From the author of Lovejoy and Blessed comes a series about church ladies of the South. After reading this first novel in the series, fans of Southern fiction write, "I want to live next door to Mildred Budge." A retired school teacher, Mildred Budge just wants to live a quiet life in her hometown of Cloverdale. But retirement does not mean she can say no to a friend--not a friend in trouble. Mildred Budge knows how. A disciplined woman, Mildred can breathe the word "no" to a second cup of ice cream. Can resist drinking too much champagne. But when it comes right down to a friend needing a ...

What do church ladies really think? Composed and often so quiet as to be thought invisible, church ladies have secret powers to change the world. What are those special powers? They love well. They give well. They can often cook! And they play an essential role in a great rescue operation for mankind. For although they appear to have Ninja warrior strengths (and can be invisible!), they are helpers to the only Superhero who ever really saved the world and mankind. They know His name and will tell you. And they can show you what it's like to brought to life and empowered to love instead of ...

From the author of the popular Mildred Budge church lady books comes a brand-new spin-off series featuring the friends of Mildred Budge and how they see the same world Miss Budge inhabits—and her, too. In Belle, the first book in the new series, friends of Mildred Budge see life in Cloverdale through the eyes of Belle Deerborn. Belle Deerborn lives next door to Mildred Budge. The Deerborn house is across and open field, and Belle sits out on her back stoop each morning reading her Bible and also watching Mildred live and the people who come and go. Others see Belle as living a confined ...

“Don’t you ever want to run away from Christmas?” Mildred Budge’s answer to Dixie was immediate and truthful. “Yes, yes, yes,” Mildred said with conviction. She couldn’t stop saying yes, though the very idea that a good church lady would want to run away from the occasion during the year that marked the birth of Jesus-- the reason for the season for a tried and true church lady of the South-- was almost beyond explanation. “Then, let’s go. Let’s go to Fountain City and find Mr. Fixit and eat sublime pies,” her friend Dixie urged. The two needed Mr. Fixit because of a ...

Mildred Budge returns in Kingdom Come, a story about setbacks and how to face them. The fourth novel in the series, Kingdom Come, continues with the stories of Mildred, Fran, Winston, Janie, and Chase. In this story, Mildred’s Cloverdale bungalow is crowded. Her best friend Fran observes, “For a single woman, Mildred, your quiver is getting very full.” And it is. There is little room in Mildred’s Cloverdale bungalow for solitude and extended prayer, and Mildred Budge needs both. Many people do. And it is harder to find that kind of quiet in a world where background noise is as ...