I have a full series in 2012 “The Fields of Home”. Two of which have already been released. Also the standalone “My Dearest Emma”. A unique and endearing work done with letters written between two Amish lovers. And “Susanna’s Christmas Wish”. A precious love story of a woman who chooses to love…

Email me at eicherjs@kinex.net. I can also be reached through the website contact page, if you prefer. www.eicherjerry.com

The post Book Reviews appeared first on AmishReader.com.

“New York Times best-selling author Ira Wagler will return home to receive an Honorary Doctorate of Letters during Vincennes  University’s 206th Commencement on April 28. Both Wagler and VU President Dick Helton will address the Class of 2012.

 The author of the book “Growing Up Amish: A Memoir” (Tyndale House Publishers, 2011), Wagler is a 1991 VU alumnus who holds a bachelor’s  degree in English from Bob Jones University (1993) and a law degree from Dickinson School of Law (1997).

Wagler practiced law with the firm of Clymer & Musser, Lancaster, PA from 1997 to 2001 before beginning a career as general manager of Graber  Supply, LLC, Pole Building Supplier and Builder, Atglen, PA. Speaking of his co-career as a writer, Wagler says on his website, “This I will do or die trying. Actually, it’s just now all coming down, unfolding as you read this. It’s been a wild, wild ride, far beyond anything I could have imagined.“

Wagler describes his memoir as a “journey at its core no different than many coming of age journeys.” Inspired by his favorite writer, Thomas Wolfe, Wagler’s book is a true story of self-discovery and seeking where  he belongs. The epilogue to his book concludes, “I have no regrets for the road I chose. And I rarely wonder how life would have been on the road not taken.”

 Born in 1961 in the small Old Order Amish community of Aylmer, Ontario,Wagler’s book creates a vivid portrait of Amish life from childhood to his decision to leave the Amish community for good at age 26. In between, beginning at age 17, Ira left and then returned to the community numerous times over five years, torn between his heritage and the freedom and possibilities of the outside world. The book describes a difficult path with “years of turmoil, rage, and anguish.”

 The 9th child out of 11 children, Wagler dedicated his book to his mother, Ida Mae, who “never wavered in her deep love for all her children, even—and maybe especially—for her wayward sons.”

 Prior to enrolling at VU, Wagler received his GED from Washington High School in 1989, having only completed the 8th grade in an Amish one-room school in Aylmer, Ontario.

An avid hiker along the Tacquon Trail, completing as much as 12 miles in a day, Wagler is also a big fan of football, especially the New York Jets since 1981, as well as Nascar and baseball. Wagler also enjoys reading, writing and describes himself as a “charcoal grill purist.“ Wagler continues to work in “tidbits on the Great American Novel.“

 VU’s Commencement will be televised live on WVUT-TV beginning at 2 p.m.  EDT on April 28.

 VINCENNES UNIVERSITY – Indiana’s First College
 VU is state-supported with campuses in Vincennes and Jasper and additional sites such as Indianapolis and the Gibson County Center for Advanced  Manufacturing and Logistics. VU also offers instruction at military sites throughout the nation.

 In addition to offering 200 associate degree and certificate programs, VU also offers bachelor’s degree programs in technology, homeland security, nursing, secondary education programs in mathematics and, science, and special education/elementary education.

 VU enrolls students from throughout Indiana, 28 other states, and 30 countries. Tuition and fees are the lowest among Indiana campuses with residence halls. VU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

 Founded in 1801, VU is Indiana’s first college and is the only college in the nation founded by an individual who would later become President of the United States. William Henry Harrison, the ninth U.S. President, founded VU while serving as governor of the Indiana Territory. More information  is available at www.vinu.edu.”

The post Growing Up Amish appeared first on AmishReader.com.

The post Growing Up Amish appeared first on AmishReader.com.

Please note that the original titles for this series were released as “Hannah’s Dream” and “Hannah”. Harvest House has now brought the whole series together in an improved version as “A Dream for Hannah” – “A Hope for Hannah” – and the all new “A Baby for Hannah”.

A reviewer of, “A Hope for Hannah”, wrote, “Although I’m not Amish in reality, I feel Amish at heart. I am a Christian and worship our Lord and Savior and have spent the last ten years longing for the Amish simplicity in life. My wife and I are both reading “A Hope for Hannah” by Jerry Eicher and have fallen so deep into the story that it almost feels like Hannah and Jake are real and in our lives. We are happy when Hannah is happy and pleased, and sometimes feel like crying when Hannah is hurt. The saddest page of the book is the last page because we know that we will be losing our friends that we have grown to love. Most interestingly though is that we were considering relocating to Whitefish, Montana prior to ever reading this book. Now we wonder if this book is God’s way of telling us that there are true and wonderful people in that area awaiting to be our friends. We now wish we could make the move and find the real Hannah and Jake just down the road waiting to sell us a new table and chairs and become our friends.”

Another reviewer wrote, “This story is so good, like real life. If you can trust God, everything will work out for the best. Thanks so much for putting your heart into the story. I want to read the other two books about Hannah. Please keep up the good work.” Sandy in TN.

The post A Baby for Hannah appeared first on AmishReader.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Amish-Ira-Wagler/dp/1414339364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1308068044&sr=8-1

The post Growing up Amish appeared first on AmishReader.com.

The last of the “Hannah’s Heart” Series with all new material nears its release date and continues to climb the charts at Christian Books online. http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=amish+fiction&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1

This book features Hannah’s sister Miriam who travels west looking for love, and Aunt Betty again. She is funnier than ever. A book you won’t want to miss, and a book that would never have happened if Harvest House had not picked up the first two Hannah books as re-releases. My thanks to the editors at Harvest House, Nick Harrison and Peggy Wright, for their encouragement.

The post A Baby For Hannah appeared first on AmishReader.com.

1. He is recovering from his illness, but is still not quite up to power.

2. Among other injuries, his rotary cuff was broken.

3. Black clouds rolled ominously toward him. Lightning flashed and thunder roared.

4. When humans become dissatisfied with their church, they are more easily let astray by false teachings.

5. The principal of separation from the world is taught in Romans 12:2.

6. After his heart attack, he had a stint put in his heart.

7. We had a cacci camel duck this year. They are better layers than a chicken, and some have laid 365 eggs in a year.

8. Grandma broke the chocolate into handy little morals for us to share.

9. Son Nathan ran over a snake and killed it about three times. It turned out to be a copperhead.

10. The border officials asked us for our personal indentification.

11. Some children have learned that they can argue with their parents and get their own way.

12. The child was badly hurt when he fell beneath a row tarry hoe.

13. While hospitalized, he suffered staff infection.

14. Submission is a hard lesson to learn. It is always easiest to learn it at Daddy’s knee and Mama’s lap.

15. I prepared an early lunch for our pre-scholars.

16. Someone counted the amount of people at the funeral and there were 650.

17. Kraft produces enough Cool Whip in one year to fill the Grand Canyon.

18. In I Peter 2:12 we are cautioned to “live in the world but not be of it.”

19. Windmills were a common site when the Amish first arrived but are now rarely used.

20. The person who wrote the forward of the book recomended it highly.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Answers.

1. Power should be par.

2. The correct term is rotator cuff.

3. Sentence correct.

4. Should read, more easily led astray

5. Principal should be principle.

6. Stint should be stent.

7. The breed of duck referred to is the Khaki Campbell.

8. Morals should be morsels

9. You cannot kill three times.

10. Identification not indentification

11. Sentence correct

12. The farm implement referred to is a rotary hoe.

13. Staff should be staph.

14. Sentence is correct

15. Pre-scholar should be preschooler.

16. If the people could be counted, then it would be correct to say, the number of people at the funeral. Amount refers to a mass, not to something we can count.

17. Just a minute. Someone doesn’t realize how big the Grand Canyon is. The estimated amount comes to ten gallons every day for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.A. Any responsible editor should catch such wild claims and not print them.

18. It is uncertain what Bible verse is being quoted, but it certainly isn’t 1 Peter 2:12.

19. Site should be sight.

20. Two mistakes here. The correct spellings are foreword and recommended.

The post A Quiz from Amish Editors appeared first on AmishReader.com.

A group of Alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned to complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the Professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups-porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive and some exquisite, telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cup–and you began eying each other’s cups.

“Now consider this–life is the coffee, the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of the life we live. Sometimes by concentrating only on the cup we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us. God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy the coffee.”

The post The Coffee or the Cup appeared first on AmishReader.com.

http://www.irawagler.com/

The post Ira Wagler’s CNN Interview appeared first on AmishReader.com.