The Amish Way of Life

This was orignially going to be a comment back to Julia on this post but it turned into a post of it's own.

That is SO funny. (about us sounding Amish) We are SO NOT Amish but I have an affinity for that way of life. I wish I could truly be happy living that way (except for some of the doctrinal problems I would have). In my healthy imagination I really am Amish. I developed my romantic involvement with the Amish when reading my first Beverly Lewis book way back when. Since then I have read every one of her books except the ones for children and I wait with bated breath for each new one.

One of my favorite quotes is: "Free yourself of things or you will spend your entire life tidying up." Boy did that one hit home with me. I put my book down and started throwing out junk!

I think one of the aspects that attracts me most about the Amish is their sense of community and extended family. I so often feel stranded in my little life. It must come from living too far from my family to really share in their lives and to feel like they share in mine. I like the idea of a "work frolic" where friends and family (your neighbors) all come together and help each other out. For instance, everybody goes to Annie's house and cans a million jars of applesauce. A few days later they all go to Rachel's house and can her million jars. In the end it's all the same amount of work but they do it together for each other. I could use that in my world.

In my world, I'm hard pressed to find anyone on a given day who isn't totally up to their eyeballs in their own "stuff". Admittedly, that is also true of me a lot of the time. I just wish it wasn't so. Usually I AM available when someone from church calls and needs a babysitter, but I almost never know who to call if I am in need, particularly during the daytime hours. I always feel like I'm imposing because I already know how much so-and-so has on their plate. I think about it a lot especially right know when I have a baby coming and I have other children to think about. I wonder how this will turn out if I go into labor in the middle of the day. The middle of the night I have covered (most people ARE home then) but in the middle of the day? I don't know anyone who doesn't have a job or aren't already busy with something. This would be a really good time to consider a home birth if I were so inclined. My hubby isn't so thrilled with that notion and I've had such good hospital experiences that I don't want to change anything anyway.

Now I'm rambling. Sorry. Basically, I just thought it was funny that Julia said we sounded Amish and she didn't even know all this that I think about.