Author: Darla Weaver
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Herald Press
ISBN-13: 978-1513803371
About the Book:
Spend a day with sisters.
Once a week Darla Weaver bundles her children into the buggy, hitches up her spirited mare, and drives six miles to the farm where she grew up. There she gathers with her four sisters and their children for a day with their mother. In Gathering of Sisters, Weaver writes about her horse-and-buggy Mennonite family and the weekly women s gatherings that keep them connected. On warm days, the children play and fish and build houses of hay in the barn. In the winter, everyone stays close to the woodstove, with puzzles and games and crocheting. No matter the weather, the Tuesday get-togethers of this Old Order Mennonite family keep them grounded and centered in their love for God and for each other,even when raising an occasional loving but knowing eyebrow at each other.
The rest of the week is full of laundry, and errands, and work that never ends. But Tuesdays is about being sisters, daughters, and mothers.
Hear straight from Amish and Mennonite people themselves as they write about their daily lives and deeply rooted faith in the Plainspoken series from Herald Press. Each book includes A Day in the Life of the Author and the author s answers to FAQs about the Amish and Mennonites.
My Thoughts
Have you ever observed a family and wished you were part of it? The type of family where they are close, seem to do everything together and are happy - truly happy? This is how I felt as I read Gathering of Sisters. I so wanted to be a part of the gathering at Darla's mom's home. To feel a part of a family that is not only family, but are also friends. They share books, chores, creative ideas, gardening, flowers, etc. They are the epitome of love and reading this book made me greatly desire what they had. My family is gone - most have either died or moved away, so there is no one to share my later years with, the way I had always envisioned it. I believe this is the part of Amish/Mennonite life that is so attractive to us - where their society hasn't broken down the way ours has.
In Gathering of Sisters, Darla Weaver takes the reader into her childhood home and family and shares her life, feelings, relationships with her siblings, children, nieces, nephews and her mother. Her accounts are honest and she tells how she's not perfect, how she doesn't really love doing everything that we assume the Amish love to do or are superior at. She gives us the gift of making the members of the Old Order alive and real and not some fantasy from the Amish romances that have become so popular.
To say I loved this book is an understatement. It not only tells about Darla's time on Tuesdays with her siblings at her mother's house, but it also combines life with Godly messages and verses. She shares how things that happen in her life remind her about Bible verses as well as how things are incorporated in God plan. This is beautifully done and doesn't sound preachy or false - but most definitely from the heart.
Along with faith, the reader will find recipes for some of the dishes that are cooked, menus that they have and a nice question and answer at the end. This book follows a year of visits with the family and as it winds down to the month of December, there is a sadness that one knows this is the end of the visit with the family.
Make sure to add this to your reading list. It will not only warm you heart, but your soul. Highly recommended!!!
About the Author
Darla Weaver is a homemaker, gardener, writer, and Old Order Mennonite living in the hills of southern Ohio. She is the author of Water My Soul and Many Lighted Windows and has written for Family Life, Ladies' Journal, Young Companion, and other magazines for Amish and Old Order Mennonite groups. Before her three children were born she also taught school. Her hobbies are gardening and writing.
I received an egalley of this book from the NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.
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Terry Dorn left home at the age of ten due to torture and abuse. Many teachers told Terry he could not be a writer because of his education. He has published a book for Washington State Mental Health system and has been the editor of a newspaper. "You must learn to turn your problems into lessons". The real power in this life is (FAITH) and beleiving in ones dreams! Terry's ability to see the good in people has helped many individuals to return to a productive life.