NEWSLETTER
March 2009
Beloved Reader,
Welcome to the spring newsletter. I hope you enjoyed a sense of family and Christ during Christmas. Throughout the holiday season and January, I wrote my first novella: The Sound of Sleigh Bells. The story—with multifaceted characters and a strong romantic element—was great fun to write. It will be out next Christmas. While I wrote about the past hurts and hopeful futures of twenty-six-year-old single Amish woman Beth Hertzler, and twenty-eight-year-old single man Jonah Kinsinger, my editor went to a photography studio in Ohio and worked with models and scenery for the book’s cover. While there, she also worked with models for the cover of The Hope of Refuge. I’ll have those covers to show you in the next newsletter.
The holidays and winter months were busy. But now it’s March, and the scents and warmth of spring have arrived. Each year spring is a gentle reminder that, whatever the season, bleak and difficult days always yield to times of renewal and promise. Today a thick blanket of fog fills the neighborhood and several types of birds have been singing and cawing all morning. Midnight rains have washed pollen from the sky, as well as the last of the brown leaves from our sawtooth oak. During the short days of winter, I always look forward to the longer days of spring and summer, when sunlight wanes in the evening rather than disappears as if the flame of a candle is caught by the wind.
On the home front, life is similar to the fiction the worlds I create—busy with real-life challenges and joy. I’ll share the joyous parts and spare you the challenging parts. I’m sure you have enough of your own challenges! My husband and I are excited to share that our oldest son and his fiancée will marry this May. Last night I went shopping for wedding dresses with my future daughter-in-law. She’s gorgeous no matter what she puts on, but she thinks she found “the one.” Our second son and his wife finish at UGA this spring—unless our daughter-in-law chooses to go for her master’s degree. They’ve worked very hard, both in school and with their jobs, so I know they’re ready for a transition. Our youngest son has books and papers strewn here and there throughout the house as he works his way through a successful school year—Algebra has been the hardest subject for him and the sweetest victory. His favorite subject is reading, and he’s on his second novel for ’09, which he sets aside just long enough to shake the walls with his bass guitar or trumpet.
Inside the busyness are hidden blessings as we navigate through successes and failures. And throughout the days we can see the rhythms of life. Under the Amish Connection part of this edition, you’ll find more thoughts on the topic of rhythm from me and an Old Order Amish friend, as we share some of our joint writings. I hope you’ll be blessed by it.
Em Gott sei Friede (God’s peace),
Amish Connection
Thoughts from my Old Order Amish friend, Miriam ~
Nature gives us the unexpected. But it also gives us rhythm. Nature is an awesome thing. When God created the world, He designed the sun to rise in the east and to set in the west at basically the same time each day, allowing for the seasonal changes. Around noon the sun is close to being directly overhead. That is often the warmest part of the day. We can always depend on our Creator for this day after day, week after week, year after year since the beginning of time.
Knowing and trusting in God’s rhythm helps me in many ways. I can use His rhythm to create my own. The rhythm of the day. The rhythm of the season. The rhythm of life.
I always look forward to each new season. But when I’m weary of snow and cold, I feel encouraged to know an end of winter is in sight. Winter fades and spring begins. During those first few weeks of spring, I love the feel of the sun on my back and the warmth of garden dirt under my feet as I plant fresh seed in the ground. By the time fall rolls around, my strong wintertime desire for warmer weather and gardening has been fulfilled. With some help from my family, I’ve plowed, planted, weeded, and harvested a garden through spring, summer, and into late fall, so I begin to look forward to the quieter indoor season of winter.
Thoughts from Miriam’s Englischer friend, Cindy Woodsmall ~
The first time I entered the Amish world as an adult, I had traveled for eighteen hours by train, stopping in towns all through the night while I stayed inside my sleeper car. When I couldn’t sleep, I pulled out my laptop and worked, glancing up every so often to take in the beauty of distant lights shining against the dark towns.
I’d spent years honing the skill of multitasking, so working when I couldn’t sleep made perfect sense. My life’s goal seemed to be sharpening my ability to juggle more and more tasks using less time than before. But when I stepped into my friend’s Old Order Amish world, I found something I hadn’t known was missing: a sense of morning, noon, and night.
Reality said I had twenty-four hours a day just as she did. But my mornings consisted of the same things my midday, late afternoon, and evening consisted of: computers, e-mail, phone calls, writing, and editing. Even the various chores of taking care of my family had no boundary of morning versus evening. I could move a load of clothes into the dryer just as easily at ten o’clock at night as I could at ten in the morning. E-mails were sent just as easily before daylight as they were before bedtime. I woke each morning to the rhythm of busyness, but I had lost the rhythm of the day—the tempo of sunshine filtering into my soul, of listening to the birds wake and breathing in the aroma of a day’s fresh start.
Inside Miriam’s life, the aura of each morning, noon, and evening were too strong to pass by without noticing. Laundry had to be washed and hung out early. Cows and horses needed to be tended to before breakfast. Without electricity, navigating the home after the sun went down brought a sense of closure to the day. As I went through that week, I felt the rhythm and nuances of a day as the sun moved across the sky from east to west.
Prayer ~ Father, thank you for the subtle distinctions of morning, noon, and night. Help us to mark the rhythm of each day, knowing it’s a small-scale circle of the seasons of life with special gifts all its own.
Action ~ Think of a few simple ways you can begin to feel the rhythm of morning, noon, and night. Rather than scrambling through the morning, set the clock so you can have ten minutes outside—maybe sitting on a porch, relaxing in a lawn chair, or even leaning against your car. Breathe in the new day’s air. When you eat lunch, take note of the shifting of gears people do automatically. Soon you’ll find your own way of noticing the “changing season” within each day.
2008 Amish Quilt Contest Winner
Our Amish-made quilt contest winner for 2008 is Nedra Wright! Nedra received her quilt and blessed me by sending a photo and a message that I’d like to share with you.
Cindy,
I received my quilt this weekend. It is gorgeous; the colors are much deeper and richer than the online photo. I will cherish it forever and the card was a blessing also. I am sending a photo of me and the quilt. Please let me know if it comes through okay. Thanks again and may Jesus bless you always. Nedra Wright, Lawrenceburg, TN
The photo came through beautifully, Nedra. Thank you for it and the note. Hearing back from you has really blessed me.
For those of you who’d like a chance to win, the 2009 Amish-made quilt contest is under way. I’ll be going to an Amish school sale/auction in May, and Miriam will help me pick out an Amish quilt for the next contest.
The contest is easy and fun. You can enter yourself into the contest one time. You can also have your friends visit the site and enter themselves and you. (One time per friend, please.) So if you have twenty friends drop by the site, they can each enter themselves once and your name will be entered twenty times. To enter the contest, follow this link: http://www.cindywoodsmall.com/contest.php
Newsletter Contest
Since I’m going to Miriam’s in May for the community’s annual Amish school sale, I’m not positive what the prize will be. I’ll look for an Amish-made craft that’s well suited for this contest, and I think it will be a wall hanging. The contest will run until the next newsletter is sent out.
Here’s how to enter. (Please follow these steps carefully to prevent your entry from being disqualified.)
- Send a blank e-mail [I won’t open them, so don’t send a message.]
- Place the words “Newsletter Contest” in the subject line.
- Send to cindy (at) cindywoodsmall (dot) (com).
- Only one entry per person/e-mail address, please.
This contest is open to residents of the continental United States.
We have a winner from the last newsletter contest. Cindy, of Huntington, Indiana, has won the Amish-made hames wall hanging. Congratulations, Cindy.
Bookplates are now Available
Bookplates are adhesive-backed stickers that I can sign and mail to you in a regular envelope with current letter-rate postage. Putting the sticker on the title page of your book makes it an autographed copy!
For more information go to: http://www.cindywoodsmall.com/bookplates.php
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Tidbits from my editor, Shannon [Hill] Marchese |
I highly recommend: The God Cookie, the second novel by Geoffrey Wood. In a wild experiment in listening to and obeying God, a cryptic fortune-cookie message sends one ordinary man on an adventure with a larger-than-life cast of characters. Publishers Weekly says about the novel: “Quirky characters and sidesplitting dialogue, laced with the painful ironies of real life, will have readers feeling as though they are indulging in all things cozy, comforting and invigorating.” The perfect book for escaping from the harsh realities of day-to-day, bringing a smile to your face, and being reminded that God knows what he is doing. To read about or order: Amazon.
I also recommend: Mama’s Got a Fake I.D. by Caryn Rivadeneira, of which Jane Johnson Struck, executive editor of MomSense magazine and former executive editor of Christian Parenting Today, said, “I’ve met many moms who passionately love their kids, yet struggle with feeling marginalized. Does being a good mom really require them to surrender the goals and gifts that make them all God created them to be? The good news is, it doesn’t. Caryn guides women who love being a mom through the process of rediscovering and reclaiming their full identity in Christ.”
No one begins life as a mom. Before you have children, you are an amazing combination of friend, daughter, confidant, visionary, encourager, and thinker. You start out in life using your gifts and abilities in a surprising variety of settings. Then you have children and the role of mom—as wonderful as it is—seems to consume you. It’s easy to lose your identity when others see you as a mom and little else. What happened to the artist, the team-builder, the organizer, the entrepreneur, the leader—the person you’ve lost touch with? In Mama’s Got a Fake I.D., Caryn Dahlstrand Rivedeneira helps moms reclaim the person God made them to be. God still wants to use you in ways that let your gifts, passions, and personality shine. To read about or order: Amazon
Recipes ~From the Esh Family Cookbook
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Lazy Wife’s Dinner, submitted by Mrs. Sadie Beiler (Jonas)
| 1 can cream of mushroom or celery soup | 1 cup carrots, diced |
| 1 cup potatoes, diced | 1 cup cooked meat of your choice, diced |
| 1 cup uncooked macaroni | 3 Tbsp. chopped onion |
| 1-1/2 cups milk | |
| 1-1/2 cups any frozen vegetable | |
| 1/2 lb. Velveeta or American cheese, cut up | |
Mix all ingredients together. Do not cook anything first except the meat. Bake covered for 1-1/2 hours at 350 degrees. |
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Sweet Potato Balls, submitted by Mrs. Anna Mary Lapp (Christ)
| Mix: | 1 bag marshmallows |
| 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes | 1 egg, beaten |
| 1 tsp. salt | 1-1/2 cups crushed corn flakes |
| 1-1/2 Tbsp. melted butter | |
| 1 Tbsp. sugar | |
Shape potato mixture around each marshmallow; chill for about 30 minutes. Dip sweet potato balls in beaten egg, then roll in crumbs. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown |
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A tidbit about Amish life
Rumschpringe is the Pennsylvania Dutch word for “running around.” It’s a time during which Amish young people decide whether or not they’ll join the faith. It usually begins around sixteen years old, and although there isn’t an exact time it’s over, parents encourage a decision to be made during the early twenties. The community begins to feel leery of a young man or woman who remains among them but doesn’t join the faith by the mid- to late twenties. Although none of what I’ve said is written as part of their faith, it is in line with what is expected.
There seems to be a lot of misinformation out there about what a rumschpringe is. Those writing about it often state something to the effect of “The Amish raise their children strictly. Then, when those children turn sixteen, they let them run wild, letting them indulge freely in drinking, drugs, parties, sex, etc.” That is absolutely not true.
I was staying with an Old Order Amish friend last spring when an Amish holiday rolled around. Everyone had the day off, and the parents did their best to provide an outlet for the teens to get together and have fun among plenty of chaperones. The parents chipped in and bought pizza and drinks. Since it was pouring rain, they set up volleyball nets inside a huge warehouse-type building.
This is typical of the Old Order Amish. The parents want to offer freedom and fun for their young people as well as a safe, controlled environment. They allow the teens to express their personalities. They give leeway for their energy and provide opportunities to bond with other Amish teens. Although the parents have large families and their days are spent trying to meet the needs of all their children, they do a remarkable job of providing guidance and protection for those in their time of rumschpringe.
Will some teens, regardless of how they’ve been raised, break free of all their parents hold dear? Yes. Does that mean the parents threw open the door to the “world” and encouraged their children to sow their wild oats while they could? No.
The true purpose of the rumschpringe is to provide a bridge between childhood and adulthood. The rumschpringe is meant to give freedom for an Amish young person to find an Amish mate. They are usually free to date anyone during this time, but it is the parents’ desire that they only date other Amish. In spite of that fervent desire, most parents give their young people the chance to see what the world outside the Amish community is like, which means those who are in rumschpringe can date non-Amish people, though their parents may or may not know about it.
We live in a free country. At eighteen, any American is free to leave home and do whatever he or she wishes as long as it isn’t illegal. In a way, the rumschpringe honors that law while providing a loving home environment in which parents pray their child will choose to join the faith.
Below you’ll find some creative and thoughtful advice from Old Order Amish parents, Stephen & Ruthie Beiler.
How To Plant a Vegetable Garden
First plant 5 rows to peas:
Patience — Promptness — Preparation — Perseverance — Purity
Next plant 3 rows of squash:
Squash gossip — Squash jealousy — Squash indifference
Then plant 5 rows of lettuce:
Let-us be faithful to duty
Let-us be unselfish
Let-us be loyal
Let-us be true to obligations
Let-us love one another
And no garden is complete without turnips:
Turn-up for important meetings
Turn-up with a smile
Turn-up with good ideas
Turn-up with determination
Turn-up to make everything count for something worthwhile
