It was better than her drawing of the Michigan house.
Ashley let the fading sunlight wash over her face. It was official. She loved this place more than anywhere. She took a deep breath and watched the leaves dance to the grass around her. Yes, she and Bloomington were going to get along just fine.
The door opened and Kari stuck her head out. “Ashley! Dinner’s ready! We’re waiting for you!”
“Coming!” Ashley stood. She brushed the grass off her legs and hurried toward the front door. Just before stepping inside, she stopped. She ran her hand over the wooden door. The door that would open up for birthday parties and family game nights and fall dinners. One that would lead to all the seasons ahead. Whatever they held, life on the other side of this door would be good.
Ashley had already decided.
She twirled once more and then walked inside. “I’m home!” she called out. Then she paused. The word felt sweet on her lips and warm in her heart. Because today, for the first time, it was true.
She was finally home.
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About the Authors
Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, is America’s favorite inspirational storyteller, with more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print. Her last dozen titles have topped bestseller lists and many of her novels are under development as major motion pictures. Her Baxter Family books are being developed into a TV series slated to debut fall 2019. Karen is also an adjunct professor of writing at Liberty University. She and her husband, Donald, live in Tennessee near four of their adult children.
Tyler Russell has been telling stories his whole life. In elementary school, he won a national award for a children’s book he wrote, and he has been writing ever since. In 2015, he graduated college with a BFA from Lipscomb University. Soon after, he sold his first screenplay, Karen Kingsbury’s Maggie’s Christmas Miracle, which premiered in December of 2017 on the Hallmark channel. Along with screenplays and novels, Tyler also writes songs and is a singer, actor, and creative who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he enjoys serving his church, adventuring around the city, and spending time with his family.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Karen-Kingsbury
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Tyler Russell
A Paula Wiseman Book
Simon & Schuster, New York
Also by Karen Kingsbury and Tyler Russell
The Baxter Family Children
Best Family Ever
Also by Karen Kingsbury
The Baxter Collection
Love Story
A Baxter Family Christmas
In This Moment
To the Moon and Back
When We Were Young
Two Weeks
Inspirational Fiction for Adults
The Chance
Fifteen Minutes
Angels Walking Series
Angels Walking
Chasing Sunsets
Brush of Wings
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the authors’ imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2020 by Karen Kingsbury
Karen Kingsbury is represented by Alive Literary Agency, 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, www.aliveliterary.com
Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Olivia Chen Mueller
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Book design by Laurent Linn
The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kingsbury, Karen, author. | Russell, Tyler, author.
Title: Finding home / Karen Kingsbury and Tyler Russell.
Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2020] | Series: Baxter family children | “A Paula Wiseman Book.” | Summary: For Ashley, moving to Bloomington, Indiana, is especially hard but with time, prayer, a few surprises, and especially the love of her family, she finally feels at home.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019007755| ISBN 9781534412187 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534412200 (eBook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Family life—Fiction. | Brothers and sisters—Fiction. | Moving, Household—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Home—Fiction. | Christian life—Fiction. | Bloomington (Ind.)—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.K6117 Fin 2020 | DDC [Fic]— dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019007755