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Authors: Kelly Irvin

Love Still Stands

BOOK: Love Still Stands
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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

All rights reserved.
No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital,
photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The authorized purchaser has been granted a non-transferable, non-exclusive, and non-commercial
right to access and view this electronic publication and agrees to do so only in accordance
with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in
or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s and publisher’s
rights is strictly prohibited.

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
)

The New Hope Families

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

The New Hope Families

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Epilogue

Discussion Questions

About the Author

To Love and to Cherish

A Heart Made New

Love’s Journey Home

Ready to Discover More?

Preface

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.

Chapter 1

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?”

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