Book excerpt: How does a woman build her house? Nancy Wilson begins with the kitchen table, remembering how each scratch and stain in the wood chronicles "hours of stories and jokes, questions and concerns (through courtships and pregnancies), prayers and discussions." She continues, each essay full of stories and encouragement -- the beauty of imperfection, the comfort of Velveeta, the strengths of mothers- and daughters-in-law, the honesty that is submission, the laughter of reading aloud. As ever, while Nancy draws out our sins and weaknesses and sore spots, she comforts us with the favor of God and rouses us to a joyous faith.