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After Iowa, David and I drove to Missouri to see my Mennonite cousins, aunt, and uncle. We went to the reception of my cousin Martha's youngest daughter, Miriam's wedding. And I thought Amish weddings were big! Here are some pictures taken at the wedding: Three-hundred people attended the wedding    A glimpse of the bride…

I did two talks in Iowa — the first one on Coralville, the second in Independence. There was a downpour at the time of the talk in Coralville, which resulted in three inches of water in the parking lot at the library. I imagine more people would have showed up if the weather had been…

Neither David nor I had ever been to Minnesota, so we were both looking forward to stopping there on our book tour. We drove into Minnesota from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, as I mentioned in my earlier post.   I spoke at two venues in Minnesota, one in Owatonna, the other in Spring Grove. On our way…

Our household is one of more than 2 million that were without electricity (some still are). When I heard that we were going to get hit with a snowstorm, my first reaction was, “A snowstorm! in October?” I was in complete denial and so I didn’t go grocery shopping. On Saturday night we lost our…

  On our Midwest trip, David and I traveled from Indiana to Wisconsin right through Chicago. There is something about traveling through big cities that make me nervous, but I am fortunate to have David for a traveling partner, for he doesn't mind doing the hard driving. I took some shots from the car window…

David has posted some new designs on his blog — or should I say the same designs, but he is now also offering them as Christmas ornaments. You can click here to visit his blog. And here is a sneak preview: Aren’t they adorable? I feel very honored that for the last 25 years, David’s…

In the community where I grew up, there was a hierarchy of people who were "gut oh tzene" (well-regarded) and those who were not and everyone in between. It was nearly impossible to move up in the hierarchy, but that did not keep people from trying. In their attempts at having themselves look better, people…

For the first ten years after I left the Amish, I didn't want to go into my home community or any other Amish community. Since then, my inner struggle to come to terms with my Amish past has brought me more peace with the culture. Now, thirty-one years after my final exodus out of the…