Amish Religion

Amish woman, Evelyn King, had spent years being disappointed in her husband and her marriage. When Evelyn's husband died, leaving her pregnant and with a three-year-old daughter, she is faced with many problems including a house in ill-repair. When the quiet and kind Hezekiah Hostetler suddenly proposes, Evelyn knows this will solve all her problems as Hezekiah is nothing like her late husband.

Growing up Amish, Abigail Bontrager often felt like a square peg in a round hole. Her pie crusts always turned out tough. Her stitches always ran crooked. She was clumsy. Not ideal for an aspiring Amish wife and mother, but her faith and love of her family, which are so much more important, are solid. Plus, her relationship with the attractive and kindhearted Owen Kurtz is moving in the right direction.

Midwife Kim Osterholzer ushers listeners behind the doors of Amish homes as she recounts her adventures answering God's call to the craft of midwifery. Kim chronicles her nine-year apprenticeship grappling with the nuances and idiosyncrasies of homebirth. She recounts the beauty and painstaking effort of those early years spent catching babies by the light of crackling woodstoves, oil lamps, and lanterns. Every birth enthralled her, whether it involved halting hemorrhages, sharing breath with tiny lungs, or bouncing through wild rides in ambulances.

As May settles into family life, she has so much to be grateful for. Yes, there are plenty of challenges as she continues to heal from the demons of her past, but her loving husband and sweet children are the greatest earthly gift she could ask for. And having Oba in their home is almost more precious than she could have imagined . . . at least, if it weren't for his ongoing anger and hardness of heart. May's children are steadily growing older, and eventually they begin to face relationship struggles of their own. Can May help them navigate the turbulent waters of young love?

When Amish woman Katie's volunteer firefighter husband dies in the line of duty, she is heartbroken. Not only have her two young sons lost their father, but the child she is carrying will never know him. Her husband's best friend, Mark, steps in to take care of Katie and her children. Many months pass, and Mark is offered an opportunity away from Lancaster County. Not wanting to leave Katie and the children behind, he makes his feelings known.

It was the early 1900s when Obadiah (Oba) and Merriweather's (May's) parents died tragically, leaving them orphans at ten and eleven years old. When none of their nearby relations volunteer to take them in, they are set on a train to Arkansas to go live on their Amish aunt and uncle's cotton farm. Once there, it didn't take long to discover they would be treated cruelly, no matter what they did. May, always anxious to be a godly young lady, took on more and more responsibility, trying desperately to keep the peace and convince her older brother not to run away.

Cassandra Yoder was a girl who never wanted to follow the rules. Soon after Cassandra's boyfriend finds out she's pregnant, he leaves her alone on rumspringa and returns to their Amish community. Not long after, he is killed in a shooting. Cassandra considers she has no choice but to return home. When her parents find out she's pregnant, the only solution is to send her to Aunt Maud, who will help her find a couple to adopt the baby.

Take one thoroughly modern gal with a recessionary income problem, mix with the practices of a culture that has proved to be recession-proof, and what have you got? A financial planner in a straw hat. When writer Lorilee Craker learned that the Amish are not just surviving but thriving in the economic downturn, she decided to find out why.

Widowed and pregnant Amish woman, Sarah Kurtz, is in dire financial circumstances. Relief comes unexpectedly when her late uncle leaves her his income-producing farm in Sugarcreek. After Sarah's baby is born, she leaves Lancaster County and moves to her new home, unaware there is a long-term tenant living in the adjoining grossdaddi haus. When she meets her disagreeable neighbor, Joshua Byler, her irritation with him is softened by his two children.

Clinton has died and May is left to fend for herself in a city where she knows almost no one and has no way of earning a living. Not knowing where Oba had wound up and realizing she can't return to her uncle's home after all he'd put her through, she decides to journey to the Amish community where she spent her first years, before her parents' died. Perhaps the relatives who once turned her away had had a change of heart and would be willing to take her in or help her get settled on her own.

Unwilling to return to the darkness of her former life, Sherry Gore attacks her faith head on. Soon the life she remakes for herself and her children as she seeks to follow the teachings of the Bible features head coverings, simple dress, and a focus on Jesus Christ. Only then does she realize, in a fit of excitement, that there are others like her. They are called Amish and Mennonite, and she realizes she has found her people.

From best-selling author Beth Wiseman come four sweet stories centered around celebrations in the Amish community: rumschpringe, baptism, weddings, and Christmas.

Shocking secrets are revealed when Florence finds out about the English neighbor from next door. Will she feel the same when she learns the truth? Will Florence risk losing everything, her faith and the apple orchard, for a man who's kept the truth covered for so long? Could a surprise visitor change everything?

For years, Edna Miller has found herself drawn to Emery Hoschtettler with an attraction she can explain no better than she can put a stop to it. Other suitors come and go, but none make her feel the way she feels around Emery - that incredible floating feeling, as if she was walking on air, mixed with a painful desperation to be ever nearer to him. Despite the fact that Emery seldom seems to pay her much attention, she decides it would be unfair to marry anyone else when her heart longs only for him. He hasn’t seriously dated anyone else either.

From best-selling authors Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kathleen Fuller, and Ruth Reid comes An Amish Home, a beautiful collection of four novellas that spread the warmth of Amish living with every moment.

At just 17, Honor Baker found herself an unlikely love — her new brother-in-law. When the couple learns they won't be allowed to marry, their choice is obvious, and they do the only thing that makes sense. When Honor goes missing, Florence finds herself in a car on a road trip with her mysterious English neighbor. Even though he has many qualities she admires, there are things about him that don't add up. Will they be able to find Honor and bring her home?

Will love and faith guide a lost son back home for good? Can he mend the shattered hearts he left behind? Abel Bontrager returns to his Amish roots in Cedar Creek seeking solace from a tragedy that shattered his Englischer life to pieces, only to find himself face-to-face with Ruth Yoder, the woman he left behind. As old feelings resurface, Abel must prove his commitment to the community and to Ruth, while navigating the skepticism and disapproval of those around them, especially Ruth's brother Ezekiel. As a devastating barn fire tests Abel's resolve and shifts perceptions, love blossoms ...

Nineteen-year-old Tessie Miller is the youngest of her Old Order parents' five daughters--and the only one yet to marry. She has her heart set on Amishman Marcus Smucker, and come wedding season, they plan to tie the knot and start a family together. But Tessie's father disapproves. Ammon Miller has his reasons, and he has put his foot down. The marriage will not go forward. Impetuously, Tessie and Marcus take matters into their own hands, eloping to exchange their vows in the fancy, English world.

Calvin has been keeping a secret from his wife, but it’s not another woman. It’s a little boy. One afternoon when visiting Sarah Anne’s bookmobile, he meets Miles, a 10-year-old living with a foster family down the road. But after spending more time with the boy, Calvin learns that his foster family has no plans to adopt him. Calvin feels a connection with Miles and yearns to give the boy a home, but he’s afraid to tell Miriam, knowing she’s devastated they can’t have children of their own.

Three heartwarming tales of old friends and new beginnings that span one year in an Amish community.