[G]ive me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, Proverbs 30:8b.
For five years, I was an English teacher at Grace Prep High School in State College, Pennsylvania. Every year, the school participates in Air School—learning outside the classroom. In 2009, Air School consisted of a long weekend in an Amish community in Virginia.
My husband Paul and I and three students stayed with an Amish family—mother, father, and their three remaining, as yet unmarried, children. Seven other children had grown up, married, and established their own homes, so there was plenty of room for us.
No electrical lighting, no microwave, no television, no radio, (I-pods and phones were verboten to ensure the authentic experience), and no computers. There was a propane powered hot water tank (Yay!) and we cooked on the woodstove (in May!). We washed dishes by hand in the sink and dried them with a linen towel. I tried to milk the goats. Continue reading “How Much is Enough?”
BLOGPOST: Seven Women, an Aviatrix, and the Amish
A couple weeks ago, I was flipping channels and came across an old movie, Pancho Barnes, starring Valerie Bertinelli as the title character. Pancho was a bored wife and mother who found her passion in flying airplanes. She wanted to do something only men and Amelia Earhart did at the time.
But she had to defy convention and her husband to do it. He was holding her back. She wanted to soar. They couldn’t have it both ways. Continue reading “BLOGPOST: Seven Women, an Aviatrix, and the Amish”