When the Heart Cries
Reader’s Guide
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Hannah Lapp was born and raised in an Old Order Amish home, without electricity, a telephone, or the right to follow her heart. Without her parents' knowledge, she's been in love with Mennonite Paul Waddell for years. When he asks her to marry him, she accepts, even though to do so will cause her family to avoid her for the rest of her life.
Before Hannah and Paul reveal their relationship, tragedy strikes. In one unwelcome encounter, all that Hannah has known and believed is destroyed and she faces losing everything: her family, her fiancé, and even her faith in God.
CBA bestseller
CBD bestseller
2007 ECPA Christian Book of the Year Award finalist
Books-a-Million FaithPoint Book Club January '07 selection
Reviewer's Choice Award Winner
When the Morning Comes
Reader’s Guide
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When the Morning Comes is the sequel and continuation of the best-selling novel When the Heart Cries. Her relationship with fiance Paul Waddell in tatters, Hannah Lapp has fled her secluded Old Order Amish community in hopes of finding a new home in Ohio with her shunned aunt. Hampered by limited education and hiding her true identity, Hannah struggles to navigate the confusing world of the Englischers.
Will the countless opportunities in her new life persuade Hannah that her place is amongst the Englischers or will she give in to her heart’s call to return home and face the past?
New York Times bestseller
CBA bestseller
CBD bestseller
One of Crossings Best Books of 2007
Books-a-Million FaithPoint Book Club January ‘08 selection
Romantic Times said: Woodsmall’s fantastic second book . . .
RITA finalist
Happy New Day. Happy New Year
The 2008 Christmas season gave its own special memories—times of laughter, excitement, peace, renewed faith, and tiresome duty. We shared times that were well-planned, spur-of-the-moment, and mundane. All of them too fleeting.
I have a lot of goals for 2009. Contracts to fill. Marketing to accomplish. School lessons to teach. Suppers to cook. Souls to feed. My soul to feed. There is no way to keep up with all I need to.
We all know the drill—prioritize, which feels like a euphemism for: make a list, make choices, make people angry.
Sometimes I long for the ease of days when infants wakened me in the middle of the night or when teen sleepovers never ended soon enough. Not that long ago, I homeschooled two middle-schoolers while nurturing a newborn into toddlerhood. Those middle-schoolers are men now—one married, one soon to be. And the once-toddler is studying for his learner’s permit.
Each Christmas season offers so many, many things and one of them is a reason to gather. It gives us festivities for renewing fellowships, and for making new as well as keeping old traditions. It allows us to embrace the very best of life in preparation for a year that is sure to have times of sorrow.
But whether the Christmas season was what you’d hoped it would be or not, the new year will keep marching on. And it’ll be filled with opportunities to try again, forgive, dream, work, and try again.
Happy New Day. Happy New Year!
January 6, 2009 12:21 am | Permalink | Comments (post the first!)
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