Last year, I read a short comment at the end of a scribe’s letter in The Budget. It was written from an Amish woman who participated in an informal program with a women’s prison. This woman fostered a prisoner’s child and took her to visit her mother once a month. I started to do a little digging and found a similar program with the Mennonite Caregivers Program. This program’s aim isn’t to recruit children for the Mennonite Church or to be adopted. “And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me” (Matt. 18:5) is the only motivation for these thirty Mennonite families who live in Southeast Pennsylvania. Studies have shown that incarcerated women who mother their babies have a lower recidivism rate. How remarkable! I felt so impressed by these quiet heroes, trying to strengthen family ties.
So that’s how the story of Chris and Jenny Yoder began, with Old Deborah—another quiet hero. Remember, though, it is a work of fiction. Chris and Jenny’s mother, Grace Mitchell, was caught in a cycle of drug addiction. It would have been nice and tidy to have Grace “see the light,” but that just doesn’t always happen in life.
There are many types of addiction—some that are obvious, like drugs, and some that are more sinister. Fern’s comments to Jenny toward the end of the book had so much wisdom in them: “Remember, though, that sometimes you can love and forgive somebody, but you might still want to keep your distance.” Sadly, some problems are just not going to be solved in this lifetime.
A special thank-you to my first draft readers, Lindsey Ciraulo and Wendrea How. You’re the best!
A big shout-out to my insightful editor, Andrea Doering, named Editor of the Year at ACFW in 2011. And to my agent, Joyce Hart, who is always my Agent of the Year. Thank you to the support team at Revell: Michele Misiak, Janelle Mahlmann, Robin Barnett, Deonne Lindsey, Twila Bennett Brothers, Claudia Marsh, Donna Hausler, and so many others who help get my books from the warehouse to the shelves and into readers’ hands.
As always, my gratitude goes to my dear family. And finally, I would like to give a heartfelt thank-you to the Lord who has been blessing this endeavor of mine. I hope I’m doing him proud.