Beloved Readers,

I have many things I want to share with you. A new book. A new blog format. And an upcoming book tour. But first I need to tell you about something even more dear to my heart. The birth of my first grandchild!

Lucy,  Newborn

Lucy Joyce Woodsmall was born on Thanksgiving Day.

What a wonder it was to hold Lucy for the first time. Memories of holding her daddy when he was born and mental snapshots of the precious years since then swirled within me, and my mind couldn’t absorb the reality of just how much time had passed since I held him as an infant. I’d made a concerted effort to embrace the preciousness of those days, to be grateful to God for each one. But how had I journeyed so far that I now held my little boy’s first child?

Time gazed directly into my eyes. The magnitude of it gave me a chill. Had I cherished the days? Had I at least used each week wisely—praying, loving, and sharing as I should have?

Lucy,  2 months

My son and his wife have now begun their own fleeting days of raising a child, of being a family that they cherish even more than they thought was possible on the day they married.

Passion swept across my soul—similar to what I felt with the birth of each of my sons—with its overwhelming desire to pursue life and squash fear and to refuse the kind of sentimentality that bogs us down rather than energizes us onward.

I accepted that the past was a mere memory, one of no significance but to a few who lived it with me. I turned to the future with open arms, challenged by what time offered . . . and what it doesn’t offer. To once again embrace change with passion that makes it possible to live and love right where it is.

Ich schick mei Liewe zueich all (I send my love to all of you),

Cindy

Plain Talk
Cindy’s Blog and Chat

If you’d like to read about the new blog schedule and our fun author-to-reader chats, go here.

Book News

Annie Martin loves the Plain ways of her Old Order Mennonite people, like those revered by her beloved grandfather. Retreating from a contentious relationship with her mother, Annie goes to live with her Daadi Moses in Apple Ridge.

But as spring moves into Pennsylvania and Annie spends time amongst the cherry trees with the handsome Aden Zook, she wishes she could forget how deeply the lines between the Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite are drawn.

Can Annie and Aden find a place for their love to bloom in the midst of the brewing storm?

To read the first chapter, go here.

Excerpted from The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall, Copyright © 2012 by Cindy Woodsmall. Excerpted by permission of WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Download a PDF of this excerpt by clicking here.

Cindy's Itinerary

If you have a book club in one of the areas listed below and would like to make arrangements for a visit from Cindy while she’s in the area, please send an e-mail to cindy@cindywoodsmall.com with a subject line of Book Club, and someone will be in contact with you to see what can be done.

Amish Connection

My husband and I had driven seven hundred miles and were traveling through a very rural area of Pennsylvania on our way to visit with some Amish friends. It was lunchtime, and we were hungry, but we didn’t want to arrive at our friends’ doorstep feeling that way.

As we traveled down a narrow, two-lane road, we saw a rather dilapidated marquee sign indicating that the small, older brick building was a restaurant. We decided we had no choice but to give it a try. While pulling into the parking lot, we noticed a horse and buggy at a hitching post.

We walked into the diner, grateful to have found a place to eat. A cowbell dangled from the handle of the glass door and it clanged loudly as we went inside. It was lunchtime, but the place didn’t have any customers.

A young Amish woman stood inside the kitchen, looking out the pass-through. A young Amish man stood behind the grill, flipping burgers. He didn’t have a beard, so I knew he was single. But it’s harder to tell if an Amish woman is married.

As I took in the sights and delicious aromas, I realized we’d entered an Amish diner. Suddenly I was even hungrier. Amish diners typically serve a variety of hearty, homemade meals. You’ll often find an assortment of German dishes, such as sausage, schnitzel, or sauerbraten, in addition to English meals, such as meatloaf, pot roast, or turkey. You can also expect a large assortment of sides--corn pudding, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden. But one of the best parts of eating at an Amish diner is the homemade pies. My taste buds were screaming with excitement!

The young woman came out of the kitchen, welcomed us, and guided us to our table.

We took seats at a booth. We’d eaten at numerous Amish restaurants in our travels, but never in one like this. It looked old, reminding me of a fifties diner, and it looked as if it’d been passed down from one generation to the next. I fell in love with its unusual charm.

Another Plain woman came into the restaurant. After years of research and staying among the Plain folk, I can recognize enough of the subtleties in their clothing to know that the young man and woman who’d been in the kitchen when we arrived were Old Order Amish, and the young woman who’d entered behind us was Old Order Mennonite. The man peered through the opening, greeted the young Mennonite woman with a shy but welcoming smile, and called her by name.

The moment I saw the spark between the Amish man and the Mennonite woman, I wasn’t nearly as hungry as I was interested in watching the interaction between two people who should not, by the standards of their societies, have feelings for each other.  

While my husband looked over the menu, I watched the young man and woman talk between the pass-through.

Because of the complicated nature of merging Amish beliefs with the needs of a business, it’s rare to find a restaurant solely owned by someone in the Old Order Amish sect. The Ordnung, which is the German word for order, doesn’t allow Old Order Amish persons to have electricity in their homes or businesses. So I knew that although an Old Order Amish man and woman seemed to be running the restaurant, someone else was owner or co-owner, perhaps someone from a Plain sect that does allow the use of electricity.  

The Ordnung contains the guidelines for living separate from the world. An Old Order Amish person who is in good standing with his or her church and community follows the Ordnung.

It’s common to find many Old Order Amish working at restaurants. In fact, at the best Amish diners, you’ll find them not only serving customers, but cooking and baking. I knew that the owner or co-owner of the restaurant must be a non-Amish, a new order of Amish, or a Mennonite person.

As I sat there, all this information churned inside my head. And I wondered what would happen if a single man from one sect fell in love with a single woman from the other sect? What would it do to their families? What would it do to the business?

Inside that Amish diner I was served much more than a delicious meal. My curiosity over the couple was piqued, and I took my questions to an Old Order Amish friend who lived nearby and an Old Order Mennonite woman who lived farther away. Their answers, which told me a bit about the couple I’d seen as well as a story of love one had witnessed between an Old Order Amish man and an Old Order Mennonite woman, soon developed into The Scent of Cherry Blossoms.

To view the book trailer for The Christmas Singing, click here.

Recipes from The Christmas Singing

(note correction in frosting recipe below)

Orange Coconut Cake

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature; separate yolks and whites
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk or coconut milk
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, or use parchment paper circles coated with flour in the bottom of the pans.

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating constantly until thoroughly mixed. Add yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in two parts, alternating with buttermilk or coconut milk and beating after each addition. Beat in the coconut extract and lemon zest.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat egg whites until medium-firm peaks form. Fold one third of the egg whites into the batter, then fold in the remaining whites.

Divide the batter between the pans, and bake on the middle rack of the oven about 30 minutes. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling completely. Decorate with buttercream frosting.

The frosting recipe below is also found in The Christmas Singing, but in the book the first ingredient is listed as one pound unsalted butter, at room temperature. It should be one CUP unsalted butter, at room temperature.

Orange Buttercream Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
16-ounce bag powdered sugar
orange food coloring

Whip the butter and sugar together until perfectly smooth. Add orange food coloring one drop at a time until the desired shade is achieved.

Newsletter Contest

Last issue, the readers of my newsletter had the chance to win one of two autographed copies of The Scent of Cherry Blossoms. The winners are Valerie of Mapleton, Maine and Melanie of Hermon, Maine. How interesting that both winners, chosen by using Random.org, are from Maine! Congratulations, ladies!

I’m offering regular giveaways on my blog and on Facebook . I invite you to join me on one or both of those. The contests for the blog and Facebook are separate from each other, so if you’re not on Facebook, you aren’t left out! We’ve redesigned the blog with you in mind—a place to enjoy learning about the Plain life, articles written by me and some by Plain friends, giveaways, and a comment section where we can chat. I hope you’ll join us, but I’m currently stopping the Newsletter Contest.

Amish-Made Quilt Contest

The winner of the 2011 Amish-made quilt contest is
Janet Estridge of Lakeland, Florida.

2011 Dresden Plate Amish-made quilt

2012 Amish-Made Quilt Contest

I hope to attend the 37th annual Amish School Sale in May and purchase the quilt for this giveaway myself. But if I can’t get there, I’ll have a friend go for me and purchase an Amish-made quilt and numerous Amish-made wall hangings.

To enter, go here.

I love offering this Amish-made Quilt Contest each year, and I hope you’ll join in the fun! You can read the few necessary rules on my website. The contest will close December 31, 2012, with the last entry accepted at midnight. A winner will be notified on or near January 15, 2013. The winner will be announced as soon as she or he responds to the notification.