Evangelizing

The Amish will not appear on your doorsteps to share the gospel or stand in street corners handing out tracts, neither will they go seeking converts to their faith.

They believe they will point more people to God simply by living a life different from the world, in nearly every way.

Their clothing, plain and what they think will not draw attention to ones self.

Living out the sermon on the mount. If Jesus taught it on the sermon on the mount you can count on them practicing it.

Marriage is a lifelong commitment, divorce is not an option. Matthew 5:32

They will not swear, as in giving an oath. Matthew 5: 34-37

They will not sue anyone. Matthew 5: 38-40

They go out of their way to return good for evil. Matthew 5:44

Giving alms after communion is not talked about, even husbands and wives don't know how much the other is giving. Matthew 6: 1-4

Prayers are either silent or from their little black prayer book. Matthew 6:6

They forgive those who wrong them. Matthew 6: 14-16

They don't spend a lot of money on things that aren't necessities. Matthew 6:19

They don't talk about their faith unless someone asks questions. Matthew 7:6

They obey the golden rule. Matthew 7:12

They believe that modeling their life according to these points will do way more for the kingdom of God than going out "witnessing" ever would. People will see their good works and glorify their Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

We're no longer Amish, but we still apply these same principles to our life, in addition we are much more open about talking about Jesus and what He has done for us, and prayer has become much more than it used to be.

Dating

Dating, calling, courtship, or what ever you want to call it varies from one Amish community to the next.

For most a boy will take a girl home (to her home) after the Sunday evening hymn singing and stay to visit for several hours.

Others have their dates on Saturday nights.

Some communities allow their dating couples to have a date every week, while others are only allowed to see each other every other week.

Some allow dating to begin at sixteen, while others aren't allowed to until after their eighteenth birthday.

Some have an absolute hands off no touching rule while others are much more lenient. Some require what we used to refer to as rocking chair courtship where the boy would sit on a rocking chair with the girl on his lap, and then there are still a few Amish churches that practice bed courtship.

LV and I grew up in one of the strictest communities when it comes to dating rules. We could only see each other every other Sunday night. We were never allowed to ride in a buggy together after we started our courtship, touching was not allowed. Dates were to be three hours long, max. Beginning at nine and ending at midnight. They discouraged long courtships and expected couples to marry somewhere between one and two years after they had their first date.

We Have a Winner!

Reading all your comments about the fun things you did this summer confirms what I have been feeling for a long time already. Simple pleasures are the best!

With out further ado, it's time to visit the random generator to choose the winner for the beautiful flexi-clip.

And the winner is...........................

Comment # 1

Debbie Fisher (debbiedee) said .................

I was able to have a garden and do canning this year again! I had back surgery 2 years ago and wasn't able to do anything those 2 years. Felt so good to get back to doing what I love in the summer.

Congratulations Debbie! Please send me an email with your address, and your flexi-clip will be mailed to you. I hope you will like it as much as I like mine!

Back-to-School

Summer is coming to an end, and as much fun as it is choosing the perfect back to school supplies for a new school year, sometimes it's fun getting something a little special for yourself.

So today I'm having a giveaway for one of my favorite things. A Lilla Rose flexi clip.

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment telling me something fun you did this summer. We didn't go on a vacation. In fact our summer wasn't anything like planned, but we still had a smattering of fun thrown in. Enjoying the best ice cream at this little ice cream shop, playing baseball in the backyard, and going swimming.

As always, for a second entry share this giveaway with a link back to this post on your blog or Facebook, and then leave another comment telling me you did.

I will be choosing a winner on Wednesday August, 20th.

Giveaway is now closed and a winner has been chosen.

Missing

My email was exploding this morning with people concerned about the two little Amish girls that were abducted from a little roadside stand in New York, where they were selling vegetables.

No, I don't know them, but my stomach is still in knots thinking about what their family and loved ones must be going through. I can't imagine the anguish and helplessness they must be feeling.

No parent should ever have to go through something like that, and no child should have to ever experience being torn from their family.

I will be praying for them, but not only for them, but for all parents that are hurting, waiting, and hoping for their child to return.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. The best part of waking up is____________________________________.

That feeling of having an entire day ahead of me chock full of potential.

2.  Given a choice, which animal interaction would you most like to experience (or for those non-adventurers...which would you dislike the least?)- Swim with the dolphins at one of several locations in the Florida Keys, a lion encounter ten minutes from Victoria Falls (Africa), or a day at a remote base camp high in the Big Sur wilderness via the Ventana Wildlife Society helping track California condors?

Interacting with lions scares me. Spending an entire day tracking California condors makes me feel hot, tired and itchy just thinking about it. So I'm going with swimming with the dolphins.


3. What is something you fear about 'old age'? What is something you look forward to?

The thought of not being able to care for myself or possibly losing my memory scares me. I'm hoping I can be like my great-grandma who lived to the ripe old age of 106 and was spry and independent until just the very last weeks.

It's still a long way off, but I do look forward to hopefully having grandchildren when I'm old.

4. Hot sauce...are you a fan? If you answered yes, what's something you make/eat that must have hot sauce? On a scale of 1-10 how hot is too hot?

Not a fan of hot sauce. I like spices and flavorful food, but see no reason to burn off my tastebuds.

5. It's been said that children learn what they live. What do you think children learn at your house?

Love, patience, importance of family, and a healthy dose of hospitality.

6. What's your favorite movie with a number in it's title?

We don't watch a lot of movies so the only one that comes to mind is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I have no desire to watch it again though.

7. Saturday (August 16th) is National Tell a Joke Day...share one here.

I'll spare you from all the knock-knock jokes I hear on a daily basis, and instead share another one the children shared this morning.

What does a nosy pepper do?

Gets jalapeno business.

8.  Insert your own random thought here. 

This is what happens when Sunbeam sings along to something Buddy is watching.

Corn

We used to raise more corn than any other vegetable in our garden, and during sweetcorn season dinner would consist of all you can eat corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, and a cup of milk. Any left over corn would be enjoyed cold the next day with butter and salt.

My least favorite thing about getting corn ready to eat was when I found a worm already snacking on the kernels at the top. It never failed to make me shiver. There were ways to combat this problem. One was the very time consuming method of carefully putting about a teaspoon full of mineral oil on each ear of corn when the silk was developing which deterred moths from laying their eggs there.

My preferred method was having plenty of bluebird and purple martin birdhouses all around the sweetcorn patch and allow the birds to do all the work and keep the moths away. The years we had an abundance of birds the worms found in the corn was almost zero.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What would you say is the key to success?

Patience, persistence, not ignoring those gut instincts.

2. Have you ever been to the Florida Keys? Any desire to visit that part of the US of A?

I have never been to the Florida Keys, but I would love to visit someday.

3. When and where did you last see a real live donkey? Monkey? Turkey?

Donkey: Several years ago while we lived in Missouri our next door neighbor had miniature donkeys. They were the cutest animals with the biggest voice. We enjoyed them a lot.

Monkey: I have never seen a real live monkey. Would love to visit a zoo before long.

Turkey: Yesterday. There are several large flocks that roam the hillside and woods behind the barn.

4. An old Portuguese proverb says, 'Beware of the door with too many keys.' What do you think this means? Share an example of how this has proven true or false in your own life.

Hmmm..... I've never heard that one before. What comes to mind is to beware of trying to please everyone.

No idea if I'm even close to what they had in mind, but I absolutely think it has proven true in our life. We would go batty if we tried to fit our life into every mold that has been thrown at us.

5. Besides your home, vehicle, and special jewelry, what is something you keep under lock and key?

The letters LV and I wrote to each other before we were married. No one needs to accidentally stumble across them and read them.

6. When did you last get keyed up about something?

Keyed up as in nervously excited? I wasn't really nervous, but was feeling excited about having a new school year begin. Today is day three, the children are loving it, and so am I.

7. Who thinks we need an easy one right about now?  Key lime pie...yes please or no thank you?

Yes, please!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

We have been competing with the birds to get the black raspberries on a few bushes. I think I have enough to bake a pie. The raspberries are now over, and blackberries will soon be starting. I'm hoping to be able to get more of those if the birds don't beat me to them again.

Baths

This is another question I have received often, and according to the amount of people that land on my blog after doing a search for "how often do the Amish take a bath" it is a subject that makes a lot of people curious.

As usual I can't speak for every Amish community out there, but I can share from my own experience of growing up Amish.

When we were little children baths occurred on Saturday evenings, but as we grew older they happened much more frequently. And no we didn't have some ancient tub we had to drag out and fill with water. We had a normal bathtub and nice hot running water.

LV once met an Amish man from a nearby, yet very different Amish community. During their course of conversation the man mentioned how life changes when you have teenagers, his daughter had a boyfriend and now thought she has to take a bath every week!

Not being able to have a bath at least once a week was a little mind boggling to us, but also a perfect example of just how very different Amish communities can be.

Aprons

Starting another series of A- Z posts.

An Amish woman's outfit consists of three pieces. The dress, cape, and apron. The cape is often not worn during the week unless they want to dress up to go somewhere, but is always worn to go to church. The apron on the other hand is worn every single day.

Sundays and dressier aprons had a single belt that was wrapped around the waist and fastened with two straight pins, everyday aprons had two strings that could easily be tied on the back and made it ever so much easier to change when needed.

These everyday aprons came in a nice assortment of colors. We could use almost any color we liked and much lighter than acceptable shades of colors for dresses. We would often choose colors that were several shades lighter than the dress we were wearing, and then there was always a supply of white aprons kept on hand that would go with anything and would be used when our somewhat matching aprons were dirty, or if guests stopped in and wanted to help in the kitchen we always gave them a white apron to wear over the apron they were already wearing. It would never do to have them get dirty in our house.

Darker colored aprons were often used when doing especially dirty work like butchering or taking care of animals and other barn chores.

Aprons came in handy when gathering vegetables from the garden and there were more than we could carry with our hands. They served as a quick potholder when the need arose, and worked wonders to shoo away the neighbor's dog when it came to visit.

These aprons weren't pretty, they didn't have pockets, but neatly hid the pockets on the dresses. You never felt dressed and ready for your day until you were wearing your apron.

I hardly ever wear an apron any longer, but have them on my list of things to sew this winter, I'm looking forward to wearing them in the kitchen once again.