Winter Blessings: A Seasons of an Amish Garden Story

By Amy Clipston

In Amy Clipston's new novella collection, young Amish couples manage a community garden to raise money for a good cause, harvesting friendships and love along the way.

Ephraim and Mandy have plans to marry, but after an ugly argument, they decide to go their separate ways. Fortunately, their friends at the Amish garden conspire to bring them back together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Jan 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9780310354369

Amy Clipston

Amy Clipston is an award-winning bestselling author and has been writing for as long as she can remember. She's sold more than one million books, and her fiction writing "career" began in elementary school when she and a close friend wrote and shared silly stories. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan University and is a member of the Authors Guild, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America. Amy works full-time for the City of Charlotte, NC, and lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, mother, and four spoiled rotten cats. Visit her online at AmyClipston.com; Facebook: @AmyClipstonBooks; Twitter: @AmyClipston; Instagram: @amy_clipston; BookBub: @AmyClipston.

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COPYRIGHT

ZONDERVAN

Winter Blessings

Copyright © 2019 by Amy Clipston

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ISBN: 978-0-310-35436-9 (e-book)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

CIP data is available upon request.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, 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. www.zondervan.com

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

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CONTENTS

COPYRIGHT

GLOSSARY

FAMILY TREE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With love and appreciation for Zac Weikal

and the members of my Bakery Bunch

GLOSSARY

ach: oh

aenti: aunt

appeditlich: delicious

bedauerlich: sad

boppli: baby

brot: bread

bruder: brother

bruders: brothers

bruderskinner: nieces/nephews

bu: boy

buwe: boys

daadi: grandfather

danki: thank you

dat: dad

dochder: daughter

dochdern: daughters

Dummle!: Hurry!

fraa: wife

freind: friend

freinden: friends

froh: happy

gegisch: silly

gern gschehne: you’re welcome

Gude mariye: Good morning

gut: good

Gut nacht: Good night

haus: house

Ich liebe dich: I love you

kaffi: coffee

kapp: prayer covering or cap

kichli: cookie

kichlin: cookies

kinner: children

krank: ill

kuche: cake

kuchen: cakes

kumm: come

liewe: love, a term of endearment

maed: young women, girls

maedel: young woman

mamm: mom

mammi: grandmother

mei: my

naerfich: nervous

narrisch: crazy

oncle: uncle

schee: pretty

schmaert: smart

schtupp: family room

schweschder: sister

schweschdere: sisters

sohn: son

Was iss letz?: What’s wrong?

Wie geht’s: How do you do? or Good day!

wunderbaar: wonderful

ya: yes

FAMILY TREE

Featuring The Christmas Cat novella characters from the collection An Amish Christmas Love.

Thelma m. Alfred Bender

Mandy

Rhoda

Leona m. Marlin Blank

Darlene m. Uria Swarey

Ephraim

Katie Ann

Emma m. Henry (deceased) Bontrager

Hank the Cat

Darlene m. Uria Swarey

Savannah

Rebekah

Marietta m. Roman Hertzler

Clara

Gertrude m. Elvin King

Wayne

Feenie m. Jeptha Lantz

Arlan

Christian

Saloma m. Floyd Petersheim

Jerry

Biena

CHAPTER 1

Sorry I’m late! But I brought a chicken and rice casserole." Mandy Bender gave a little laugh as she rushed into Emma Bontrager’s kitchen carrying a Pyrex portable container.

"Oh, Mandy! That casserole sounds appeditlich!" Emma clapped her hands. Although Emma was old enough to be Mandy’s grandmother, her dark-brown hair and nearly wrinkle-free skin made her look much younger than her late sixties.

"Danki. I hope it tastes as gut as it sounds. Mandy looked down at Emma’s large, fat, orange tabby cat as he rubbed her leg and blinked up at her. Hi, Hank. Do you want to try some chicken casserole?"

He’d probably love that. Emma held out her hand. Give me your coat, and I’ll hang it in the mudroom.

Clara Hertzler walked over to the counter. What’s in the container Ephraim’s carrying?

A salad. Mandy spun to face her fiancé, Ephraim Blank.

"The casserole does sound wunderbaar. Clara took the salad from Ephraim and set it on the counter. We were just concluding our meeting."

Oh no. I was afraid of that. Mandy frowned as she set the casserole next to the stove. Unfortunately, her mother let someone borrow both their insulated carryalls, so she had to warm up the casserole.

You can tell us what we missed, Ephraim said. I can’t wait to have some of that casserole. My stomach growled all the way here just thinking about it.

Mandy smiled up at him. She loved how he towered over her by nearly one whole foot. Of course, since she was only five feet two, most of her friends were taller than she was. But it wasn’t just Ephraim’s height that had attracted her. With his light-brown hair that turned golden in the summer, his kind honey-brown eyes, his strong jaw, and his bright, inviting smile, he was the most handsome man she’d never known.

Are you going to turn on the oven? He grinned at her.

Oh, right! Mandy gave a little giggle as she flipped the dial to preheat, and then she looked toward the table where her group of friends all sat. She knew they’d been discussing the community garden they’d started on Emma’s property in memory of her late husband, Henry, just like they did every Sunday afternoon. Along with baked goods and, now, Emma’s orchard apples, they sold the fruits and vegetables they grew at a roadside stand in front of Emma’s house. Then they donated most of the profits to the Birdin-Hand Shelter for the homeless, Henry’s favorite charity. The rest they saved for any other needs.

So. What did we miss? Ephraim asked.

Let’s see. Katie Ann, his younger sister, tapped her lip as she looked down at a notebook. We were just discussing closing the stand for the winter. Since it’s getting colder and our only offerings now are winter squash from the garden and Emma’s apples, we should probably do it no later than the weekend before Thanksgiving. We have some vegetables left, but Emma, Tena, and Mandy plan to can them this week for Emma and Tena to use all winter.

I agree, Christian Lantz said with a nod. He’d been Katie Ann’s boyfriend for a while now, and Mandy was thrilled for her best friend.

I do too, Jerry Petersheim chimed in. He’d recently returned to the church, and he and Clara had the chance to rekindle their attraction for each other because of Henry’s garden. They planned to date as soon as he was baptized.

Oh, how this project was bringing couples together!

What do you think? Katie Ann met Mandy’s gaze.

"Ya, of course. Mandy shrugged. Whatever you all decide is fine with me." She watched Ephraim cross the floor to the kitchen table and sink into a chair between Wayne