The ABC Book of Marriage - Hardcover

Fanelda Westphalen wrote The ABC Book of Marriage in 2003 as a gift for a new bride. A significant word was chosen for each letter, centering around building a strong foundation for marriage. From A to Z, Fanelda shares God's word and imparts her own wisdom and experience on how to create and maintain a faith-filled marriage.

Two decades later, her daughter, Marla Schoening, illustrated and published her work. The illustrations were created using a meditative and therapeutic approach to symbolize each word in an abstract radial design. Because the artwork is symmetric and circular, it holds great symbolism of the unity of marriage, the representation of birth to death, and the infinite love from our heavenly Creator. Through art making, Marla felt a sense of mom-daughter spirit and collaboration, in spite of her mother being in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease. This passion project to honor her mother and bring more awareness to various forms of dementia quickly served as a cathartic and healing opportunity for Marla as she slowly says goodbye to her mom.