of terrible tragedy, if we have hope, we have an invaluable resource. Hope does not allow us to give up or give in, knowing that we will make it through, that someday things will be better. In Christ we have the hope that even if things never get better on earth, the world to come will have no suffering. We live in a flawed and often scary world, but there is hope, and that hope is just as important in the stories we tell as in the lives we live.

Haiti, and other “dangerous” places, are often worth the risks. When I told people I was moving to Haiti, one of the most common responses was, “Is it safe?” News reports and government travel advisories paint a picture of poverty and violence that are by no means the whole picture. The same violence is in our own cities and neighborhoods, just not in so foreign a form. The Haiti I know and love is a beautiful island nation filled with a people who daily face the task of survival. They are strong and courageous and filled with a joy that is incomprehensible to those of us who associate happiness with things working out the way we want them to. If I had listened to those who advised me against going to Haiti, I would never have met some of the most inspiring people I know. If we only ever stay where it’s “safe,” we miss out on some of life’s most rewarding experiences.

I never intended to write Beauty from Ashes. During the time of the earthquake, I sent frequent updates to my family and friends. Several people told me they thought I should write a book about my experiences, and my initial response was an adamant no! Although I have always wanted to write a book, non-fiction was never something I was interested in or considered pursuing. God had other plans. Once the idea had been planted in my head, it grew until I knew that the story needed to be told and I needed to tell it. I hope that anyone who reads Beauty from Ashes will benefit from this account of God’s faithfulness.