Reviews & Giveaways

When I first heard about the book, Twin Souls: A Message of Hope for the New Millennium, by Elizabeth Anne Hill with Catherine Mary Hill, I expected it to be one of those typical memoirs where someone loses a close family member and comes through the grieving process with a new perspective. In truth, that is only a very small part of Twin Souls.

Elizabeth ("Betsy") and Catherine ("Cathy") were identical twins, but their similarities pretty much ended with their appearance. They were opposites throughout their lives and argued about almost everything, including religion and politics. But then, on October 25, 2002, Elizabeth received the devastating news that Cathy, a United States Border Patrol Agent, had been killed when her Jeep rolled over while she was on patrol. Click to read the rest of this entry

By Susan M. Heim

            I have yet to meet a mother of twin babies who has said that parenting is easy. The fact is that it's more than twice as challenging as having a single baby. As Dagmara Scalise notes in her new book, Twin Sense: A Sanity-Saving Guide to Raising Twins from Pregnancy Through the First Year, "Parenting twins is exponentially harder. Twin babies demand more love, more care, more patience, and more resourcefulness -- lots more -- and you, the parent, will be more stressed and less prepared than if you were having a single baby." That's why it's so important for expectant and new parents of twins to have parenting advice that is specifically tailored to raising two. Twin Sense answers that need. Click to read the rest of this entry

by Susan M. Heim

            One of the most popular shows on TV right now is Jon & Kate Plus 8, which portrays the daily lives of the Gosselins -- a family with a set of twins and a set of sextuplets! People are fascinated by how Jon and Kate maintain their sanity while rearing eight young children. Fortunately, the couple's deep faith often comes in handy when their patience runs thin, as it frequently does. Kate and Jon have no doubt that they've been chosen for the special privilege of raising these children. Click to read the rest of this entry

by Susan M. Heim

            "When my husband and I were blessed with our twin daughters, I became aware of the challenges moms-of-multiples are faced with each day. Through my relationships with various moms, I witnessed first-hand how a lack of organization can wreak havoc on moms-of multiples in every aspect of their lives, from their daily routines to even their relationships with their partners." These words, written by Tonia Tomlin, a professional organizer, explain why she set out to manage her own family life better and, in the process, wrote the book, Chaos 2 Calm: The Moms-of-Multiples' Guide to an Organized Family, to help other families of multiples benefit from her experience. Click to read the rest of this entry

By Susan M. Heim

In my book, It's Twins! Parent-to-Parent Advice from Infancy Through Adolescence, I stress the importance of promoting individuality in twin children. People often view twins as a set and fail to identify and distinguish the unique characteristics of each child. Even twins themselves may see themselves as an extension of each other, rather than as their own person. While it's a wonderful thing to have this loving and supportive bond between twins, it can also be detrimental to twins if they fail to achieve their own individual potential, form relationships with others, or develop a healthy self-esteem. Click to read the rest of this entry

            Right from the start in Twin Reflections: International Singers Reflect on God's Providential Care, authors Janice and Faye Rostvit admit, "The two of us never intended to become singers, but God had HIS plan." And what a plan it was! The identical twins started singing with their older sisters, Laura Jean and Sharon, when they were just teenagers. Known as the Rostvit Sisters Quartet, the girls traveled around the country from 1963 to 1966, entertaining people with their beautiful voices. When the oldest girls got married, though, it looked like the end of their singing days. However, God had other ideas for the Rostvit Twins. While attending Bible College, they got their first offer to accompany missionaries to Africa. Soon, the girls were training for a cross-cultural singing ministry that would define the rest of their lives. Click to read the rest of this entry

            Teenage twins Alex and Brett Harris founded TheRebelution.com in 2005 to encourage young people to "rebel" against the low expectations of our culture by "doing hard things." According to the Harris brothers, our society's idea that adolescence should be considered a "vacation from responsibility" really underestimates what teenagers are capable of accomplishing and does them a disservice. Their message strongly resonated with teenagers, and soon millions of adolescents around the world were tuning in to this call for revolution. Click to read the rest of this entry

By Susan M. Heim

Imagine giving birth to beautiful identical twin girls, only to find out soon afterward that they are both afflicted with a terminal illness: cystic fibrosis (CF). That is what happened to Reiner and Hatsuko Stenzel when their daughters, Isabel and Anabel, were born in 1972. It was an incredible shock, especially since the odds were extremely small, considering their ancestry, that their children could have CF. One in 25 people of Northern European descent, like German-born Reiner, carry the gene for CF, but people of Asian descent, like Japanese-born Hatsuko, rarely do. Both parents must be CF carriers for their children to have the disease. Their firstborn child, a son named Ryuta, had been born perfectly healthy. But their beloved twins failed to dodge the CF bullet. Click to read the rest of this entry