Welcoming Ground

About this book

Christmas is coming to the Daniels farm, and for the first year in longer than anyone can remember, there's nothing standing in the way of celebrating it right. The cotton money is banked, the corn crib is full, and Robert's been given the job of bringing home the biggest turkey in the Blacklands for Christmas dinner - if his younger brother Jasper's firecracker mischief doesn't burn down the barn first. Then, just past dusk one bitter evening, a thin, weary stranger walks up out of the frozen dark asking only for a meal and a dry barn for the night. Dudley takes him in without a second thought, and the quiet man who calls himself Gabe turns out to be more than anyone bargained for - knowing things he has no earthly way of knowing, and standing fearless between a spooked wagon team and Zora Sue on the night it matters most. Is Gabe only a kind traveler passing through, or could he be something more? The Daniels family never quite finds out, but they won't soon forget the Christmas he spent with them. Rooted in Hebrews 13:2 and real 1840s Arkansas Christmas tradition - stockings hung by the fire, fireworks and fiddle music, and a community that looked out for its own - Welcoming Ground is a warm, hopeful story about hospitality, forgiveness, and the kind of grace that shows up when you least expect it. This is a complete, stand-alone story and the eighth book in Tales from Blackland Prairie, for family read-alouds and young readers ages 8-12 who love stories of courage, family, and gentle faith.