A few years ago while I was in Nappanee, Indiana, doing research for The Amish Bride, co-written with Mindy Starns Clark, I met an older Englisch woman working in a tourist shop. I asked her a few general questions and soon she was telling me about her life. The detail that stuck with me was that when she was first married, her best friend was her Amish neighbor.
The year before when I’d been doing research in Lancaster County, a Mennonite man told me that it wasn’t unusual for Amish and Englisch children to play together, to run back and forth to each other’s farms and play in each other’s houses.
For those of you who live near the Amish this wouldn’t come as a surprise. And I wouldn’t say that I was exactly surprised—more like “touched” in both cases.
The two conversations became seeds for a new series idea, titled Amish Neighbors. I added a twist though. The Englisch neighbors are a military family, reeling from the devastation of war. And the Amish father isn’t thrilled about their influence on his family.
Last week I signed a contract for the series with Bethany House (the publisher of my The Courtships of Lancaster County series.)
In the time between my initial idea and signing my contract, God gave me my own “neighbor.” Marietta Couch and her sister Ruth Helmuth, who both grew up Amish near Nappanee, walked into a bookstore where I was doing a signing over a year ago. Ruth lives in Colorado, but Marietta lives in Washington State, across the Columbia River from where I live in Oregon. In a short time Marietta and I became kindred spirits, bonding over her knowledge of and my interest in the Amish, but even more so over motherhood and life’s many journeys.
I’m so thankful for how God weaves our lives and stories.
God weaves our lives & stories together! #friendships @lesliejeangould @notquiteamish
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