Wednesday, March 1, 2017

An Amish Home by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid and Kathleen Fuller

An Amish Home by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid and Kathleen Fuller is 4 novellas by these 4 well known authors.  In the 1st, A Cup Half Full by Ms. Wiseman, the reader is introduced to Sarah who when only a week into her marriage was in a car vs. horse and buggy accident.  Sarah would never walk again. Sarah would always be confined to a wheel chair.  Sarah had worked through that it was not Abram's fault that she would never again walk though Abram was still working on not blaming himself.  Sarah has been told that she can have children but she is afraid that she won't be able to properly care for a child safely.  Sarah has many things to work through but when she is afraid that Abram is unfaithful and doesn't want her anymore Sarah finally finds her courage to face all her fears and begin to live life--it won't be the perfect one that she first thought that she would have but it will be a good one.

Chace and Mia have had it rough and now was the worse time of all because now they were homeless.  Chace had grown up in foster care but had decided that Mia and the baby would always have everything that they needed but now that they had been evicted Chace was beginning to feel like the failure that Mia's parents had always called him.  Mia had always had all the material items that she ever needed but when she told her parents that she was going to marry Chace and have his children they disowned her.  But when Chace was offered the daadihaus that his Amish boss owned they thought that at least they wouldn't be homeless but that was before Mia tried to live without electricity.  There was no switch to turn up the heat--they had to add coal to the fire.  There was no light switch they had to light candles or else use the Coleman for light at night. The young couple start to bicker endlessly.  But when the baby got sick and there was no money to go to the doctor Mia left.  How does this young couple figure out what to do?

Thomas and Noreen King were hopelessly in love when they married 15 years ago but what had happened to that love?  Noreen had been cooking the meal and had run down to the cellar to get preserves to make a dessert and when she came back upstairs the kitchen was engulfed in flames and Noreen was trapped.  Then something hit her in the head and she fell and her hip was hurt and she couldn't move just in time Thomas ran in and saved her.  The community came in to help them put out the fire but it had burned the house up completely and most of the corn crop. The next days and weeks were spent cleaning up the site in order to rebuild.  The bishop had offered them their daadihaus to live in until their house was built.  Thomas and Noreen's marriage had continued to flounder however.  Both Thomas and Noreen had never before had their problems so public before but now all the advice that they receive is to pray for each other and their marriage. Then just when they begin to once again hope their home site is robbed.  They killed the pigs, stole Thomas' tools, and take the money that Thomas had hidden in a tin box.  It was all the money to rebuild.  Now what would they do?

Faith is grieving the loss of her grandfather as well as she had just broke up with Silas when she found that she just couldn't live with someone that she couldn't rely on.  Faith had always loved working with wood with her grandfather in his shop and would like to be a carpenter but it is not a proper job for a girl and so her father said no.  Silas is her ex-fiancĂ© and he has found that he needs to be more reliable because his mother who had him late in life now has dementia.  Now Silas needs to help his father care for her in addition to working in the carpentry shop with him.  Silas had to grow up and grow up fast.  Then Faith and Silas both got hired for the same job--making the cabinets for a couple's kitchen who were soon to be wed.  Faith needs the reassurance that she can be a real carpenter and Silas needs the money so they decide to work together but can they do it and on time?

This book was a delight to read and I would think that any woman or girl would love reading it. No sex, no violence.  The reader's attention is held from the moment that they start to read.  I received this book from Booklook for this review.