Lauraine Snelling

Life in Blessing, North Dakota, becomes difficult when courageous and gentle Grace Knutson is presented with an agonizing dilema.

Will her dreams lead her away from all she's ever known? Nineteen-year-old Rebecca Baard has experienced more than her share of sorrow. And though she dreams of finding love, she's afraid to open her heart. Besides, no man has ever shown enough interest in her to come courting. Rebecca's friends set out to remedy the situation, concocting social events to attract all the eligible bachelors in town and advising her in the use of feminine wiles. Rebecca also hopes to open a soda shop in Blessing, so she travels to Bismarck to learn how to operate one. Awed by the big city and enamored by the attention she receives from a sophisticated and charming young man, she begins to question her long-held ambitions. What would it take for her to call a new place "home"? - Publisher.

Sarah loves living in the pristine Toutle Valley with her parents, her sister Kathy, and her horse, Cimmaron. They are all used to occasional tremors from nearby Mount St. Helens. But when the volcano erupts, Sarah's family is forced to evacuate, leaving behind their house, their chickens, their cows -- and Cimmaron. As Sarah hears the news of hot ash and mud flows covering her valley, she wonders why God would let such a terrible thing happen. Since He doesn't seem to be answering her prayers, Sarah decides to solve the problem herself. Somehow she will get back into Toutle Valley to save Cimmaron. - Publisher.

This is the story of two mothers, strangers to one another. The first has two children--twins, a boy and girl, who are seniors in high school. She wants their last Christmas as a family living in the same home to be perfect, but her husband is delayed returning from a business trip abroad. And then there's an accident--a fatal one involving a drunk driver.Meanwhile, the other mother has a daughter who needs a new heart, and so the loss of one woman becomes the miracle the other has desperately prayed for. While one mother grieves, and pulls away from her family, the other finds that even miracles aren't always easy to receive.

Too much, too soon... To the outside world, it looked as though all of Melissa Morland's dreams had come true--she was married to gorgeous Charles Revington, was pregnant with his child and lived in a palatial home in France. But Melissa craved the one thing she did not have: her husband's love. Perhaps someday.... Then, in one shattering moment, Charles learned the truth about the night their child was conceived. His anger and disillusionment created chasms impossible to bridge--except perhaps by one small miracle!

After her husband's tragic death in a drunk driving accident, Lareana Amundson is sustained by her faith as she struggles to raise her infant son and keep her large dairy farm running smoothly in spite of mounting bills.

Forbidden. Hidden. Denied. Can art be powerful enough to endure? Ragni Clauson's work, relationships, and body all seem to be falling apart. And she isn't convinced that spending her vacation fixing up her great-grandmother's cabin and supervising her rebellious teenage niece, Erika, will offer any much-needed rejuvenation.As Ragni and Erika clean, they begin to uncover the secret paintings and life of Nilda, Ragni's ancestor who lived in the cabin in the early 1900s. Ragni doesn't know how much she has in common with her great-grandmother, but it becomes clear Nilda faced her own struggles. Taking care of home and menfolk, fighting off locusts, raising her daughter, and finding time to paint in the midst of it all were not easy tasks. Will Nilda's passion for enduring art re-ignite Ragni's artistic soul a century later?Weaving together the stories of three generations of women, The Brushstroke Legacy stirs us to believe that no matter the circumstances, we are called to use our gifts--never knowing when they might bring a stranger to a new place of hope.From the Trade Paperback edition.

As Mount Saint Helens nears eruption, three different women find themselves drawn to the mountain, each on their own separate quest, yet each discovering the strength within themselves and the importance of friendship in the face of tragedy and destruction. Original.