Picking Daisy

Elise Gilpatrick never thought she would be a parent, especially not like this. After agreeing to take 15-year-old DJ as a temporary foster placement straight from the police station, she feels like she's in over her head. But, as she learns on the job, and with a little help from her coworker, Elise realizes that she and DJ need to lean on each other, and on the God who pieced them together. Their rocky journey will only prove that it's never too late to find the love of a family.----------------------------------------------Editorial Review: "I had the privilege of working on this book with Valerie. On the surface, it is a story of a woman who takes in a foster child. They both learn a lot about themselves and each other. It may not be a romance, but it is a love story. Below the surface, Picking Daisy shows the reality of the system where children bounce from home to home at the mercy of adults who do their best, but are all too human. The emotional scars from going through any long-term foster care may never heal. The day a child ages out of the system is, at the same time, the anticipated day of freedom, and the terrifying day when they are pushed into the world without support. Deeper yet, the story is one of redemption, of loving past the brokenness in our lives. It's about second, and third chances, of a refusal to give up on hope, and learning when we are in the darkest of places, we are not alone.I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of books which brought tears to my eyes. Picking Daisy is one of them."