ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — Donna Orchard greets her visitor wearing a comfortable track suit, and offers to build a bright fire. Like that fire, she gives an air of warmth.

Orchard says she has been teaching for 40 years, and currently, she teaches English at the Baldwin County Alternative School in Fairhope.

“My students are like any other students,” said Orchard. “They all want to know that you love them.”

That makes Orchard pretty special.

But the veteran teacher has one of her stories in a new book, “God Stories: Inspiring Encounters with the Divine,” edited by CNN investigative journalist Jennifer Skiff. The book, available at local bookstores and online, made its debut in November. Orchard’s story is on page 240.

“I’m elated,” said Orchard. She says a relative alerted her to Skiff’s search for stories.

The story deals with her youngest son, Benjamin, “coming out” to her and his stepfather that he is a homosexual

“We had just gone to the movies,” recalled Orchard, adding that the movie had a homosexual theme.

On the way home, Bill, Orchard’s husband and Orchard commented on the picture.

“I could see him (Benjamin) shaking,” recalled Orchard. He said, “I have something to tell you.”

“I’m gay,” said Benjamin, then 19.

While Orchard says her husband Bill says he knew two years before Benjamin’s declaration, Orchard says the news hit her hard.

“I squalled and I cried,” recalled Orchard. “I kept thinking, ‘Oh, how can this be.’”

Orchard says she has “never been homophobic,” but the thought of the extra burdens her youngest was going to have stunned her.

“It’s just going to make life harder,” recalled Orchard. “I kept thinking of AIDS and the job market, and kept wondering is he going to have a secret life we know nothing about. Will he ever find love. And then I worried about him stepping into the wrong bar in Alabama.”

To quote her story:

“Thirty minutes later we got out of the car and I reached for my son and we hugged. At that moment, my body relaxed into God’s perfect peace. “Benjamin,” I said, “there’s nothing you could tell me that would make me love my boy any less.”

That was 10 years ago. Today, Benjamin, an aspiring actor, lives in the Netherlands with his spouse, Tom.

“Now, I can’t imagine his not being gay,” said Orchard.

While Orchard admits to having “drawers full” of memoirs, this is the first time she’s seen one of her stories in a book.

“I knew I didn’t have a ‘burning bush’ story,” said Orchard. “But, I knew a higher power has moved in my life.”

She thought his particular story would be a good choice for the book, Orchard says, “Because I though it was timely, it had an immediacy about it, and it would not be like everybody else’s.”

She’s not sure what comes next with “God Stories.”

“My story is not like the others,’ said Orchard. “But, I am comfortable where I am now.”

Today, Orchard is active with PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and is working on her memoirs for a book of her own.

“I have 20 years of personal essays,” said Orchard.

She’s been in contact with Thomas Larson, author of “The Memoir and the Memoirist,” who has “given me some direction” on the first 25 pages.

PFLAG meets on the second Saturday of the month at All Saints Episcopal Church on Government Street in Mobile. Contact Suzanne Cleveland, (251) 438-9381.