Don't miss Amish Wisdom TOMORROW!

I'm excited to have Bill Coleman on the show Thursday. Bill was the photographer for Amish Peace. He is AMAZING with a camera. Be sure to visit his website and look through his beautiful photographs. Breathtaking. Truly. Join us tomorrow at 4pm Central here: http://toginet.com/shows/amishwisdom (to listen just click the player in the top right corner.)

Bill Coleman is an internationally acclaimed photographer of the Amish. The photographic legacy he deems his Amish Odyssey is four decades long, a goodly number of years to document the lives and landscapes of the Old Order Amish sect in a hidden valley somewhere in Pennsylvania. But forty years is scantly time to portray a people whose ancestors immigrated to the area in the 18th century.

The Amish have a love affair with life and simplicity, with preserving ages of innocence and respect, with teaching responsibility and the joys of tradition. These very private people are reluctant to reveal themselves to outsiders.

Bill, albeit knowing he will always be an outsider has, charmingly, respectfully cajoled his way into the hearts and homes of a number of Amish families willing to allow him to document their lives from birth to death, generation after generation. His determination to keep their location secret, their lives private, equals their determination to maintain their way of life.

His photographs, often images of a precise scene taken at each season of the year and of cherubic children as they mature, holds a continuity of life and lifestyle beholden to the past, yet treasured for the future. In a sect where tradition and the ethic of hard work, respect of elders and love of children intertwine.

Bill creates beautifully powerful images. The past is present in every nuanced curve of the land. His photographs are intimate portraits of a place and a people who live in the simplicity of the past as the realities of the 21st century encroach upon their future.

Bill’s photos touch one’s senses beyond the gift of sight. They reveal the laughter of the youngsters, the chill of a snowy field, the aroma of a fresh baked apple pie, the touch of little girls clutching their baby dolls, and the mellifluous hammering of a barn raising. Beyond the physical senses are those of place, of humor, of past, and present thriving harmoniously. He portrays the whimsy of children at play with equal respect to the seriousness of Sunday worship.

On many days, from sunrise to sunset, Bill aims his camera at what he calls the “symphony of forms that created the valley…the lights, colors and textures of the fields, the farmlands, and the faces.” In describing his passion for preserving the gentle nature of this Amish sect, he confides, “I wish they knew how much I love them.” Look at his photos and you will have no questions about his love.

For more information and see some his amazing work, please visit: www.amishphoto.com

WIN A SIGNED COPY OF BILL'S LATEST BOOK, THE GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP! LEAVE A COMMENT on Bill's Amish Wisdom segment post (along with your email!)

Doing the Happy Dance!

Found out today that Amish Peace has been nominated by the ECPA for the Book of the Year (category: Inspiration).

Oh. My. Gosh. I'm just dazed! Dazed and grateful!

"Amish Grace" Movie Strikes Out

"Amish Grace" will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 28, on the Lifetime Movie Network

The costumes aren't quite right, the lead Amish character is improbably named Ida Graber and people are oddly critical of forgiveness.

But the most disturbing aspect of the upcoming television movie "Amish Grace" is the fictional liberties it takes in depicting the aftermath of the 2006 killings of five Amish girls in a Nickel Mines schoolhouse, according to a county resident.

"Just to fictionalize it, it didn't happen that way," said Herman Bontrager, an Akron man who acted as a spokesman for the Nickel Mines Amish community after the shootings, which also left five girls wounded.

"Amish Grace" will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 28, on the Lifetime Movie Network.

It stars Kimberly Williams-Paisley, an actress married to country singer Brad Paisley. Known for her roles on the TV show "According to Jim," and in the films "Father of the Bride" and "Father of the Bride, Part II," she plays Amish mother Ida Graber.

According to a press release from the network, the movie follows what happens in the community after a gunman shoots the girls and then takes his own life.

"What transpires afterwards takes the community by storm when the media descends on the town and criticizes its Amish leaders for their notion of unconditional forgiveness of the shooter and their outreach of support to his widow," the press release states.

Charles Carl Roberts IV was the gunman. He left behind a wife, Marie, and three young children.

In the movie, "Amy Roberts" is Roberts' wife, played by actress Tammy Blanchard.

Amy Roberts and Ida Graber, both in emotional turmoil, find themselves thrown together in the film.

"Deeply conflicted and unable to forgive the gunman and his family, Ida is tempted to leave the only life she's ever known before re-embracing her faith," the network press release reads.

According to the Lifetime press release, the movie is based on the book "Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy" by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zercher.

Kraybill, an Elizabethtown sociology professor, and the other two authors distanced themselves from the film in a statement they released Monday.

The authors said they did not own the film rights to their book and were not involved in their sale. A production company bought the rights from the book's publisher, Jossey-Bass.

"Out of respect to our friends in the Amish community and especially those related to the Nickel Mines tragedy, we declined the producer's requests to consult and assist in the development of a film," according to the statement.

Bontrager said he also refused a request to act as an adviser for the film when he was contacted by the movie's producers late last fall.

Bontrager said the advertisement for the movie includes some false statements, including the notion that the media was critical of the Amish community's forgiveness of Roberts.

Most reporters were "in awe" of that forgiveness, he said.

Regarding the character of Ida Graber, it is true that members of the Amish community struggled with the grief they felt after the shootings, Bontrager said.

"I do know the Amish went through all of the processes of responding to the tragedy that every human being does, from anger to denial to grief," he said. "They are quite aware of the steps. I don't think they were denying their emotions during the process.

"But I am not aware of anyone, to me or anyone I've talked with, who almost left their faith."

After viewing the movie trailer (www.mylifetime.com/movies/amish-grace), Bontrager said the Amish dress portrayed in the movie also is not correct. But the film appears to have bigger problems, he said.

"What strikes me the most is it doesn't characterize the gentleness of the Amish community and individuals very well," he said.

An attempt to contact an Amish member of the Nickel Mines community was not successful.

Bontrager said he believes Amish people would not like the movie for several reasons.

First, they don't want to be portrayed in movies or photographs, he said, and they don't want publicity for this event.

Also, he said, "Amish tell the truth and are accustomed to telling the truth. When you take an account like this, and make it appear like it happened, and fictionalize it, that's troubling."

The statement from the three authors of "Amish Grace" agrees with this point.

"We do know that Amish people are skeptical of movies and books about Amish life that blur fact and fiction, and particularly a movie that addresses such a painful subject," according to the statement.

The authors said that their share from the sale of the movie rights will go to a nonprofit organization. The three have donated all proceeds from the book to Mennonite Central Committee to provide aid for children suffering due to poverty, war and natural disaster.

cstauffer@lnpnews.com

http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/249326

Odd Word of the Day

nebbish \NEB-ish\, noun:

A weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person.

Nebbish is from Yiddish nebekh, "poor, unfortunate," of Slavic origin.

Odd Word of the Day

I just finished a book where one of the main characters used malapropisms. Mondegreens might be my next literary trick!

mondegreen \MON-di-green\, noun:

A word or phrase resulting from a misinterpretation of a word or phrase that has been heard.

Mondegreen was coined by Sylvia Wright, US writer, from the line 'laid him on the green,' interpreted as Lady Mondegreen, in a Scottish ballad.

Don't Forget! Amish Wisdom TODAY!

Join me this afternoon as I talk with Dr. John Dooley and Dr. Bryan Cloud, both of Virginia Tech, along with Dr. Cloud's wife, Renee. The Cloud's only daughter, Austin, was killed in the tragic Virginia Tech shootings. Renee and Bryan Cloud have developed a strong bond with the Nickel Mines families and, says Dr. Dooley, the couple has inspired many with their demonstrations of Amish grace.

Join me on here today at 4:00pm Central (2:00 pm Pacific Time) as the Clouds share their story and show us how they turned a tragedy into a blessing through service.

Before They Were Titans, Moguls and Newsmakers, These People Were...Rejected

At College Admission Time, Lessons in Thin Envelopes

• By SUE SHELLENBARGER

Few events arouse more teenage angst than the springtime arrival of college rejection letters. With next fall's college freshman class expected to approach a record 2.9 million students, hundreds of thousands of applicants will soon be receiving the dreaded letters.

Teenagers who face rejection will be joining good company, including Nobel laureates, billionaire philanthropists, university presidents, constitutional scholars, best-selling authors and other leaders of business, media and the arts who once received college or graduate-school rejection letters of their own.

Both Warren Buffett and "Today" show host Meredith Vieira say that while being rejected by the school of their dreams was devastating, it launched them on a path to meeting life-changing mentors. Harold Varmus, winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine, says getting rejected twice by Harvard Medical School, where a dean advised him to enlist in the military, was soon forgotten as he plunged into his studies at Columbia University's med school. For other college rejects, from Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy and entrepreneur Ted Turner to broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw, the turndowns were minor footnotes, just ones they still remember and will talk about.

Rejections aren't uncommon. Harvard accepts only a little more than 7% of the 29,000 undergraduate applications it receives each year, and Stanford's acceptance rate is about the same.

"The truth is, everything that has happened in my life...that I thought was a crushing event at the time, has turned out for the better," Mr. Buffett says. With the exception of health problems, he says, setbacks teach "lessons that carry you along. You learn that a temporary defeat is not a permanent one. In the end, it can be an opportunity."

Famous 'Rejects'

Warren Buffett

Bloomberg News; Buffett family photo (inset)

Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
After Harvard Business School said no, everything 'I thought was a crushing event at the time, has turned out for the better.'

Meredith Vieira

Getty Images; NBC Universal (inset)

'Today' show co-host
Had she not been rejected by Harvard, she doubts she would have entered television journalism.

Lee Bollinger

Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal; Baker City High School (inset)

Columbia University president
To 'allow other people's assessment of you to determine your own self-assessment is a very big mistake.'

Harold Varmus

Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal; Harold Varmus (inset)

Nobel laureate in medicine
Rejected twice by Harvard's medical school. One dean there chastised him and advised him to enlist in the military.

Ted Turner

Bloomberg

Entrepreneur
Rejected by Princeton and Harvard. 'I want to be sure to make this point: I did everything I did without a college degree.'

John Schlifske

Kevin J. Miyazaki for The Wall Street Journal

President of Northwestern Mutual
Lesson he learned from Yale's rejection helped him years later counsel his son, Dan (standing), who was rejected by Duke.

Tom Brokaw

Getty Images

Broadcast journalist
Harvard rejection prompted him to settle down and stop partying. 'The initial stumble was critical in getting me launched.'

Mr. Buffett regards his rejection at age 19 by Harvard Business School as a pivotal episode in his life. Looking back, he says Harvard wouldn't have been a good fit. But at the time, he "had this feeling of dread" after being rejected in an admissions interview in Chicago, and a fear of disappointing his father.

As it turned out, his father responded with "only this unconditional love...an unconditional belief in me," Mr. Buffett says. Exploring other options, he realized that two investing experts he admired, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, were teaching at Columbia's graduate business school. He dashed off a late application, where by a stroke of luck it was fielded and accepted by Mr. Dodd. From these mentors, Mr. Buffett says he learned core principles that guided his investing. The Harvard rejection also benefited his alma mater; the family gave more than $12 million to Columbia in 2008 through the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, based on tax filings.

The lesson of negatives becoming positives has proved true repeatedly, Mr. Buffett says. He was terrified of public speaking—so much so that when he was young he sometimes threw up before giving an address. So he enrolled in a Dale Carnegie public speaking course and says the skills he learned there enabled him to woo his future wife, Susan Thompson, a "champion debater," he says. "I even proposed to my wife during the course," he says. "If I had been only a mediocre speaker I might not have taken it."

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger was rejected as a teenager when he applied to Harvard. He says the experience cemented his belief that it was up to him alone to define his talents and potential. His family had moved to a small, isolated town in rural Oregon, where educational opportunities were sparse. As a kid, he did menial jobs around the newspaper office, like sweeping the floor.

Mr. Bollinger recalls thinking at the time, "I need to work extra hard and teach myself a lot of things that I need to know," to measure up to other students who were "going to prep schools, and having assignments that I'm not." When the rejection letter arrived, he accepted a scholarship to University of Oregon and later graduated from Columbia Law School. His advice: Don't let rejections control your life. To "allow other people's assessment of you to determine your own self-assessment is a very big mistake," says Mr. Bollinger, a First Amendment author and scholar. "The question really is, who at the end of the day is going to make the determination about what your talents are, and what your interests are? That has to be you."

Others who received Harvard rejections include "Today" show host Meredith Vieira, who was turned down in 1971 as a high-school senior. At the time, she was crushed. "In fact, I was so devastated that when I went to Tufts [University] my freshman year, every Saturday I'd hitchhike to Harvard," she says in an email. But Ms. Vieira went on to meet a mentor at Tufts who sparked her interest in journalism by offering her an internship. Had she not been rejected, she doubts that she would have entered the field, she says.

And broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw, also rejected as a teenager by Harvard, says it was one of a series of setbacks that eventually led him to settle down, stop partying and commit to finishing college and working in broadcast journalism. "The initial stumble was critical in getting me launched," he says.

Dr. Varmus, the Nobel laureate and president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, was daunted by the first of his two turndowns by Harvard's med school. He enrolled instead in grad studies in literature at Harvard, but was uninspired by thoughts of a career in that field.

After a year, he applied again to Harvard's med school and was rejected, by a dean who chastised him in an interview for being "inconstant and immature" and advised him to enlist in the military. Officials at Columbia's medical school, however, seemed to value his "competence in two cultures," science and literature, he says.

If rejected by the school you love, Dr. Varmus advises in an email, immerse yourself in life at a college that welcomes you. "The differences between colleges that seem so important before you get there will seem a lot less important once you arrive at one that offered you a place."

Similarly, John Schlifske, president of insurance company Northwestern Mutual, was discouraged as a teenager when he received a rejection letter from Yale University. An aspiring college football player, "I wanted to go to Yale so badly," he says. He recalls coming home from school the day the letter arrived. "Mom was all excited and gave it to me," he says. His heart fell when he saw "the classic thin envelope," he says. "It was crushing."

Yet he believes he had a deeper, richer experience at Carleton College in Minnesota. He says he received a "phenomenal" education and became a starter on the football team rather than a bench-warmer as he might have been at Yale. "Being wanted is a good thing," he says.

He had a chance to pass on that wisdom to his son Dan, who was rejected in 2006 by one of his top choices, Duke University. Drawing on his own experience, the elder Mr. Schlifske told his son, "Just because somebody says no, doesn't mean there's not another school out there you're going to enjoy, and where you are going to get a good education." Dan ended up at his other top choice, Washington University in St. Louis, where he is currently a senior. Mr. Schlifske says, "he loves it."

Rejected once, and then again, by business schools at Stanford and Harvard, Scott McNealy practiced the perseverance that would characterize his career. A brash economics graduate of Harvard, he was annoyed that "they wouldn't take a chance on me right out of college," he says. He kept trying, taking a job as a plant foreman for a manufacturer and working his way up in sales. "By my third year out of school, it was clear I was going to be a successful executive. I blew the doors off my numbers," he says. Granted admission to Stanford's business school, he met Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla and went on to head Sun for 22 years.

Paul Purcell, who heads one of the few investment-advisory companies to emerge unscathed from the recession, Robert W. Baird & Co., says he interpreted his rejection years ago by Stanford University as evidence that he had to work harder. "I took it as a signal that, 'Look, the world is really competitive, and I'll just try harder next time,'" he says. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame and got an MBA from the University of Chicago, and in 2009, as chairman, president and chief executive of Baird, won the University of Chicago Booth School of Business distinguished corporate alumnus award. Baird has remained profitable through the recession and expanded client assets to $75 billion.

Related

Work & Family Mailbox

Time puts rejection letters in perspective, says Ted Turner. He received dual rejections as a teenager, by Princeton and Harvard, he says in an interview. The future America's Cup winner attended Brown University, where he became captain of the sailing team. He left college after his father cut off financial support, and joined his father's billboard company, which he built into the media empire that spawned CNN. Brown has since awarded him a bachelor's degree.

Tragedies later had a greater impact on his life, he says, including the loss of his father to suicide and his teenage sister to illness. "A rejection letter doesn't even come close to losing loved ones in your family. That is the hard stuff to survive," Mr. Turner says. "I want to be sure to make this point: I did everything I did without a college degree," he says. While it is better to have one, "you can be successful without it."

Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

This week on Amish Wisdom: The Comfort Quilt

What is "The Comfort Quilt?"

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, a school in Ohio created a simple, patchwork quilt for children whose parents had been killed in the attacks. A school in New Jersey hung the quilt, and there it stayed--until four years later--when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The Comfort Quilt was sent to a school in Mississippi which had taken in many displaced New Orleans' students. When the Nickel Mines School shooting occurred, the Comfort Quilt moved again...this time to bring comfort to the Amish families of Nickel Mines.

The Comfort Quilt was taken by the Amish to Virginia Tech, after the tragic shootings that took place on April 16, 2007.

Dr. John Dooley and Dr. Bryan Cloud, both of Virginia Tech, will be joining us on Thursday, along with Dr. Cloud's wife, Renee. The Cloud's only daughter, Austin, was killed in the shootings. Renee and Bryan Cloud have developed a strong bond with the Nickel Mines families and, says Dr. Dooley, the couple has inspired many with their demonstrations of Amish grace.

Join me on Thursday as the Clouds share their story and show us how they turned a tragedy into a blessing through service.

Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 Central Time to Amish Wisdom! (To listen, just click on the player in the upper right corner!

Conversations with Dad

Just a warning...this is a two-hanky post.

On Friday, my sister accompanied my mom to Dad's doctor appointment at the Stanford Memory Clinic.

Dad has had a difficult month--he was hit with a bad intestinal virus that kept him out of commission for a while. Then, he couldn't get out of bed one day and ended up in the emergency room. Turned out he had a compression fracture in a vertebrae...just due to old age.

So Dad has declined quite a bit this month. He's weak and lethargic, even to the point of whispering, as if it takes too much energy to project his voice.

Back to the doctor's appointment on Friday...the doctor told Mom and my sister that Dad is now in late stages of Alzheimer's. He said that falling will be a concern as Dad's balance and coordination fails. He wants Dad to have a walker to help stabilize him. All of this information wasn't a surprise, but it's still hard news to hear.

But then there was one moment...a gift. A mercy. A sweet memory among many sad ones.

Dad doesn't have much vocabulary left, but when the doctor asked him who mom was, he whispered something back. The doctor looked at Mom and asked, "Did you hear what he just said?"

Mom shook her head.

"When I asked him who you were, he whispered, 'She's...my everything.'"

Maintaining a Healthy Level of Insanity

These were forwarded to me from a brilliant grammarian (who chose to remain anonymous!). We're not sure who started it...kind of funny, though. A few were deleted due to crudeness. I run a G-rated blog, don'cha know!

20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity:

1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.

2. Page yourself over the Intercom. Don't disguise your voice.

3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.

5. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.

6. In the memo field of all your checks, write "For Marijuana."

7. Finish all your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

9. Skip down the hall rather than walk and see how many looks you get.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify that your drive-through order is "To Go".

12. Sing along at the opera.

14. Put mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.

15. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you have a headache.

17. When the money comes out the ATM, scream "I Won! I Won!"

18. When leaving the Zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling "Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!"

19. Tell your children over dinner, "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

20 And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity ...

Send This To Someone To Make Them Smile.

Its Called ... therapy.

Don't Forget! Amish Wisdom TODAY!

Tune in Today! Thursday at 4:00 CST Amish Wisdom!

(To listen, click on the player in the upper right corner.)

Today's guest is Glenda Lehman Ervin, daughter of founder Jay Lehman, who founded Lehman's - the country's oldest and largest low-tech Super Store in America. Lehman's has catered to their Amish clientele for over sixty years. This will be a fascinating show! Go here for all the details.

The Power of Half

This is a newly released book I came across that sounds oh-so-awesome! Hoping I can book the dad and daughter on my radio show soon:


In 2006, 14-year-old Hannah Salwen had an aha moment while out driving with her father, Kevin, a writer. "As Dad pulled up to a red light," recalls Hannah, now 17, "on our left was a Mercedes coupe; on our right was a homeless man on the sidewalk, begging for food. I said, 'If that guy didn't have such a nice car, maybe the other guy could have a meal.'

My dad replied, 'Well, what if we didn't have such a nice car?'"

That conversation put the Salwens on a surprising path to philanthropy, recounted in Hannah and Kevin's new book, The Power of Half (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt):

The family of four decided to sell their Atlanta house, downsize to a smaller home, and use half the proceeds from the sale to sponsor two villages in Ghana through the Hunger Project (thp.org), a nonprofit that works to end hunger and poverty in the developing world.

"We all had to trust each other enough to go through with this crazy idea," Kevin says. "But to gain deeper trust and understanding, I think most anyone would give up some of their stuff."

Source: Rachel Mount in "O" magazine

This week on Amish Wisdom: Glenda Lehman

Join me on Thursday as I talk with Glenda from Lehman's and hear how her father, Jay, built the largest low-tech superstore in America. Glenda and her brother Galen have continued their father's legacy. Glenda will be sharing about some of Lehman's unique products as well as her thoughts on the Amish's simple lifestyle.

A bit about Lehman's beginnings: Jay Lehman founded the store in 1955 to serve the local Amish and others without electricity. His vision was to preserve the past for future generations. "I was concerned that some day the Amish would not be able to maintain their simple ways of life because these products would no longer be available," he said. His goal was, and still is, to provide authentic, historical products to those seeking a simpler life.

Because Jay had the foresight to look to the past for his business, he turned a one-room country hardware store into a low tech superstore. Think about it: in 1955 Disneyland opened its doors. Baseboard heat and huge automobiles were all the rage. Rebel Without a Cause was the top film; Elvis Presley was introduced to screaming fans; and the television replaced the radio as the entertainment medium of choice (Leave It to Beaver, by the way, was the top show).

It was in this climate that Jay decided to carry products that his Amish customers needed to preserve their way of life. He thought, rightly so, that one day no one would be making butter churns, apple peelers and drying racks. So, he was going to craft, stock and sell these generation-spanning products. For more information and to browse their online store visit, www.lehmans.com!

Tune in on Thursday at 4:00 Central Time to Amish Wisdom! (To listen, just click on the player in the upper right corner!

Uh Oh. Not a Good Way to Start the Week

I woke up this morning and everyone was in their normal routine. My husband left, older son left. I wondered why the other son (my senior in high school) was still asleep, so I went back to his room and it was empty!

I mean, that is not normal. He is the type who squeezes every extra minute of morning shut-eye he can get.

So I immediately texted him and crossly asked, "Where are you?!"

Probably off playing that silly Assassins game, I figured.

Then I noticed the clocks. I was an hour off. But my husband left at the normal time! Or so I thought. I called him...he said that he was running behind today and forgot to mention it.

My son later texted me back and said, "I'm usually at school at this time, MOTHER."

Mea culpa.

And so another week begins!

The Last 24 Hours

I can't believe all that has happened in the last 24 hours...

Sad news...my dad was taken by ambulance to the hospital's emergency room because of a health concern.

Happy news...the hospital ran some tests but didn't admit Dad. He doesn't seem to be in any pain though there isn't a clear diagnosis of what is ailing him...and of course, he can't describe anything (Dad has Alzheimer's). He's going to the doctor today for follow-up.

Sad news...I woke up in the night with a deep, hacking cough. I am rarely sick! And Thursday of all days, I need my voice. I don't have time for a cold! I've got three doses of cough medicine to partition out throughout the day.

Happy news...my first radio show debuted! I definitely have some room for improvement as a host (need to smooth out exits for breaks)...but it really went well! Thanks to a fabulous guest, Erik Wesner, who was so enjoyable and interesting and informative. Also, thanks to a wonderful production team at toginet.com You can listen to it here: http://toginet.com/shows/amishwisdom

And I didn't need to cough!

Upsetting news...during the radio show, I received a message on my telephone from VISA that my credit card has been compromised. The next hour was spent untangling that mess. Cards canceled immediately so I am living on cash right now.

Good news...looks like no one had time to make fraudulent uses of the credit card. Good for VISA's vigilant fraud dept.!

Sad news...waved goodbye to my son at 4 pm...he was heading off to play in the Northern California Championship basketball tournament. I had a book event scheduled and was unable to attend. Tugged at my heartstrings to miss it....knowing it could be the last game.

Happy news...my son's team won! THEY WON! They are now in the top 8 teams in the state of California! And I have at least one more game!

Happy news...I went to my book event last night (took the last dose of cough medicine!). The women behind this event did an AMAZING job. Publicized it well, decorated the chapel so beautifully, baked Amish treats for everyone. We were hoping, hoping, hoping that 100 women would show up.

Nearly 200 showed up! The event had to be moved into the sanctuary! It was a lovely evening...terrific audience, great questions during the Q&A, and gave the women of our church (all ages!) an opportunity to connect with each other.

I could hardly sleep last night. WHAT. A. DAY.

Thanks be to God!

Don't Forget! "Amish Wisdom" Today!

Don't miss the debut show! All the details here! Tune in today at 4:00 PM Central!

Win a copy of guest, Erik Wesner's, book, Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive, by leaving a comment here. Erik is the fascinating blogger behind Amish America - you won't want to miss his first-hand insights into the Amish and their world!

What a Week!

I've been working hard this week to get ready for "Amish Wisdom's" debut tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to my conversation with Erik Wesner, Amish researcher, author of Success Made Simple: an Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive and the Amish America blog.

We're going to be talking about all things Amish.

Leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you have a question for Erik: suzanne at suzannewoodsfisher dot com

Aside from my radio program kicking off tomorrow, I'm going to be speaking tomorrow evening at a local church for a very special women's event. (Sorry, guys. Stay home and watch March Madness.) Topic is: "Slowing Down in a Speeded-Up World." They're even serving whoopie pies!

I've worked long and hard on the talk tomorrow...just realized I haven't even thought about what to wear! Even worse...I'm not sure I have the right thing to wear! I only have one exude-confidence-even-when-I-don't-feel-it outfit...and I've worn this one outfit before to this very church. Oh dear, dear, dear.

Last big news about this week...my son plays high school varsity basketball. His team is advancing into the second round of the Northern California Tournament! He plays tomorrow eve...I'll have to miss it because of this event, but I am trusting God that I'm where I need to be tomorrow. This women's event was set up months and months ago...we never dreamed my son's team would have progressed this far in the championships.

Still...I feel more than a little torn. I'm a mom before I'm a writer, and this may be my youngest son's last game.

So join me in praying that my son's team will win, so they'll play again this weekend!

"Amish Wisdom" Launches this Week!

I'm thrilled and excited about the debut program for my "Amish Wisdom" radio show!

Please join me on Thursday March 11th at 4:00 pm CST for my first guest, Erik Wesner. Erik is the author of the popular blog "Amish America." We'll be chatting about all things Amish and about Erik's new book coming out about Amish businesses. Have a question about the Amish? Call into the show with your questions 1-877-864-4869.

A bit about Erik: Since 2004, he has visited 20 Amish communities in five states, and met roughly 5,000 Amish families in total.

As the 2008 Snowden Fellow at the Young Center at Elizabethtown College, Erik delivered a lecture entitled “Is Success a Four-Letter Word? The Amish Approach to Business Achievement.”

Erik has contributed to Amish-themed articles featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other print media. He's have also served as a consultant for numerous authors of Amish fiction and non-fiction.

His book Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive will be published by John Wiley and Sons under the Jossey-Bass imprint on March 29, 2010.

Success Made Simple is based on his 60 interviews with Amish business owners as well as experiences living and working in Amish communities from Pennsylvania to Iowa.

He's also finishing a general-information book on the Amish, Who are the Amish?, to be published in Poland in 2009.

In his previous nine-year career with a Nashville publisher and bookseller, he worked in management and set an international record as a salesperson.

If not in Amish America, you can likely find Erik in Krakow, Poland, where he teaches, translates, and trains for marathons.

Win a copy of Erik's fascinating book by leaving a comment on his segment post at Amish Wisdom here!

Odd Word of the Day

draconian \dray-KOHN-ee-uhn; druh-\, adjective:

1. Pertaining to Draco, a lawgiver of Athens, 621 B.C.
2. Excessively harsh; severe.

Draconian refers to a code of laws made by Draco. Their measures were so severe that they were said to be written in blood.

Sunday's Oops!

I read this in The Budget this week...the Amish-Mennonite newspaper. Think the Amish don't have a sense of humor? Have another think...

A large woman stood in church and sang, "Love Lifted Me." A skinny man stood next to her and sang, "It Took a Miracle."

Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations to Chris W. and Kym M.! Your names were drawn from the hat today to win a signed copy of Blissfully Blended!

Ladies, if you'll send me your snail mail address, I'll pop those books in the mail to you. E-mail me at suzanne at suzannewoodsfisher dot com

5 Favorites of Alzheimer's (Really?)

This post belongs to Lisa at Lisa Notes...on Seeing God. She graciously gave me permission to re-post. Like my dad, Lisa's mom has Alzheimer's Disease. Thanks to my blogging friend, Linda, for sending me this post!

I’m going to experiment here. Can I possibly think of five GOOD things about Alzheimer’s from my week?

My first thought? Impossible! It’s a horrible disease and I hate it.

But for Friday’s Fave Five, I look for silver linings.
So here goes:

1. It eliminates bad memories
I don’t think my mom is recalling this week any specific hard things about my dad’s dying process that I keep recalling. That’s a blessing for her.

2. It brings out good in people
I love watching how gentle and compassionate Mama’s friends are to her. This week I’ve seen her “sister” Mrs. Davis bring her a special key lime pie, and her neighbor Kathy stand outside in the cold to listen to her cry, and long-time friend Mrs. Chaney promise me at Kroger that she would take very good care of Mama if we’d let her take her to breakfast some morning.

3. It teaches me humility
I know this could happen to me, too. Or you. We can’t know. No one is too smart or too healthy to escape it. And how would I want someone to treat me if, for instance, I had to keep getting assurance that today is actually Friday?

4. It introduces me to new people
As much as I hated to have to, my brother and I met with Mary Lou, the executive director of our local Alzheimer’s Association on Tuesday. She gave us some great information and helped us think through some options ahead. I’d rather not need her, but I’m thankful that she’s there because I do.

5. It reminds me of God’s sovereignty
My cousin-in-law Julie brought us a huge stack of Alzheimer’s books yesterday that were her mother’s. Julie’s dad died with Alzheimer’s on Thanksgiving, 2007.

When Julie married into our family, we loved her from the get-go because of her incredible personality. But God knew we would also need Julie’s experiences in dealing with a parent with Alzheimer’s. I’m thankful God always has the bigger picture in mind.

* * *

Whew. So there’s my five.

For the record, I still hate Alzheimer’s. But even in the midst of it, I know God is still loving, caring, working. That will be enough for me.

Thursday's Giveaway! "Blissfully Blended"

We had an exciting evening last night...my son's high school varsity basketball team was playing in NCS (North Coast Sectionals). The game was held at a nearby college. The team they played against was a private school that has a tendency to win everything. All. The. Time. My son's team has beat them once (oh, a sweet moment!)...lost to them once...and faced them again last night.

Crowded parking, crowded gym, intense 6th man.

I have to confess...there's something about this private school that brings out unpleasant feelings in me. I don't usually feel that way! I'm usually pretty understanding--that the kids are kids.

But this team...they're not like normal kids. They exude arrogance. For example, as my son was making a free throw, the other team's 6th man was yelling out rude comments about my son's girlfriend (who is a lovely person). That's the kind of team they are, though. Impressive athletically. Unimpressive in every other way.

Anyway...my son's team battled to the end but lost by 2 points! Two tiny little points!

Earlier in the evening, my husband and I took two cars...met at a library so we only had one car on the crowded campus. Afterward, my husband and son were so involved in the emotion of the game...they left without me!

In a strange coincidence, my other son happened to drive back to the gym after dropping a friend off in town and he called me to see where everyone was...just as I reached the empty parking lot. Averted a potential Mom-losing-it disaster.

But there's still a gray cloud over our house...my son left the house this morning, grim-faced and solemn. (This is where I get a little tired of the uber-importance put on sports in the male world. In my household, anyway.)

And I have to go to the dentist this morning for a l-o-o-o-n-n-n-g appointment...so let's do something fun. I have two copies of a new book by Barbour Publishing, Blissfully Blessed. It's a wonderful, uplifting devotional for blended families.



About the book: Delve into Blissfully Blended and take pleasure in the perfect amount of comfort, encouragement, and inspiration. It’s the ideal way for you to begin or end your day—or for a much-needed afternoon pick-me-up.

So leave a comment or e-mail me (suzanne at suzannewoodsfisher dot come) and share a favorite memory about your kids playing sports...or tell me if your husband ever forgot you at a basketball gym! I'll pick a winner Friday by five pm (PST).

Snow Story

Everybody has a snow story this winter. This one takes the cake, though. Just read it in The Budget--an Amish-Mennonite newspaper published in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Oh...what must the Amish think of us?!

"Early last week we had quite a good dose of snow, which tends to alter schedules now and then, but it doesn't keep people at home too long in this part of the country. It does generate an interesting little story now and then, like the story in our local paper about a man who, after the night of blowing and drifting snow, called the police to report two stolen cars from in front of his house. The police showed up and did a little digging into the big snow drifts and found both cars exactly where the owner had parked them." ~A Budget Scribe in Grove City, Minnesota

Radio Interview--Book Club style

A week or so ago, I had a fun and quick radio interview with CHRI, a Canadian station. The interviewer was named Ali and was...just so good at her job! She read the book and was well prepared to ask relevant questions. I love the station's concept...each Wednesday afternoon, an author is interviewed for ten minutes on a segment called "Wednesday's Bookmark." The segment is sponsored by a local Christian bookstore that provides 20% off that book for the week. Creative and effective marketing!

Click to listen.

In other book news...The Choice is on the ECPA fiction bestseller list for the second straight month! I'm so excited...I thought I'd be on the list for about 5 minutes. And happy for those 5 minutes!

March Spring Cleaning-- De-clutter Your Life!

I'm a big advocate of keeping life simple.

Easier to say than to do, I know! And what's simple for me may not be the same thing as what's simple for you. But one thing I really believe we all need to do, regardless of the size of your house or your bank account, is to live with less.

One of the reasons I not only "preach it but practice it" is because I grew up in a home that was really, really, REALLY messy. All of the time. My folks are dear, kind people, but they never took care of their stuff. Or their parents' stuff. So when they moved out of their home into a retirement facility...guess who ended up having to take care of all of that stuff? Yup...me and my siblings.



It took us four months to clean out my parents' house. It. Was. Awful.

There's a verse in the Bible (Matthew 6:19-21) in which Jesus tells listeners not to lay up for themselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth can attack. As I was cleaning out my parents' home...where so much rust and moth had attacked so much stuff...I realized that Jesus was spot-on! Rust and moth attack things that aren't used. Things that are neglected. Forgotten. Devalued.

One of my life-simplification principles is that if something isn't used, it's given away.

Mondays, for March, will be devoted to the theme of Spring Cleaning. Aka: simplifying life. The goal is to bring more peace into our lives and create room for more important things--like people. Like time with God. If you have a good tip or a book that has helped, please let me know!

Today's topic is de-cluttering--a darn good place to start.

Here are some tips from "O" magazine (March 2010) about how to help you make decisions about what to keep or what to toss:

Toss it if...
1) You have twice as many as you need.
2) It's a gift you don't love.
3) It's not worth repairing.
4) Your gut says lose it.
5) You don't know what it is.

Keep it if...
1) It's sentimental gold.
2) It fits your life today.
3) You think it's gorgeous (even if no one else does).
4) You'd buy it again.
5) You'll find a place for it.