So I spent the weekend catching up on my Amish reads. I've been behind on so many. When I'm having a "bad knee" day all I can do is sit or lay down and read. My movement is restricted. As much as I hate that, I love that I have more uninterrupted time to read. Here are my three for today.
Amish Values for your
Family by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Genre: Adult,
Inspirational, Informational
Source: I received a
copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Amish values is a book that should be read by any family
that is looking to improve their family dynamics. The one thing I’ve always
admired about the Amish is their sense of family and what is truly
important. One thing that really stood
out is how much family means to them.
They love their children, but do not spoil them the way we who are not
Amish do. For this reason they don’t
grow up feeling like we, the parents owe them everything they desire. They
raise their family around their faith.
God is the center of the home. The author shows us through examples and
stories of Amish families. This is not a book where the author spouts off, “do
this or that to get this or that”.
I think one of the reasons I relish their lifestyle so much
is because I pretty much grew up that way.
We are not and never were Amish. Yet, growing up on a farm with all of
our duties were so similar to the Amish lifestyle. I was never raised to expect anything except
what God gave us. I worked hard as did all of my family. It carried over to my own children, even
though we left the farm behind many years ago.
My parents made sure that God was the center of our life. We started our
morning with devotions and we ended our evening with devotions. I was well
prepared for my day ahead.
This book, with all of its examples and proverbs at the beginning
of each chapter, shows that we can go back to a simpler life, yet not as
structured as the Amish live, and still come out with some of the same great
results.
Living in Harmony by Mary Ellis
Genre: Adult, Amish
Fiction
Source: I received a
copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
All is not harmonious in Harmony Main for the main
characters in this story. When Amy and
Nora King lose their parents in a house fire, their younger siblings go to live
with relatives and they go with Amy’s future husband to Harmony, Maine. John’s
brother is the minister in Harmony. He
decides that Amy and John need to wait a while so that Amy can properly grieve
her parent’s death. Things are so
different in Harmony. They are a
stricter community. Amy is willing to
try to fit in. Nora on the other hand has difficulty. Their clothes are too bright so they must
make new ones to fit in with the drab colors of their new community. Where they would have had singings and buggy
rides while courting, that is all banned in this community. For Nora it mean no Rumspringa, which is also
banned. I applaud Amy for trying so hard to fit in to her new community. I also
applaud her trying to help Sally, the minister’s wife who doesn’t feel like she
fits in with the other women. Nora, I
wanted to smack her for acting like a spoiled brat. When John’s younger brother Elam, the
rebellious one shows up, he takes Nora down that path as well. Amy learns that she has an aunt who was
shunned leaving nearby. She makes plans to meet with her and learns that is
also forbidden. Will she follow the
rules or follow her heart? Will Nora ever settle down and stop causing so much
trouble? Will John and Amy finally get
married? The answers to these questions are waiting for you in the book.
I have to say the only character I really had a hard time
liking was John. He came across as too
strong and almost unforgiving in some of the things he did. However, like all
of her other books, I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it to
those who love reading Amish Fiction.
Abigail’s New Hope –
by Mary Ellis
Genre: Adult, Amish
Fiction
Source: I received a
copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Abigail loved helping deliver babies. Since she could only
go so far in school she was an unlicensed midwife who worked with the local
doctor. Unfortunately the one night the doctor is needed most, he is unable to
help. Abigail goes to help a young
mother deliver her baby. She tries to
get the mother to go to the hospital, but she refuses. Abigail delivers the
baby, but loses the mother.
When the authorities find out that Abigail was not licensed,
she is arrested for practicing medicine without a license and several other
things. To add to her pain, her father, a bishop won’t come to the jail to see
her, she can’t make bail because the community won’t help. At this point I probably would have felt
betrayed by everyone. Abigail spends her
time reading her Bible and praying. At
home her sister has come to stay in her house to help Abigail’s husband with
the children and the household duties.
While helping out she meets a young man who works on the farm. Everyone thinks Isaiah is mentally not all
there. In reality he is deaf and very smart.
Catherine is aware of this and attracted to him.
This is a great story.
There are themes of love, forgiveness and finding God in the midst of
your trials. Lessons of learning that
God accepts us just the way we are where we are. Mary Ellis is great at creating such
realistic stories that tug at the heartstrings yet have so many hidden messages
and lessons that we all need to hear. You
could never say her stories are preachy because they are definitely not. This is one Amish fiction author you really
need to read.