Amish Kitchen: Lovina’s Daughter Susan Guest Writes

I always enjoy Lovina’s column but this was nice to see – her daughter Susan took over writing duties last week. If you recall, Susan lost her husband Mose over a year ago, leaving behind two small children. In this column, Susan writes about her niece’s school Christmas program and dealing with her loss, among other things:

Last night was Abigail’s Christmas program at the school. Jennifer was really excited to see Abigail’s school. She wants to go to school now too.

It is now over a year since my dear husband Mose passed away. It seemed like a long and overwhelming year. And then other times it feels short, when I look back. I feel like the children and I came a long way. When times got hard, I would tell myself, “If life on earth has to be tough to make it to our Heavenly home, then I’ll fight the battle until the end.”

Mom took us out for the day on the anniversary of Mose’s death. She wanted to keep me busy so I didn’t sit and think about it. She took us out to eat, and we had a nice day together.

Sunday night, Martha (a widow in our community) and her five children are coming to visit. Her husband passed away from cancer. It is three years that he passed away, also in December. She has been an inspiration to me. She’s a very brave woman. We want to go to her children’s Christmas program to help support her and to just be there for them.

And:

Please pray for all the families that lost loved ones and belongings in the recent tornadoes. Life is too short. It’s hard to lose one family member; I can’t imagine how the family feels that lost four. After Mose passed, the pain was so great. It felt like with every breath pain slashed through my heart.

I best be going now. I need to feed the horses, chickens and dogs. Jennifer and Ryan like to go with me to pick up the eggs. Sometimes Ryan will let the eggs drop too hard in the bucket and break the egg.

She also shares a recipe for a cream cheese-based fruit dip. I wish Susan, and all others dealing with similar loss, healing and peace in the coming year. Read the column in full here.