The Story Behind "The Amish Nanny's Sweetheart"

Order your copy here!

We're getting close to the March 1st release of "The Amish Nanny's Sweetheart," and some readers already have their copies!

This story is close to my heart. I loosely based the hero, Guy, on a real person – my grandfather. I never met the real Guy, who passed away several years before I was born, but his story is one I had to share.

I had a couple helpers as I worked on developing Guy's character. 

One was an essay my grandmother wrote for a college class. She had attended college before her marriage, but at that time only needed a limited number of classes to earn her teaching certificate. After my grandfather passed away in 1951, Grandma went back to college and earned the additional credits she needed to return to teaching.

In the essay, she talked about Grandpa's childhood and the boy who grew up to be known as "Daddy" by his five children. Her love for him gave her a special insight into his formative years.

Grandma in the late 1950's

But the best source of information was Grandpa, himself. He kept a journal from the time he was a young man - just a day book filled with short entries - but it was an invaluable record of his day-to-day life. I'm in the process of transcribing the collection of journals, and his entries let me learn to know Grandpa in a unique way.

Grandma and Grandpa's engagement picture

Born in 1902, Guy’s life changed dramatically when he was seven years old. His mother gave birth to a daughter and died of complications soon after the delivery. Faced with raising three very young children on his own, their father placed Guy and his younger brother in an orphan’s asylum and put his newborn daughter up for adoption.

Grandpa Eugene, Orville, and Guy

It was a hard life for a young boy. When he was old enough to do farm work, he was hired out to farmers in the area as an indentured worker. Abuse of various forms were part of his life, while the father who had left his sons in the orphanage traveled from job to job, never able to provide a home for them, but never signing away his parental rights. 

Grandpa Eugene (aka "Slim") is the man standing
at the left with the suitcase in his hand. He was
a "traveling man."

From 1909 to 1926, Guy lived and worked in thirty-two different homes.

The orphanage where Guy and his brother grew up

But, as in every story of redemption, God stepped in. 

This is from my dad's telling of his father's story: "When he was 20 or so years old, he found a steady job with {the couple who were the inspiration for David and Verna Mast} who lived on a 400 acre farm south of Topeka {Indiana} in Noble County. They needed someone to look after their fences, do chores around the farm, and to drive their car. Guy lived with them and worked on the farm...Guy's relationship with the {Mast's} was nearly that of an adopted child, a son that they did not have. {Verna} became a second mother for Guy and 'grandma' to his children."

The couple who inspired David and Verna Mast

Early in his young adulthood, Guy dedicated his life to serving the Lord. He met my grandmother, they married, and had five children, including two sons who became ministers.

The year after Guy’s death, Grandma wrote, “He wanted love and respect, but most of all he wanted a home and security, something he hadn’t had since his mother died.”

And what happened to the rest of Guy's family? The father who left the boys in the orphanage and the baby sister who was adopted out of the family?

Grandpa Eugene and his second wife
(Notice Grandpa Eugene's Plain clothing!)

Orville, Ruth, and Guy at their reunion in 1926

Those are stories for future books!

"The Amish Nanny's Sweetheart" is the story of a lost boy. A boy who longed for a home, a place to belong. In the story, Guy found that home.

In real life, there are children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren who can testify that yes, Guy found his true home.

Guy in 1929 with his oldest son, my dad

I hope you get an opportunity to read Guy and Judith's story!

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Dana R. Lynn, Visiting Chef, Serves up Quiche

Broccoli and Cheese Quiche

            I am so happy to be here at the Yankee Belle Café again. Thanks Cate for inviting me.

            I am especially excited right now as my fourth Love Inspired Suspense just released yesterday. Plain Retribution is out in digital format now, and will be released in print on August 8th.  I had so much fun writing this book. It’s the second book in my Amish Country Justice series, and it delves into the relationship of Rebecca Miller, a young woman who grew up Amish, and Miles Olsen, the cop she falls in love with. Rebecca is a very special heroine. She’s smart, strong, and a talented artist. She’s also completely deaf and relies entirely on ASL, or American Sign Language. Miles is the one officer able to fluently communicate with her. It was fun getting into her head and trying to see the world as Rebecca might have.

            As I mentioned, the print edition of Plain Retribution releases on August 8^th, which is a date very close to my heart. It’s the date I became a mother, an event which changed and enriched my life. And as we added two more children, sometimes contributed to a few gray hairs on my head. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.

            Now, raising a family has presented many challenges for my husband and myself. We are busy with our jobs, sports, scouts, horse shows, and church activities. In the past year and a half, another challenge was added to our lives.

            My daughter became a vegetarian. This might not sound like a difficult thing, but it can be tricky. We bought a small crockpot. So now when I fix chili, I also fix a smaller meatless version. Same thing with lasagna. Or burgers. Or, well, you get the drift. Even going to restaurants takes a bit more thought than before. The important thing is to make sure she is still getting enough protein.

            One thing I did was start a board on Pinterest for vegetarian recipes. One recipe we found that my daughter loves is for a Broccoli and Cheese Quiche. Here’s the recipe:

Preheat the heat the oven to 375 degrees. Have a cookie sheet in there while it’s preheating. When it’s done, bake a nine-inch pie crust for nine to eleven minutes until it’s lightly browned. While it’s cooking, cut two cups of broccoli florets into small pieces and sauté a medium onion until it’s translucent. Place the onion, broccoli and 6 ounces of white cheddar cheese in the bottom of the crust. (I can’t always find white cheddar, so I use what’s on hand.)

            In a separate bowl, whisk together three large eggs and two egg white, one cup of half and half and ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. Pour the mixture over the broccoli and cheese. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Wait fifteen minutes before eating.

That’s it! Easy Peasy. My daughter divides the pie into four and eats it over the course of two days. 

Dana grew up in Illinois, but now resides in rural Pennsylvania with her husband, three children, and enough animals to start her own petting zoo. She is a teacher for the Deaf and hard of hearing during the day, and an author of romantic suspense by night. She has been on the Publisher's Weekly Bestseller list for religious fiction, and was a finalist in the 2017 New England Readers’ Choice contest. Her friends know to beware...anything they say may someday show up in a story.

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Thanks, Dana, for joining us today. Congratulations on your new release!

 

Quilts, Pieces and Memories

I wanted to call this post, "Among the Things I Used to Do."

Our lives have seasons. Times change, circumstances change, people change. And the seasons turn from one to another.

One of the things I used to do in another season was quilt.

I love quilting! Everything from designing the quilt top, to selecting the fabrics, to cutting out the pieces with as little waste as possible, to measuring out each length of thread.

I'm an old fashioned quilter. The fewer machines that touch the fabric, the better.

The quilt I'm working on now I was working on before I signed my first book contract is a reproduction of a Civil War era quilt that uses tiny pieces, all hand stitched.

I wonder sometimes if I'll ever get back to it....

But I come from a long line of quilters.

This beautiful quilt was made by my great-great-grandmother, Eliza Mummert Sherck. The pattern is "Mariner's Compass." I mentioned it in my book, A Mother for His Children - it's the quilt Ruthy's mother made for Waneta's future wedding.

A quilt is a legacy of love, passed from one generation to another. Every hand that works on a quilt leaves a little bit of the quilter behind, and every quilter lives on in the quilts that are treasured for years after they pass on.

It's this love of quilting that makes my feet slow down when I pass the quilting room at Greencroft, the Mennonite home where my dad now lives. Go here if you want to learn about this fabulous place.

Down the hall from Dad's apartment is this place where quilters meet. Since we're usually there in the evening or early morning, I don't often see the quilters at work, but I've admired the quilts through the window.

The quilters, all Mennonite and Brethren ladies, with a few Methodists and Baptists, etc. thrown in, always have a quilt in the frame. Most of them are made by ladies in the community who bring their quilts in to be stitched.

The quilters all donate their time, and the money they earn goes to charity.

They stitch everything from quilt tops to wall hangings, and sometimes even a quilt one of their group has pieced.

Stitch by patient stitch.

With a lot of visiting going on around the quilt frame, too!

Before we left Goshen on our last visit there, I peeked in the window of the quilting room, and one of the ladies was already hard at work! It was a pleasure meeting Velma Plank and visiting with her about the Greencroft quilters.

Of course, a double pleasure, since one of my great-great-grandmothers was a Plank, and in Mennonite and Amish Country, that means we're definitely related :)

Velma spoke of the other quilters in the group, some planning to drop by a little later than her 8:00 starting time. But others, she said, gesturing to the photos on the wall with her needle, "have passed on."

Gone, but not forgotten in the quiet conversations around the quilting frame where past memories and present stitching weave through the hours.

It makes me hope that maybe - sometime in the coming years - I'll actually finish all the quilts waiting for me. Someday, when life is slower and friends are even more precious.

Do you quilt? Or is there some other "thing you used to do" that you may take up again someday?

Three Bean Salad, Family Reunions, and a Book Release!

It's August!

That means my new book, A Mother for His Children, is now available at all of your local outlets!

BTW - if your Walmart is like mine, the Love Inspired Historicals won't appear on the shelves until the middle of the month. You can either be patient, or go online to Harlequin.com or Amazon, or your favorite online retailer.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Ruthy also has a book out this month! His Montana Sweetheart is available everywhere :) or you can go online again: Harlequin.com.

Why do we enjoy Love Inspired romances so much?

I think a big part of it is because we love stories about home, family, traditions - new and old, new beginnings, second chances, and God's grace.

A Mother for His Children was inspired by a story in my own family.

This family:

This is my great-grandmother, Bessie Schrock (on the far left), with her family.

Notice G-G-Grandpa Eli's plain clothes. His parents
were the first generation to leave the Amish, but they
didn't leave the plain clothes behind.

And this is my great-grandfather, George Sherck (on the far left) with his family.

The Shercks weren't quite as "Plain" as the Schrocks,
but G-G-Grandpa Isaac never wore a tie.

Eventually George and Bessie met. He courted and she accepted.

Even though he did complain that the whitewash on the tree trunks in the front yard of the Schrock home made his good suit dusty. :)

They had children - my grandmother Ethel and her sisters, Myrtle, Dorothy, Eunice and Ruby.

And in 1928, Ethel married my grandfather, Guy, and they had children. My Dad and his brother and sisters - John, Martha, James, Waneta and Nancy. 

But they never let the bonds of the past loosen too far - family is too important.

For as long as anyone can remember, the Sherck family has been meeting every year for a family get-together. (Can you really call it a "reunion" for a family as close-knit as this one?)

Sherck family, 1938

Not just Grandma, Grandpa, children and grandchildren. As many generations as possible shows up for this reunion.

And not only that, but there's also a Sherck-Weaver reunion every year. The descendants of my great-great-great-grandparents.

When I was growing up, I thought this was normal. I thought every family had close ties like this. Then my world expanded, and I started wondering what made my family unique.

I've decided that a lot of it comes from our family heritage and Amish/Mennonite background. Both of my great-grandparents descended from Anabaptists that were persecuted in Switzerland in the 1600's. The two families came from small towns in the Emmental region of Switzerland only a few miles apart.

The years of persecution, being imprisoned for their faith, ultimately exiled from their homes and taking the long and dangerous journey to a new land cemented bonds in Amish and Mennonite families that are unshakable.

The Sherck reunion is this coming weekend. I won't be there to enjoy renewing family ties - but I'll certainly be thinking about them.

And the food.

You knew I'd bring this around to food, didn't you?

Yes, I'm going to share a recipe, but you have to know it was hard to choose. The only dish I remember from my childhood was the homemade ice cream for dessert. Lots and lots of ice cream, made in hand-cranked ice cream freezers.

And someone usually brought cracklin's - but they were too rich for little girls (just like Laura was told in The Little House in the Big Woods).

I do remember the tables being so full of good food you could never try everything. There's one dish that sticks in my memory, though: Three Bean Salad. You can never go wrong with a good Three Bean Salad!

This is a repeat recipe, but it's perfect for this time of year:


Jan's Three Bean Salad

Ingredients:

1 can green beans, drained

1 can yellow (or wax) beans, drained

1 can kidney beans, drained

1/2 small onion, sliced thin and separated into rings

1/4 cup green pepper, cut in 1/2" chunks

1 cup Italian salad dressing (the easy option)

Or for a more authentic Amish flavor, make this dressing:
1/2 cup vinegar
2 tbsp. oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Combine all the ingredients and refrigerate for at least 90 minutes. Drain the excess salad dressing before serving.

Do you enjoy family reunions?

Deadline Dessert! Coconut Custard Pie

We've been a bunch of busy writers here! Just go back to Ruthy's post here or Mindy's post here to see what I mean!

And yes, here in the midwest, I'm working on a deadline, too!

(But don't we love deadlines, because that means another book is coming out!)

But the negative aspect of deadlines is that our families get the short end of the stick - at least temporarily.

We end up serving box macaroni and cheese, or pizza, or even the dreaded "you guys are on your own tonight!"

Over the weekend, with my new story down to the proof-reading stage (and not due until tomorrow!), I decided to treat my family with pie. Delicious, scrumptious...and EASY pie. I'm not kidding. It took longer to take the pictures for this recipe that it did to put it together.

Here it is: Coconut Custard Pie

Ingredients: 

2 cups milk

2 1/2 cups flaked coconut

4 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup all purpose flour (or bisquick)

3/4 cup white sugar

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

Now, here's the hard part (just kidding).

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a 9 inch greased pie plate.

Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350°, or until golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

This is one of those pies that makes its own crust, kind of like a clafouti, or those "impossible Bisquick" pies that were so popular years ago.

Now that the pie is all done (and enjoyed by my family), let me tell you about this new story!

This is my "Ruthy story". I'd love to have a Tina, Debbie, Julie, Missy, Myra, Sandra, Glynna, Cara Lynn, Pam, Janet, and Audra story someday (those are the Seekers of Seekerville), but their names don't really fit in an Amish historical. (Did anyone notice I left out Mary? She may show up some day). 

But Ruthy? An excellent name for an Amish girl. Especially one who loves children.

It's a good thing she loves children, because she's been hired by Levi Zook to be his housekeeper.

You remember Levi Zook, right? He's the guy who wanted to marry Ellie in "The Prodigal Son Returns", and if you remember right, he has ten children.

A nice guy, for sure, but he just can't find a wife to take the place of his dear Salome who passed away last year, in the fall of 1935. And his children need a mother...until then, Ruthy will be a good substitute.

But will Ruthy be able to handle ten children? And what about the mess she left behind in Lancaster County?

I love this story, and I hope you will, too! I don't have a release date yet, but I'll keep you posted!

And, of course, here is a picture of poor Thatcher, post surgery.

He didn't have to wear the cone of shame for long...and by the next day, we couldn't tell he had even had surgery.

It's hard to keep a good man (or dog) down, right?