Difficulties and changes are a natural and normal part of life that all families must encounter and deal with. (Friedman Bowden and Jones, 2003). The death of a loved one, a form of distress, can disturb the course of a family's development and can throw the family into crisis (Smith, Hamon, Ingoldsby, & Miller, 2009). In the film “Grace is Gone,” father Stanley Philips faces the challenge of telling his two young daughters that their mother Grace was killed in combat overseas. Assessment of the Philips family's coping in dealing with a life-altering event reveals dysfunctional and functional coping processes. A family's coping mechanisms are very important in the family's ability to function and survive (Friedman et al., 2003). A health care provider can use a family stress model to assess what makes a family vulnerable, resilient, and adaptive (McCubbin, 1995). Furthermore, assessing a family's resources and coping strategies are important for health care providers to help families adapt and achieve “higher levels of well-being” (Friedman et al., 2003, p. 464). From the perspective of the Resilience Model of Family Stress, Adaptation, and Adaptation, the purpose of this paper is to describe the stressors encountered by the Philips family, evaluate their responses, and consider the resources that would have been applicable to their situation. Family stress, adjustment, and adjustment. The family stress resilience, coping, and adaptation model was developed from Hill's family stress theory and is a method for describing how families perceive and respond to stress (Friedman et al., 2003). It can be an effective way for consultants to allow “consideration of cultural and ...... half of paper ...... taken from, http://www.griefshare.org/aboutFriedman, MM, Bowden , V. R., & Jones, E. G. (2003). Family nursing: Research, theory, and practice (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. National Military Family Association. (2010). Who we are. Retrieved from http://www.militaryfamily.org/about-us/McCubbin, M.A. (1995). The typological model of adjustment and adaptation: a model of family stress. Guidance and Counseling, 10(4), 31. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Smith, SR, Hamon, RR, Ingoldsby, BB, Miller, JE (2009) Exploring family technologies (2nded.). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. (2011). Who we are. Retrieved from http://www.taps.org/about.aspxU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2009). Bereavement counseling. Retrieved from http://www.vetcenter.va.gov/Bereavement_Counseling.asp