Read Online An Amish Christmas With the Bontrager Sisters by Hannah Schrock - Free Book Online
Authors: Hannah Schrock
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you are grey haired and old with a few grosskinner on your lap.”
“That is not Gott’s will, Emma,” Sarah said.
“Who are we to know His will?” Emma cried in despair. “His will might be to let you live, to cure your illness with a miracle.”
“My children are my miracle,” Sarah smiled. “I have had many miracles, the summers and sunsets I have seen, the joys of marriage I have known with Jeramiah and the product of our union, our children. Please promise you will take care of them.”
“I promise,” Emma said. “But you must promise me not to give up. I won’t be able to stand it if you gave up.”
“What is the point of persisting?” Sarah closed her tired eyes.
“Isaac and Ruth and the new boppli ,” Emma said gently, “they are enough reason to persist. To keep Jeramiah’s memory alive, to pray for his forgiveness so you may be together in the hereafter. That is the reason to persist. If we do not persist in our hopes of happiness, Gott will not grant them to us.”
Emma took Sarah’s withered hands and placed them on her belly.
“I persisted, Sarah,” Emma said quietly. “I persisted after the many miscarriages, after the many false hopes and the painful lack of a boppli in my arms and I think Gott has finally blessed me with one.”
“Ach, Emma!” Sarah’s face was radiant with happiness. “I pray that it is so. You are a great mother to my children, you will be even greater to your own. Have you told Jarron yet?”
“ Nee ,” Emma blushed. “I am waiting for five months to pass to be sure. I am hoping that this Christmas I can give him the gut news of being a Daed .”
“He will be thrilled,” Sarah sighed, “ Gott willing.”
“But see, Sarah,” Emma soothed loose strands of hair from Sarah’s sweaty forehead. “Maybe Gott’s plan isn’t as bad as we think it is. There is hope at the end of every hardship. We just need to look for it persistently.”
“That maybe so,” Sarah held Emma’s hand. “But I have lost the rock I could lean on. My Jeramiah has been taken away from me.”
“He still remains within you,” Emma consoled. “Take strength from his memory like I did with Eli’s when he passed away. Jeramiah will be loath to see you in so much pain. It will make his passage so much harder if his soul is bound to your sorrow on this earth.”
Sarah didn’t reply. She closed her eyes. They itched constantly, her breath was hot and ragged but her body was cold.
Isaac and Ruth tiptoed in to see their mother. Emma waved them over and they sat gingerly on the cot at their mother’s feet. Ruth had a dirt smear on her cheek but before Emma could lift her hand to clean it, Isaac had already rubbed it off.
It was sweet how close the brother and sister had gotten over the past few months. Isaac, who would be loath to have Ruth trailing him like a shadow, now comforted her in the dark of night and even waited for her to catch up on the way to school. Ruth for her part tried to be less of a nuisance to her older brother, saving a choice candy for him and even giving him half of her cake once in a while.
They were gut children, Emma thought, kindhearted and responsible. Sarah had done a gut job raising them and even though Emma would have loved the chance to mother them, she knew that the loss of Sarah would be too great for this family to withstand.
Emma squeezed Sarah’s hand, trying to give her warmth and the will to fight.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Quilt and birth
The Bontrager’s and the Yoder’s sat in the William’s house to enjoy a Sunday roast. Emma bustled from the living room to the kitchen, her heart swelling with happiness because for the first time in a very long while, Sarah was sitting up in a chair, her hair combed neatly under her kapp , her clothes pressed and clean, her face serene and her eyes alert. She had even laughed at a joke Isaac had told and it had brightened the evening considerably.
Jarron had exchanged pleased
“That is not Gott’s will, Emma,” Sarah said.
“Who are we to know His will?” Emma cried in despair. “His will might be to let you live, to cure your illness with a miracle.”
“My children are my miracle,” Sarah smiled. “I have had many miracles, the summers and sunsets I have seen, the joys of marriage I have known with Jeramiah and the product of our union, our children. Please promise you will take care of them.”
“I promise,” Emma said. “But you must promise me not to give up. I won’t be able to stand it if you gave up.”
“What is the point of persisting?” Sarah closed her tired eyes.
“Isaac and Ruth and the new boppli ,” Emma said gently, “they are enough reason to persist. To keep Jeramiah’s memory alive, to pray for his forgiveness so you may be together in the hereafter. That is the reason to persist. If we do not persist in our hopes of happiness, Gott will not grant them to us.”
Emma took Sarah’s withered hands and placed them on her belly.
“I persisted, Sarah,” Emma said quietly. “I persisted after the many miscarriages, after the many false hopes and the painful lack of a boppli in my arms and I think Gott has finally blessed me with one.”
“Ach, Emma!” Sarah’s face was radiant with happiness. “I pray that it is so. You are a great mother to my children, you will be even greater to your own. Have you told Jarron yet?”
“ Nee ,” Emma blushed. “I am waiting for five months to pass to be sure. I am hoping that this Christmas I can give him the gut news of being a Daed .”
“He will be thrilled,” Sarah sighed, “ Gott willing.”
“But see, Sarah,” Emma soothed loose strands of hair from Sarah’s sweaty forehead. “Maybe Gott’s plan isn’t as bad as we think it is. There is hope at the end of every hardship. We just need to look for it persistently.”
“That maybe so,” Sarah held Emma’s hand. “But I have lost the rock I could lean on. My Jeramiah has been taken away from me.”
“He still remains within you,” Emma consoled. “Take strength from his memory like I did with Eli’s when he passed away. Jeramiah will be loath to see you in so much pain. It will make his passage so much harder if his soul is bound to your sorrow on this earth.”
Sarah didn’t reply. She closed her eyes. They itched constantly, her breath was hot and ragged but her body was cold.
Isaac and Ruth tiptoed in to see their mother. Emma waved them over and they sat gingerly on the cot at their mother’s feet. Ruth had a dirt smear on her cheek but before Emma could lift her hand to clean it, Isaac had already rubbed it off.
It was sweet how close the brother and sister had gotten over the past few months. Isaac, who would be loath to have Ruth trailing him like a shadow, now comforted her in the dark of night and even waited for her to catch up on the way to school. Ruth for her part tried to be less of a nuisance to her older brother, saving a choice candy for him and even giving him half of her cake once in a while.
They were gut children, Emma thought, kindhearted and responsible. Sarah had done a gut job raising them and even though Emma would have loved the chance to mother them, she knew that the loss of Sarah would be too great for this family to withstand.
Emma squeezed Sarah’s hand, trying to give her warmth and the will to fight.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Quilt and birth
The Bontrager’s and the Yoder’s sat in the William’s house to enjoy a Sunday roast. Emma bustled from the living room to the kitchen, her heart swelling with happiness because for the first time in a very long while, Sarah was sitting up in a chair, her hair combed neatly under her kapp , her clothes pressed and clean, her face serene and her eyes alert. She had even laughed at a joke Isaac had told and it had brightened the evening considerably.
Jarron had exchanged pleased
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