Mistaken Identity

I read a book earlier this year called Eye Contact and thought it was a mother's worst nightmare, getting a phone call from your child's school and hearing "I'm sorry, your child is missing from campus". Then I read Mistaken Identity with the late night/early morning phone call, and "there has been a terrible accident" and "I'm sorry, your child didn't make it".

Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope

Don & Susie Van Ryn and
Newell, Colleen & Whitney Cerak
with Mark Tabb

Howard Books a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
March 2008
288 pages
Non-fiction > Biography/Religious

Make sure you have a box of tissues nearby when you read this one!


This book drew me in and kept me hooked. I finished it in one night and then just sat there. I didn't go check my children's beds but I thought about it. The faith and compassion of these families would be unbelievable if I hadn't see something like it for myself. The way the community of Fort Worth came together for the Van Ryn family is next to miraculous.

A friend suggested they start a blog to avoid so making so many phone calls. Soon, comments were being made from far off places. Prayers were being said by people they didn't know and faith was being restored in some who followed the blog. It has since been shut down but I think I would like to have been one who followed, who cheered and cried and prayed. Getting it all in one night (and not ALL of it) was a bit overwhelming.

Taylor University is a Christian school and the families involved quote scripture and hold family prayers. It didn't detract from the story, quite the opposite for me, just a heads up.

This book was written in response to intrusive media. "The story has been told, leave us alone". The paperback is scheduled for release late next month.

I've also posted what the back cover says on my blog, along with a cover picture and the above information.