Mem: Life Lessons I Learned from My Amish Mother, Part 2

Three years later, in February of 2014, I published my second book, Bonnet Strings: An Amish Woman’s Ties to Two Worlds. That summer I realized that even though I have written two books that recalled memories of my Amish childhood and I did not shy away from writing about the abuse I endured at the…

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From My Amish World to My Vermont One — The Second Time

David’s “Faithful Charger” outside my parents’ home in 1981 Lately I have been reading my journals that I wrote in the months and years following the second and final time I left my Amish community. I’ve also been reading letters I received from “home” during that time. What I am concluding is that I would…

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‘Among’ the Amish but not ‘of’ Them

I apologize to those who do not understand my experience, unless you have walked in “our shoes” it probably does not make much sense. I love being “home” ! ~  Delmar Martin First I want to thank everyone for contributing to the lively discussion about the decision David and I are facing of where to…

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Another Crossroads

I promised a while ago that I would reveal our future plans. Since then, our plans have changed several times over. So the short answer to where we will be moving once the house sells is: we don’t know for sure. We put our house on the market partly because David’s job situation is tenuous,…

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Virtual Tour of Our Home

I am still aiming to write that book review soon. I thought I would share what I’ve been doing in the meantime. After much thought about what we want our future to look like, David and I have decided to put our house on the market. We have it on the market for sale by…

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Our Attic Space Before and During Renovation

I still have not found the time to do a longer post. I really will… I promise. As per CJ’s request, I thought I would send you before, during, and after renovation shots of our attic. First there was the bare attic:   Then came the messy insulation that made the attic look like a…

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Our Attic Space

I am aware that it’s been almost a month since I posted. My life has gone into nuts mode, but I promise to be back soon. I will be posting a book review in the coming week. I recently prepared our attic for a guest to stay in. I took some photos that I will…

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Amish Conference, Part 4

Special children are not just interesting medical problems, subjects of grants and research. Nor should they be called burdens to their families and communities. They are children who need our help, and if we allow them to, they will teach us compassion. They are children who need our help, and if we allow them to,…

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