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Dear Reader,

I hope you’ve enjoyed Home to Safe Harbor and all the other Safe Harbor books. When my editor asked if I was interested in joining the other wonderful authors slated to create Safe Harbor and the townsfolk, I jumped at the chance and the challenge.

The added challenge of writing about a female in ministry certainly got my creative juices flowing, and I picked my theme of giving control of our lives over to God. Within hours I knew Justine would struggle with her role in the church and the difficulty many women in ministry still face. Then I mixed in an inner struggle with her most worldly desires and how they could fit with God’s plan for her just to make things interesting!

Matthew came next. I decided he’d lost much in his lifetime but had many blessings, as well. I gave him a protector’s personality and a challenge in the form of a problem with one of his precious daughters. Parenthood is our most important and difficult responsibility in life. Our most rewarding, too. And Matt, being a hero, had to be a good father who was loathe to share his responsibility or the control of their lives or his to anyone—even God.

It didn’t take long to know what silent specter could be shadowing one of his children undetected. Twice, anorexia has touched a child close to my family and twice, full of fear for their children, parents ventured forth seeking an answer and help. And as Matt and Justine learned, this is an insidious disease that manifests itself with symptoms that lead to one conclusion—dieting as the cause—while the problem is something more complex and difficult to solve.

I would like to thank the Renfrew Center and its staff, whose invaluable help aided not only me in the writing of this book but a very special girl in her time of need. I urge anyone who sees the signs described in Home to Safe Harbor in any young person to visit www.renfrew.org or e-mail questions to inquiries@renfew.org. Then find help.

Philadelphia is blessed with the Renfrew Center on whose facility, principles and treatment plan I based the Mittler Center. Only, the personal story of the Mittler family was fiction. And above all, don’t forget to pray for your loved one to the Great Healer for whom no disease is too much.

Love,