allie pleiter

What would you do with $1 million?

That's a question Darcy Nightengale never thought she'd need to answer. But a sudden inheritance of just over $1 million begs a more immediate response. And when Darcy learns of her father's last request that she "give it all away," she discovers just how quickly big money makes big problems.

Her husband believes that charity begins at home. His home. And her children are sure it's only a matter of time before the presents start rolling in. Right? Darcy wants to do the right thing--as soon as she can figure out what it is. Can the path of righteousness be paved with gold? Darcy's surprising answer turns her world on end.

Teaching Sunday school at her brother's church in the Bay area was supposed to help former champion athlete Esther "Essie" Walker understand boys--the better to raise her newborn son as a stellar example of manhood. Fat chance! Enter the eight-year-old male psyche: awful jokes, disrespectful behavior and general mayhem. Essie, the queen of control, finds herself in a brand-new world of chaos.

The pressure builds on all fronts--Sunday school class, husband's job, church pageant, aging parents, finances, friends secretly battling illnesses--until Queen Esther has one royal meltdown. God, it seems, has makeover plans for Essie's competitive nature. Her characteristic control is in very short supply as she gains a better understanding of the nature of imperfection, the value of motherhood and the virtues of a messy but connected life.