Sunday Dinner is a traditional (noon) meal served after church on Sundays. Whole families, including extended family, would gather over a large meal to celebrate a day of rest. Multiple cultures enjoy this Sunday Dinner tradition. In my experience, I know it from both my Midwestern farm family as well as my Italian-American family. Now, I’d like to bring Sunday Dinner virtually to you. So, pull up a chair as we invite various guests to join us each week!

*Author’s choice is in bold.

Tell us something interesting readers would enjoy learning about you.

I just “retired” from the day job to become a full-time writer. My dream job!

Can you tell us about your latest novel?

Allyson Kincaid needs roots. Born and raised on the foreign mission field, all she wants is home and hearth on American soil. Finally past the break-up with the man she’d thought was the love of her life, she’s ready to put herself back out there. Too bad the first guy who’s made her pulse skip in nearly two years dreams of a life spent in foreign missions. She’s already lost so much to the mission field, and, although she supports him in his calling, knows his choice means she’ll be laying even more broken dreams, and a newly shattered heart, at the feet of Jesus.

When Zane Carpenter relocates to Arlington, Texas, his seventh move in thirteen years, his only thought is to meet his obligation with Becker Ministries in a few months then take a foreign mission assignment, his dream for the past several years. But working so closely with Ally in student ministry has him feeling things he’s never experienced. He’s ready for a future with her, until he accepts an opportunity to work on foreign soil and Ally stays behind. He knows God put him at the mission for a reason, although his heart still longs for the girl back home.

In what city is your story set and why did you choose to set your novel there?

Arlington, Texas. My daughter went to college at Dallas Baptist University and then settled in Arlington. The small Christian university in my debut novel (Love’s True Calling, Book One of the series) was patterned after DBU, and setting the series in the DFW area meant lots of visiting and driving around with my daughter for research! A small part of the book is also set in the town of Pamoca in Guatemala. It’s a fictional town but patterned after the area a missionary friend of mine serves in Guatemala.

Describe your setting. And, if it’s a real place, have you visited?

The city is real, and some of the locations are real. Since my daughter lives there, I’ve been up there quite a bit (we live south of there outside of Austin, TX). Some of the locations (restaurants, houses, etc.) are fictional. The part of the book in Guatemala came from a lot of information and Zoom calls I had with a friend who is a missionary teacher in Guatemala. She was amazing with the help she gave me to make Guatemala come alive in the book.

What research was required to set a book there?

Most of the book is set in and around the Dallas/Arlington area. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with my daughter there where we drove around looking at neighborhoods, historic buildings, and generally the lay of the land. But the research I found the most fascinating was about Guatemala. I met Natalie Arauco at the 2022 ACFW National Conference and when she told me she was a missionary in Guatemala, I knew God had smiled on me. I had just started my research into Guatemala and found it overwhelming. Over the next several months, Natalie met with me twice via Zoom from her home in Guatemala where she answered my million questions so graciously, sent me over a hundred photos and videos of the region where she serves, and provided me more information I could ever use in five novels, much less one. She was generous and kind and I made a wonderful new friend during my research of beautiful Guatemala.

What does a day in the life of one of your characters look like?

Ally’s a pediatric nurse practitioner who has a part-time, freelance job. On her workdays, she gets up early, always starts with quiet time to start her day, at work by 7:30, off by 2:30. Afterward, she changes clothes at home, then meets Zane to work on ConnectUP business. ConnectUP is the student ministry at the center of the True Calling Series. She and Zane are working together to grow the ministry, not only through the DFW Metroplex, but eventually nationwide. Each Wednesday evening, they spend time at a different club, helping the team minister to teenagers finding their way through a confusing world. Other evenings, after she and Zane put away their ConnecUP work for the day, they’ll cook dinner together and spend the evening talking on the sofa, or playing games with her roommate Yolanda and her boyfriend. Ally doesn’t like to be still too long. She prefers being busy and spending time with her friends and ConnectUP kids.

Were resources easy or difficult to find on these topics? Do you have a favorite resource?

I do most of my research online, or if it’s somewhere I can travel to easily, I’ll go in person. Such as when I needed to get to “know” Arlington. I have to say, so far, regarding research I’ve done for any of my books, meeting with Natalie to learn about Guatemala was my favorite.

What is one piece of your research that you couldn’t include in the book, but wish readers could know?

Poverty is rampant in Guatemala and many children are being raised in abusive households. Often, they don’t go to school past third or fourth grade because they’re needed at home to work. I didn’t have the space in the book to portray these conditions with the gravity they deserved, but I was saddened to learn how much the children of Guatemala go through. My friend Natalie is a bright light in the lives of the children she teaches.

Do you have another book in the works? What can you tell us about that book?

Love’s True Measure, the third and final book in the series, will release in June 2025. LTM is Shannon and Hunter’s story which confronts the question of how we measure the value of our lives. Shannon is another ConnectUP Team Leader, has a strong faith, and, although she’s struggled with finding her worth outside of her wealthy family, firmly believes her value is centered in Jesus. Hunter isn’t a true believer at the start of the story and is intent on making partner at his prominent law firm by the time he turns 30. Coming from a childhood full of instability and financial hardship, he believes his value is found in his status, his position, his possessions, and so on. All things Shannon has striven to leave behind after being raised by parents to whom status means everything.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?

Just that I hope they enjoy Zane and Ally’s journey as much as I did.

The afternoon is slipping away, so we have to draw the stories to an end. Thank you for joining us today!

Have you ever gone on a mission trip outside of the US? If so, where and what did you do?