One Call Away by Brenda Warner

"One Call Away" by Brenda Warner is a wonderful and inspiring true story about a young single mother's struggles to raise her two children, one of whom is a special needs child.  Brenda is proof of what a person can do when they have faith in God.  Upon graduation from high school she realized her dream of serving in the military like her dad.  She bacame a Marine and, in the book, she shares her tough experience in boot-camp. She also tells shres her troublesome relationship she had with her first husband who was abusive. Just prior to leaving him, he was watching their first child while she worked until she was called home because of an accident involving the baby. According to her husband, he accidentally dropped him in the bathtub while giving him a bath.  In the hospital, the baby was in critical condition and the medical team, suspecting abuse called the authorities which involved several interviews and court hearings. The baby when released from the hospital was blind and suffered some mental retardation.  The marriage suffered and she finally left with her, then, two children and moved back home with her parents.  While she worked, her parents took care of the children.  Life was difficult and Brenda had to make do on welfare and food stamps for awhile.

Later, she met Kurt Warner, a well-known football player.  Not long after, tough times struck again when Brenda's parents were killed when a tornado struck their town and what was their newly built home where they were living out their retirement years.  Brenda was impressed with how Kurt stuck by her and helped her through the tragedy. Her love and admiration for him grew as his did for her and they were married in the same church that her parents were going to be baptized in, had they lived. After marrying Kurt, Brenda shares the ups and downs of being a football players wife and what being in the limelight is like including the lack of privacy, etc.

Today, Kurt and Brenda are doing well. Kurt has retired from football but with seven children and an organization they founded to help those less fortunate, their lives are full. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and found it difficult to put down.  It was written like a novel and the words just flowed beautifully.  I highly recommend it.

I received this book free from the Thomas Nelson's Book Sneeze review program and all I was asked to do was give an honest appraisal, positive or negative.  The words are my own.