Margot Starbuck - The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father Who Does Not Fail

Because the true stories of Gods grace in human lives belong, ultimately, to the church, this story isin that respectnot my own. Still, I am keenly grateful to my mom, dad and birth mom, Pam, for allowing me the privilege of telling the story we share.

Greg and Cindy, thank you for seeing me and hearingin this storyechoes of the story that is true.

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A man comes across an ancient enemy, beaten and left for dead. He lifts the wounded man onto the back of a donkey and takes him to an inn to tend to the mans recovery. Jesus tells this story and instructs those who are listening to go and do likewise.

Likewise books explore a compassionate, active faith lived out in real time. When were skeptical about the status quo, Likewise books challenge us to create culture responsibly. When were confused about who we are and what were supposed to be doing, Likewise books help us listen for Gods voice. When were discouraged by the troubled world weve inherited, Likewise books encourage us to hold onto hope.

In this life we will face challenges that demand our response. Likewise books face those challenges with us so we can act on faith.

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In the place where it was said to them,

You are not my people,

it shall be said to them,

Children of the living God.

HOSEA 1:10

Margot Starbuck is a popular speaker at conferences and retreats and on college campuses. She has written for a variety of publications such as Pray, Rev! and Neue. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.

978-0-8308-6959-6

Margot Starbuck is back with as much passion and energy as ever. In thirty brief chapters, she invites you to choose the adventure that fits who you are in authentically loving those around you.

Yes, she knows: just the thought of adding something more to your life sounds exhausting. But here's the fantastic truth shes discovered in her own journey: We dont have to add lots more overwhelming activity to what weve already got going. The regular stuff of our livesthe commute to work and the potlucks and home improvement projects and errands and play datesare the exact places in which we express and experience Gods love for a world in need.

With a list of resources, a study guide and a six-week Adventure Challenge, as well as plenty of stories and hilarity from Margots own life, Small Things with Great Love will open your eyes to the people around you and the huge impact you can have on them through small acts of love.

Small things happen when I learn the name of my daughters school bus driver, Margot writes. Small things happen when I listen to the dreams of a woman who lives in a group home on my block. Small things happen when I risk crossing a language barrier even though I look really stupid doing it.

And small things add up to big adventures and surprises, for you and others. The biggest surprise of all might be how powerfully God can use you, right in the midst of your walking-the-dog, paying-the-bills, doing-laundry life, when youre living out his love. Do the first small thing by opening these pagesand let the adventure begin!

978-0-8308-6747-9

Ever check the mirror and wonder if you look good enough? Do you choose your clothes to disguise your flaws? Do you sometimes think plastic surgery might be the only way for you to feel good about your body? Do you ever feel squeezed into someone elses mold?

Come and join Margot Starbuck in her journey to become unsqueezed! In twenty-seven brief, funny and reflective chapters she helps us discover why God really gave us bodies and what we can do with them to serve him and others.

Jump out of that suffocating mold and discover what your body is really for.

- one

My Perfect Childhood

I just loved you immediately. You were adorable, just adorable. I looked at you, and you were my daughter. My adoptive mothers eyes still sparkle and tear up as she describes her first glimpse of me at a Boston adoption agency. In my mind I see her taking me in her arms, looking into my eyes, and thinking that I am the most beautiful little baby girl she has ever seen.

I had gotten you a little white dress with blue satin ribbon on it, she continues. The first thing I did was to change you out of that orange outfit.

We moved to a suburb of Chicago when I was two. The rounded yellow door of our Tudor-style brick house at 733 Pine Avenue was framed by rugged stones and climbing ivy. For some mysterious reason, we never owned a key to that stately door. We just always went in and out the plain back door.

Someone from the local chamber of commerce with an eye for charm had actually snapped a photo of the house from the street when we werent looking. It was featured on the cover of a countywide real estate magazine. The fact that our home had been selected to represent the area pleased me. The view from the curb confirmed it: we were the perfect family in the perfect home in the perfect town.

When I was five, however, my father accepted a job on the East Coast, in Connecticut. He began working there while my mother, my brother and I remained behind. Though the extended absence was ostensibly for business, on one of his visits home, he and my mother gathered my eleven-year-old brother, Scott, and me together to tell us they were divorcing. I was six years old.