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Wedding Bells Ahead

Just a few more months as Miss O'Dell . . .

Mabel is engaged to Len Williams and looks forward to a peaceful second year of teaching. But in order to keep the school she loves, she needs a place to live. her only choice seems to be boarding with Augusta Harris, whose favorite pastime is keeping track of everyone else's business.

A big storm, a buried will, old rumors, and new schemes contrive to make Mabel's year anything but dull. And suddenly Len faces an unexpected decision--one that will affect both of their lives.

Through it all, Mabel's best friend Sarah Jane is still nearby, ready to offer a fresh perspective and a reminder that God is in control of every detail.

At Home in North Branch

Happy with Len in their little house by the river, surrounded by friends, Mabel is content with her life as a schoolteacher and minister's wife in the small logging community. But a storm is about to break in North Branch, and no one in town will be left untouched.

Meet Rowland Brewer, the new manger of the shingle mill: handsome, friendly . . . and just a shade too smooth. Meet his daughter, Daisy: the sweetest, prettiest little ten year old ever seen . . . at least at first glance.

And get reacquainted with the Lawton clan, still holding a grudge against Mabel . . . Augusta Harris, still keeping track of everyone's comings and goings . . . and of course Sarah Jane, who has moved back into Mabel's life to remind her that the Lord will help her weather every trial.

New Faces, New Friends

Who says a small town is a dull place to live?

The logging community of North Branch, Michigan, is still a small town in 1895. But Mabel and Len Williams and their circle of friends could never be called bored. . .

Mabel finds that her position as the minister's wife doesn't protect her from small town gossip. After all, isn't it a little odd that Hudson Curtis, pastor of a neighboring church, happens to show up every time Mabel comes to town? And wasn't that his buggy seen turning down Mabel's lane the other afternoon? Even Mabel's best friend, Sarah Jane, seems troubled about something--but for the first time in her life, she won't discuss it with Mabel.

Good thing Mabel knows she can trust God in the troubled times as well as the good.

Stories from the Growing Years

Who but Mabel and Sara Jane would suddenly and mysteriously find themselves mother to a pair of crimson little girls? To Mabel, it's just another example of her not being the "shining example of perfection" that her small-town community seems to expect of the minister's wife. But her keen sense of the ridiculous, the loyal support of Sara Jane, and her deep trust in God keep Mabel bounding back and ready for the next escapade.

Stories from the Growing Years are snapshots from the years of Mabel's young motherhood. Surrounded by the familiar North Branch characters, Mabel raises her children, watches the arrival of telephones and electricity to her rural town, and enters into the joys and sorrows of community life.