Love Still Stands
Authors: Kelly Irvin
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version
of the Bible.
Verses marked
NIV
are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
worldwide.
www.zondervan.com
Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota
Cover photos © Chris Garborg
LOVE STILL STANDS
Copyright © 2013 by Kelly Irvin
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Irvin, Kelly.
Love still stands / Kelly Irvin.
pages cm. – (The New Hope Amish ; Book 1)
ISBN 978-0-7369-5493-8 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-5494-5 (eBook)
1. Women teachers—Fiction. 2. People with disabilities—Fiction. 3. Amish—Missouri—Fiction.
I. Title.
PS3609.R82L67 2013
813'.6—dc23
2012044766
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To Tim, Erin, and Nicholas Love always
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer
.
R
OMANS
12:12 (
NIV
)
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness
.
2 C
ORINTHIANS
12:9 (
NIV
)
Luke & Leah
Shirack
William
Joseph
Esther & Martha
(twins)
Jebediah
Bethel Graber
(Leah’s sister)
Silas & Katie
Christner
Jesse
Simon
Martin
Phoebe
Elam
Hannah
Lydia
Sarah
Elijah Christner
(Silas’s brother)
Ida Weaver
(Katie’s sister)
Thomas & Emma
Brennaman
Eli
Rebecca
Caleb
Lilah
Mary & Lillie Shirack
(Emma’s sisters)
Tobias & Edna
Daugherty
Jacob
Michael
Ephraim
Nathaniel
Margaret
Isabel
Aaron & Mary
Troyer
Matthew
Molly
Reuben
Abraham & Alexander
(twins)
Ella
Laura
Benjamin & Irene
Knepp
Hiram
Daniel
Adah
Melinda
Abram
Joanna
Jonathan
Peter & Cynthia
Daugherty
Rufus
Enos
Deborah
Rachel
John
Mark
Phillip
Ruth
Naomi
Contents
A
n author’s imagination grows in fertile ground. The New Hope, Missouri, of
Love Still Stands
is a fictitious town that sprang from my imagination. The idea that a town would
reject a group of Amish families blossomed from a simple “what if?” What if they weren’t
met with open arms? Let’s be perfectly clear, however. I don’t know of any real town
in Missouri where this has happened. I do know there have been cases of “Amish bashing”
in other places, which led me to the premise of this story. This storyline gave me
the opportunity to explore what bigotry does to its victims, but also what love, kindness,
forgiveness, and Christ-like turning of the other cheek do for bigots. While I was
writing this story, my husband and I rented a car and drove 1,500 miles on the highways
and back roads of Missouri. Everywhere we were met with the lovely hospitality of
the great Show-Me State. My thanks to the kind folks in Jamesport who shared their
observations and experiences with us. The same in Bolivar, Stockton Lake State Park,
and Branson. My husband is really sorry he scared the Park Ranger with his Fox 29
TV cap. We truly enjoyed our stay.
Also a word of thanks to Cathy Richmond, who kindly shared tips about physical therapy
with me. Any mistakes in this arena are mine and mine alone. That also holds true
for the descriptions of the Amish way of life. Please remember that every Amish district
has its own set of rules, the New Hope Amish included.
I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always, my thanks
to Harvest House Publishers, Kathleen Kerr, Mary Sue Seymour, and the multitude who
have helped me on this writing journey. Tim, thank you for being my driver, traveling
companion, best friend, and the guy willing to do the talking when the introvert in
me chickens out.
Let all the glory be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
B
ethel Graber longed for the fresh air of a buggy ride. She craned her aching neck
from side to side, trying to ignore the pain that radiated from her leg after hours
of watching the white lines on the asphalt whip toward her and then vanish underneath
the van. Pain accompanied her daily now. Crammed between her nieces’ car seats, she
had no room to evade it. Instead, she breathed through it, inhaling stale air scented
with diapers and little-boy sweat. The girls’ chubby cheeks and sleepy smiles made
her want to pat their rosy faces, but she didn’t dare for fear they’d wake and the
squalling would begin again.
The drive across southern Kansas to a tiny town in Missouri called New Hope should’ve
taken under five hours, but the children weren’t used to traveling in a car. Poor
William suffered from car sickness and Joseph needed to stop for the restroom at every
gas station along the way. Fortunately, their driver seemed to have a limitless supply
of patience. Bethel, on the other hand, had plumbed the depths of hers.
“Are we getting close?” She leaned forward to make herself heard over the rumble of
the van’s engine. She didn’t want to wake Jebediah either. The youngest of Leah and
Luke’s brood had cried a good part of the first two hours of the drive. Blessed silence,
indeed. “Shouldn’t we be getting close?”