In 1978, Spencer (Spence) Edwards hasn’t been on a date in over a year and is ultra-picky about who he’ll ask out because of the promise he made to his mother to honor God. In their annual wager, his best friend bets that if Spence asked Patti, who is wealthy and the most beautiful girl in the senior class, she would refuse him three times. When a teacher partnered Patti with Spence in a class project and he ventured to ask her on a date. She refused. ~Strike One~.

In 1947, Ray Petriani flees Texas with a wife and young family. He takes a job in California and is sent to inland China on a business venture. An exchange with a local potentate provides him with two gifts he doesn’t want, cannot reject, and must protect. The first, a gilded antique music box said to have belonged to a Chinese Emperor, uncovers additional doubts which raise further problems. Ray believes its significance lies in how it was given. But the second gift, a beautiful female slave, rocks his world.

Mr. Johansen, a successful businessman, connives a circus-style job fair to find a replacement for his executive assistant. Things don’t proceed well, especially when his partner chooses to step in and create trouble.

Woodrow (Woody) Hancock’s uncle offers him two wagers. First, he could make Woody find a wife sooner than he wants, than he wants, and second, Woody would build the home for unwed pregnant girls they’ve both dreamed about, and both would happen by the end of next year.

In 1886, Ida Lapp, a plucky Pennsylvania woman, secretly loves an Englisher, something strictly forbidden by the Amish Ordnung. When discovered by her parents, her penalty forever changes her life and sends her on a journey to face persecution, at the same time she desires the impossible—to return home to a family who despises her.

I was raised on a family farm near central Iowa, where Corn, Beans, Dairy, Beef, Chickens, Pigs, and a Horse were part of my upbringing. The rural area and the Christian community stamped me as an outdoor person. Hunting rabbits was as much a part of me as was plowing, making hay, and caring for livestock. Part of my life was spent raising the lovable animals as pets and for the dinner table.