Book Review: Amish Values for Your Family & Giveaway HERE

I lived in Ohio when I was younger and had no clue that there was a group of people close by who were living the simple life. I was given the opportunity to review Suzanne Woods Fisher’s book Amish Values for Your Family. Lately with the myriad of books that portray the Amish, I was curious about this book.
I love this book. We are moving to Ohio soon and I am intrigued with the Amish. It is funny that Fisher states that she doesn’t think we should ‘go Amish’ but what a simpler life we would live and how much more peace would be in the world. I am also interested in living a less stressful life.
The book is full of stories of real people in the Amish communities throughout the US (but it seems primarily in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Virginia, Iowa, and those areas). At the start of each chapter is an Amish Proverb that all make perfect sense. At the end of each chapter are excerpts from Budget, a paper that includes stories from scribes in different communities of the Amish. In many of the chapters Fisher also includes questions to get the readers thinking about their own lives and how the values of the Amish could be applied to their lives.

About the book:For readers who long for strong families that know how to truly enjoy life together, there is much to learn from the Amish. Values like community, forgiveness, simple living, obedience, and more can be your family legacy--without selling your car, changing your wardrobe, or moving out to farm country.
In Amish Values for Your Family, bestselling author Suzanne Woods Fisher shows how you can adopt the wisdom of the Amish when it comes to family matters. In this inspiring and practical book readers will find charming true stories interlaced with solid, biblical advice about parenting, marriage, and all aspects of family life. As readers get an intimate glimpse into the everyday lives of real Amish families, they will learn to prioritize what's truly important, simplify decision-making, slow down as a family, safeguard time together, and let go when the time comes.

One of the challenges with reviewing this book was to take one principle and apply it to our lives. It doesn’t mean we are Amish but they have some definite good values that we can glean from!
There were many good principles in the book and it was difficult from me to choose just one, but finally I decided on what I will call the Christmas principle.

The dearest things in life are mostly near at hand- Amish Proverb

What captured me about this particular chapter, titled Christmas Day, is that the children were so content and not greedy to open their presents. Also the presents were small piles of presents for each child. I have heard of a tradition of the parents giving three gifts (it may have been five…) to their kids on Christmas. Each had a significant meaning.

I am going to make a tradition in our home for Christmas. We had already discussed (well, my dh and I) not have a tree to help cut down on the emphasis being placed where we didn’t feel it should be. But I want to implement a more firm tradition of focusing on Jesus’ birth and the gifts he gave to us. It won’t be easy. Our culture is very much materialistic. Our family is not much different- although I wish we were. That is something I am going to apply to our family. The most important things in life…are not things.

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. At the back, on page 185, are other books worth reading that help to understand the Amish (and Mennonite) lifestyle and beliefs. We don’t have any of the books at my local library but after I get moved to a larger city, I will be checking some of the books out.

About Suzanne Woods Fisher:Her interest in the Amish began with her grandfather, W.D. Benedict, who was raised Plain. She has many, many Plain relatives living in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and travels back to Pennsylvania, as well as to Ohio, a couple of times each year for research.
Suzanne has a great admiration for the Plain people and believes they provide wonderful examples to the world.  In both her fiction and non-fiction books, she has an underlying theme: You don't have to "go Amish" to incorporate many of their principles--simplicity, living with less, appreciating nature, forgiving others more readily-- into your life.
When Suzanne isn't writing or bragging to her friends about her first new grandbaby (!), she is raising puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. To Suzanne's way of thinking, you just can't take life too seriously when a puppy is tearing through your house with someone's underwear in its mouth.

Suzanne can be found on-line at: www.suzannewoodsfisher.com.

If you would like to win a copy of this book, you are in the right place! To enter, simply leave a comment letting me know you are interested in winning a copy of this book. This is mandatory to be entered.

To have additional entries, you can do any of the following (leave a comment for EACH entry, please- and an email address):

• Follow my blog via GFC
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• Visit Bill Coleman’s Amish photography site and leave a comment about something you liked.
• Follow me on Twitter (LossoleffCo)

This giveaway will be open until 09/01/11 at 5pm MST. Winner will be contacted by email and will need to respond within 48 hours.

Thank you to LitFuse for the opportunity to review this book and for the extra copy for this giveaway. I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.