FEATURED BOOK AND INTERVIEW: Mail Order Mix-Up by Christine Johnson

When Pearl Lawson sees an ad for a mail-order bride, she leaps at the opportunity to find a husband for her best friend. But the town’s most dashing bachelor has caught the eye of several aspiring brides-to-be…and even Pearl is drawn to him. Though the schoolteacher has no intentions of marrying, her instant connection with Roland Decker cannot be denied.

Roland doesn’t know how an ad seeking a wife for his brother found its way into print. But now he has to handle the hopeful applicants—women who think he’s the future groom. Not to mention the feisty, matchmaking schoolteacher who is just as determined not to marry as he is. Will this mix-up push Roland and Pearl to forget their plans of staying single and allow love into their lives?

INTERVIEW:

How exciting to have with us today Pearl Lawson, the heroine from Mail Order Mix-Up written by Christine Johnson, an April 2016 release from Love Inspired Romance .

1.  Pearl, tell me the most interesting thing about you.

            I’ve made a future for myself as a teacher. For a girl from an orphanage who was never selected by a family, that’s a real accomplishment.

2.  What do you do for fun?

            Excitement can be found all around us. I love to experience new things and to see new places. That didn’t happen often when I was growing up, because there were usually too many of us at the orphanage to take anywhere. I treasure every new experience. Traveling by train and ship to reach my new teaching post in Singapore, Michigan was quite the experience. One day I plan to travel all the way to San Francisco.

3.  What do you put off doing because you dread it?

            Procrastination only gives something undue credit. I insist on tackling everything, even the uncomfortable things, as it comes up. Then nothing grows to the point of dreading it.

4.  What are you afraid of most in life?

            My parents left me at the orphanage. I used to be scared of being alone, but we’re never completely alone as long as we know the Lord. He’s always there with us.

5.  What do you want out of life?

            I would love a real family, with children and husband and cousins and aunts and uncles and all the generations, but that’s just a dream. No one wanted me enough to take me from the orphanage. I’ve come to accept that it won’t happen. The children in the classroom and my friends will be my family.

6.  What is the most important thing to you?

            To stick by friends and those who depend on me no matter what happens.

7.  If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

            Sometimes I wish I’d been pretty so a family would have wanted me.

8.  Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?

            We couldn’t have pets at the orphanage. There were alley cats that we’d feed scraps whenever we could sneak them out of the kitchen. One, Tomcat, would wait for me and wouldn’t take food from anyone else. I liked to think he was mine, but he didn’t return one day. I knew he was gone, like my parents.

9. Can you tell us a little interesting tidbit about the time period you live in?

            Since I grew up in New York City, I had no idea what the wilderness was like. My, there’s a lot of it…even in 1870. When I heard about the teaching position in Singapore, I had to go there. It sounded exotic, like the Orient, and was advertised as an up-and-coming Chicago. My, that was an overstatement! It’s actually a small lumber town. The lumberjacks go through an area cutting down every tree and leaving all the branches on the ground. People scavenge those for firewood, but there’s still an ugly mess left behind. There aren’t many roads here, and the ones that do exist are more like rutted paths. I haven’t seen a buggy since I got here.  What a difference from New York!