My Life as An Amish Wife Read online

  HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

  EUGENE, OREGON

  Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

  Verses marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

  Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

  Published in association with Ridgeway Publishing, Medina, New York 14103.

  All the incidents described in this book are true. Where individuals may be identifiable, they have granted the author and the publisher the right to use their names, stories, and/or facts of their lives in all manners, including composite or altered representations. In all other cases, names, circumstances, descriptions, and details have been changed to render individuals unidentifiable.

  MY LIFE AS AN AMISH WIFE

  Copyright © 2015 Lena Yoder

  Published by Harvest House Publishers

  Eugene, Oregon 97402

  www.harvesthousepublishers.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Yoder, Lena.

  My life as an Amish wife / Lena Yoder.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-0-7369-6423-4 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-0-7369-6424-1 (eBook)

  1. Yoder, Lena. 2. Yoder, Lena—Family. 3. Amish women—Indiana—Biography. 4. Wives—Indiana—Biography. 5. Mothers—Indiana—Biography. 6. Amish—Indiana—Biography. 7. Amish—Indiana—Social life and customs. 8. Indiana—Biography. 9. Indiana—Social life and customs. I. Title

  F535.M45Y63 2015

  289.7092—dc23

  [B]

  2015004706

  All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s and publisher’s rights is strictly prohibited.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Lena’s Family & Friends

  A Note to You from Lena Yoder

  Year 1: Winter

  Year 1: Spring

  Year 1: Summer

  Year 1: Fall

  Year 2: Winter

  Year 2: Spring

  Year 2: Summer

  Year 2: Fall

  Year 3: Winter

  Year 3: Spring

  Year 3: Summer

  Year 3: Fall

  Year 4: Winter

  Year 4: Spring

  Year 4: Summer

  Year 4: Fall

  Year 5: Winter

  Year 5: Spring

  Year 5: Summer

  Year 5: Fall

  Year 6: Winter

  Year 6: Spring

  Year 6: Summer

  Year 6: Fall

  Year 7: Winter

  Year 7: Spring

  Year 7: Summer

  Year 7: Fall

  Another Note from Lena Yoder

  Glossary

  Ready to Discover More?

  Acknowledgments

  My heartfelt thanks…

  to God. Thank you for planting me in this community-rich, Amish settlement of Northern Indiana. Even when my family struggles, we are so abundantly blessed and surrounded by your love.

  to my ever-patient and encouraging husband, Wayne. Without your support I would never come to first base. One of these days I will mend your pants again. Our 21 years of marriage have been the best!

  to my children. You are our purpose in life. Thank you for being patient with me and all my whims. I would never survive without you. The Lord will richly bless you!

  to the Connection staff. Thank you for letting me be part of your family for 10 years already. Without you, I would never have started writing.

  Lena’s Family & Friends

  Wayne Yoder, husband

  Lena Frey Yoder, wife

  Colleen, age 13

  Brian, age 11

  Karah, age 8

  Emily, age 6

  Jolisa, age 4

  Jesse, age 2

  Grandma (Lena’s mom)

  Leanna, Lena’s sister, married to Al

  Sue, Lena’s sister

  Ida, Lena’s aunt

  Ida, Lena’s sister

  Grandma Raber, Lena’s grandmother

  A Note to You from Lena Yoder

  I live on the 72-acre dairy farm I grew up on in the middle of a large Amish community. Together with my husband, Wayne, and our six children, we work our land and raise dairy cows.

  One reason I want to share some of my daily life with you is simply to show you what the real Amish way of life is all about. With the proliferation of so many “Amish” TV shows, books, interviews, and stories that do not reflect our way of life, this true-to-life diary provides a glimpse of how we really live. Another reason I’ve offered this book is to show how Christ’s love and strength help us through our daily lives. Like all Christians, we experience triumphs and struggles as we grow in our faith in Jesus Christ. “The joy of the LORD is [our] strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

  I’ve always loved anything to do with paper and pen. I’ve been scribbling on any available surface ever since I was a small child. All those scribbles led to starting a small business of artistic handwriting and acrylic painting. I do custom order projects for people in my community, as well as others. I’ve published two other books about life on our farm that includes many recipes from our daily menu.

  Our main goal, as with any Christian family, is to live for Christ daily and let our light shine for him.

  Year 1

  Winter

  Children are a great comfort in your old age—and they help you reach it faster too.

  This morning my 11-year-old son Brian wanted to take his hockey stick to school because everybody else has theirs there. There are several drawbacks. Number one is that he doesn’t actually have one yet. He thinks we have one hidden away somewhere for his Christmas gift. The number two problem is that the pond isn’t even frozen hard enough to play hockey yet. Oh, but everyone else has sticks there just in case! It seems so silly to us, but I remember how it used to be in school. It seemed we were always the “duh” ones. The sad part is that ugly peer pressure doesn’t quit once you are out of school. However, I do believe as we get older and mature, we are able to pass it off better—if we choose to. I wonder how many of our adult pressures look as silly to God as our children’s pressures look to us?

  Right now I’ve got three little ones having a blast in the living room. They have their coats and scarves on and are pretending to be going to the fair. They have no idea what a fair is like, but they are having a blast. The living room pretty well looks like a fair too—imagine a hog pen. But the children aren’t crying, and they are able to run, and jump, and play. We’ll clean up later. These are the good days—busy and full of challenges, but we’re all home, all able to help each other, and all able to enjoy each other.

  Life on our farm was pretty well boring until the other morning when Wayne wanted a cow in the head gate.* [Definitions and explanations of words with *s after them can be found in the glossary at the end of this book. ] Not being a die-hard morning person, I do not relish such endeavors. The cow decided it was not necessary to be forced into a place she did not long to be. I was appointed
to stand in a little alleyway that leads to the motor room.* The cow was to go in exactly the opposite direction. She got downright evil as she came toward me and decided I was nothing to fear. She politely shoved me along, not worrying about the consequences she faced or where she was actually headed. She shoved me into the diesel room. I couldn’t open the door to head on out because the door swings in, and she had me against the door. The room was dark, and she couldn’t see. She promptly turned south on the motor block. She went clear to the end. Glass, pipes, bolts—you name it—were flying all over the place. I bailed out as soon as I could, sure that my husband wasn’t happy with me. It was very icy at the time, so I slipped around outside a while, wondering how I’d gotten myself into this fix—now with another bill to pay with having ruined the motor. What if we can’t even get it fixed today yet? I sure wish I could be anywhere but here.

  But calmness took over Wayne, who was now getting the cow off of everything and assessing the damage done.

  Shakily, I started picking up pieces and apologizing, wanting to say sorry and how worthless I really am a hundred times. I stuck with just a couple times because I knew that didn’t impress him either. Luckily, Wayne can fix almost everything by himself, and no, the motor did not need to be replaced. He tried getting the cow in later that day by himself, but he finally gave up. We’ll try some other time.

  Too bad nobody is dropping in to do my mending. That’s a job I push off way too long. Our everyday attire is pretty well rags. I need to sew myself new dresses. Then I’ll wear what I have for good now as everyday ones. I always have a hard time throwing away old, worn-out clothing. I’m known to recycle other people’s clothing that doesn’t fit anymore. I make little-girl dresses for my young daughters and pants for two-year-old Jesse. I’ve even made a quilt from dresses. I get a lot more use out of them than I would leaving unused clothes hanging in the closet.

  A couple weeks ago I went on an all-day Goodwill shopping trip. It was a treat because I had not gone for probably seven years. Wayne and I aren’t anti shopping, but we don’t endorse it either. Anyway, I enjoyed the day with neighbor ladies and got good deals on sweatshirts, boots, scarves, pillows, and such. The children had been hoping for some toys but were excited with the clothing and things I got.

  Wayne was milking when I got home. The children were all excited to see me and the things I bought. I should’ve run for the barn to help Wayne. I should’ve held the little ones. I should’ve visited with the older ones. That is one big reason I do not go away a lot—because I cannot handle being torn apart like that. Where is my presence needed the most? In what direction should I fly? It is so much more peaceful if I just stay at home.

  I have three eager, smiling little faces right around the typewriter wanting to watch me. The children are full of questions and threatening to punch some buttons. Lunch will be ready in about 10 minutes, and then comes nap time, which means peace and quiet for me for quite a while. By the end of this sentence, they’re already going their own way and playing nicely. Well, there’s Jesse. He’s content by himself as he’s throwing my extra papers on the floor. I intervene when he picks up a little glass bowl to pitch to the floor from the chair he’s standing on. Now he went to visit his grandma, who lives next door. Now he’s back again. He is the pure definition of “busy.”

  Jesse is surprising me by showing a real interest in going to the bathroom. Potty training is not one of my favorite jobs in parenting. Makes it nice when they actually want to. One of the first benefits little ones discover once they are out of diapers is that while sitting in church, if they decide they need a change of scenery, all they have to do is say, “I have to go potty!”

  This forenoon, Wayne, the little ones, and I went to our community’s private school a while. That is so inspiring to me. I wish I would take the time to go more often. Oh, to be filled with such youthful energy and eagerness! We have nine little first-grade girls (no boys) who brighten up that classroom as only sweet little first-graders can. With now being able to read, their little worlds are being opened up to so many fascinating new things. They were fun to watch. One wanted to show me that she lost one front tooth and the other one was loose!

  With the first half of January being so warm and rainy we’ve, of course, had to deal with major mud here on our heavy-clay-soil farm. With that major mud comes the inability to haul manure, which causes a major messy barnyard. What can we do about it? Be patient and wait for it to freeze over or dry out, whichever one comes first. Remember, being patient means not complaining.

  Last December we started a new venture in our farming business. We started milking three times a day. Actually, I should say Wayne does and I help. We milk in the morning at 5:30, Wayne milks in the afternoon at 1:30, and then we milk in the evening at 9:30. The first week and a half were rough going for me. My long, fixed schedule had changed and I, being a person who thrives on routine, had to adjust my patterns of doing things. I do see, though, that it has been very successful, and I am willing to continue on in this manner. There are definitely some drawbacks we have to swallow, but so far the good changes have outweighed the bad. The cows have responded far better than we had dared hope. I think this is less stressful than if Wayne would have gotten an off-farm job.

  On my kitchen windowsill I have a spring flower bulb partially submerged in water. The teachers gave it to us for Christmas. It’s taking a long time to bloom but giving us hope nonetheless. I’m looking forward to the day it will give us blooms. This morning I broke the original glass vase it was in, and some of the root system was broken off. Hopefully it didn’t do too much damage. I’m also eager to start all my tomato seeds. I’d like to start four varieties of non-acid plants along with the regular canning varieties.

  We’ve butchered one beef for ourselves so far this winter. We want to do one more and also two small pigs. You’re asking why so many? We just do younger, smaller beef and pigs, which gives us lean, quality meat.

  With the one cow we butchered, I just canned chunks, and the rest was ground and put into the freezer. For the chunks, we put it through the large-blade grinder once, put it into cans (canning jars), added a teaspoon of salt, and pressure cooked it for 40 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. I like to use this canned meat for barbeque beef, beef stew, and beef and noodles. I’d love to use it for vegetable soup too, but I can’t convince my family that’s something they want to eat.

  I will can fried steak and gravy, beef bologna, and more chunks when we butcher the next one. I put the bologna through the grinder at least three times after being mixed with seasonings for a much better tasting bologna with firmer texture. It doesn’t taste so salty. The men like to doubt me, but it is a proven fact. I think I have convinced them all by now.

  I look forward to having canned sausage links for breakfast too, and we make our own brats. These are all jobs I do not look forward to, but then it is so satisfying once we have fresh, good meat again. Praise the Lord for these precious blessings. We are blessed indeed.

  For a year now I have been working on improving my overall health—changing my eating habits, drinking more water, and getting body and mind refreshing exercise. I still have not conquered all my bad eating habits. That’s probably something I will have to work at the rest of my life.

  This forenoon I decided to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies so the children have something to snack on. Like usual, Jesse had to be at the counter helping me. I turned my back to put trash in the wastebasket. Quickly he got an egg, cracked it open, and, surprisingly, got most of it into the batter bowl! The rest ended up on the front of the cupboard and on the floor. Whew, could have been worse.

  Year 1

  Spring

  Due to the weather on Monday, our school was canceled for the day. That caused ripples of excitement throughout the house. I was even glad for the diversion to begin with. It was too nasty for Brian to be outside, so after chores and breakfast I got him started baking cookies. He didn’t want ordinary chocolate
chip cookies, but rather the soft, oatmeal chocolate chip that are rolled in powdered sugar. I told him regular chocolate chip would be easier. I was envisioning my powdered-sugar-coated kitchen by the time he got done. But then the kitchen is cleanable, so I got him going on the ones he wanted.

  Karah and Emily were to wash the breakfast dishes and finish tidying up the house. I don’t really know when the tidying up stopped and the messing up began. Between all that, I cut out a dress for Jolisa and got Colleen started on a sewing lesson. I spent most of the forenoon standing beside the sewing machine. Oh my, I do think I would make a better nurse than a teacher. It’s easier for me to poke a child and bring him to tears than it is to teach something like basic sewing.

  In reality, Colleen did really well. It’s just hard for me to remember a time when I had to use my brain to control which way to treadle. It’s been as natural as breathing for so many years now, and to see her pedal this way, then that way, and finally shoot forth in a crooked way is hilarious… or maybe frustrating. What is the word I’m looking for? I don’t think it’ll take long for her to catch on as she really wants to learn.

  By the time Brian was done with the cookies and Colleen was almost done with the dress, it was high time for lunch. I made stew because everybody had so many cookies (they were delicious). I knew it would be useless to make a bigger meal.

  I helped with the afternoon milking, and then Colleen and I baked two different kinds of cakes, made two pizzas, and got everybody ready to go away for supper. The children were very excited because we’d been home a lot lately, and they were ready for a change of scenery. We took supper to school for the teachers. It was a thoroughly enjoyed evening of eating, visiting, singing, and listening to some awesome harmonica playing. We came home, put the children to bed, and milked again.