Yesterday I got and read Beverly Lewis' latest Amish-themed novels The Beginning which tells the story of Susie Mast a young Amish woman who lives with her widowed mother and adopted younger sister in an Amish community. Her older siblings have all left home and married and her father was killed in a barn accident when she was young and brother Eli was hit and killed by a drunk driver when he was 9 walking along the road with her, leaving her and her and her family with a tragic devastating loss, one she also partly blamed herself for. Her little sister Britta, meanwhile, being adopted, looks different than her adopted Amish family and has always felt she doesn't belong and has been curious about her real family and background but her mother is always hesitant to answer her questions, telling her to wait until she's 18, but that's still 5 more years away and the not knowing is like an itch she can't scratch. meanwhile, the mother's health is not good and she struggles with asthma but refuses to see a doctor, preferring natural methods instead,and Susie has always loved Obie, her best friend since childhood but he has never indicated that she is anything but a friend, more like a sister, so when the opportunity comes for him to move out-of-state for 2 years to study blacksmithing and work with his uncle she reluctantly lets him go without ever revealing her true feelings since this is a great opportunity for him to fulfill his dream of becoming a blacksmith.
Mother's health worsens and she goes to stay with one of her married sons and his family, leaving Susie and Britta alone to manage the house but they maintain a little shop where they sell home made and hand made goods which provides a modest income but it had always been Susie who cared for her ailing mother and now she is suddenly conflicted being free of that responsibility, wrongly thinking her older brother took it upon himself thinking she wasn't doing a good enough job when in actual reality it was to give her a break and to allow her some freedom to persue her own life and interests,and while there they convince the mother to seek medical treatment and she finally does and her health much improves, and along the way the sisters discover Britta's true origins; her birth-mother was the drunk driver that hit and killed Susie's brother Eli all those years ago and a year after the accident she showed up at the mother's house to apologize, carrying her new baby, and confessed her crime begging forgiveness and when she served a 2 year jail sentence left her baby with the family to raise and then when she got out and returned for her and saw the close bond her little girl had formed with the Amishwoman she couldn't bear to separate them and she allowed her to adopt her, seeming to me sort of like an "exchange"; sorry I took your kid away from you; you can have mine to "make up" for it.
Obie and Susie also date others but he still comes up to visit over Christmas to see his family, and Susie, and when he does her love for him is kindled and sparked even stronger but still nothing is said, thinking there's no point since he lives so far away and remember, she still thinks he only likes her as a friend, but eventually he moves back, buying the retiring bishop's blacksmith shop in town and in the meantime Susie's older brother has financial issues with their mother living there and her medical expenses( remember, this is USA where they have to pay medical) which she now decided to permanantly stay and decided to rent out the house she and Britta now live, forcing them to have to go live with other relatives which they don't want to do or to be separated....until Obie finally declares his love for Susie all along and informs her that it was he who is renting her house and will allow her and her sister to stay and they got engaged and once they get married he will buy the house and they can all remain there, a happy ending,and Britta contacted her birth-mother who was happy to hear from her and happy to hear that she grew up among good Godly people, making her feel that was where God meant her to be all along, so she no longer felt that she didn't belong.
Also:
What's better than a vase of sunflowers?
Two vases of sunflowers!!
I finally got my sunflowers I wanted from the store last night! At long last! Yay! It was a good day!
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