Nurse Hal Among The Amish

Home Health Nurse Hal Lindstrom is assigned Amish widower John Lapp. She offers to stay with his children while he is in the hospital. Fifteen year old Emma takes care of the household. Her two younger brothers are handling the dairy operation. Hal soon realizes that Emma is suffering from depression. Noah is withdrawn, and Daniel is so troubled he sleepwalks outside, looking for his dead mother. Drawn to this needy family, Hal discovers they have a secret swept under the proverbial Amish rag rug. The more she tries to help them the deeper she is sucked into the family's problem. Finally, Emma makes Hal promise to stop trying to unravel the family's tragic secret before it's too late. Hal agrees. When her future happiness is at stake, she wishes she hadn't but a promise is a promise.

Fay Risner in Book two of her Nurse Hal Amish series links the modern world to the timeless Amish way of life when Nurse Hallie Lindstrom falls in love with Amish widower John Lapp. This is a fascinating look at two differing cultures set in an intricate and richly detailed tapestry of a traditional Amish setting in southern Iowa. The Amish simple way of life based on faith, convictions and honesty is entwined in this love story between an English woman and an Amish man. Hallie Lindstrom, Home Health Nurse, has copper red hair, a fondness for jeans and owns a copper sedan which inhibits the Amish community's acceptance of her. Struggling with her decision to convert to Amish, Hallie realizes if she is allowed to marry John Lapp the worldly possessions she values have to go. Amish widower, John Lapp's patience with Hallie wears thin when she stays upset over his helping a pretty Amish widow, Roseanna Miller, on her farm. John points out Hal's total shunning of English ways and complete obedience to him is the only way he'll marry her. He fears his love for her isn't enough to keep her in the Amish faith if she can't go along with his ways. Stella Strutt, opinionated Old Order Amish, is determined to get rid of Hallie by turning the community against her. Hallie has to decide if she is strong enough to give up her way of life to be forever Amish, make a life in the community by running a medical clinic on the Lapp farm and put up with Stella Strutt bad mouthing her and the clinic for eternity.

Join the fun. You are invited to the wedding of John Lapp and Nurse Hal. Family and friends have gathered to cook, clean and plan. Men have put up a tent for the guests, so put on your bonnet or felt hat, hitch up your buggy and take a ride by scenic pastures and rolling hills to Wickenburg, Iowa. Take a seat on a bench next to Hal's folks. They will be glad to explain the ceremony, because they came armed with Aunt Tootie's book on Amish customs. You will find a few surprises when little Daniel Lapp interrupts the bishop when he asks if anyone objects to the couple's marriage. Oh and Stella Strutt has some sort of fit. It will be the most talked about Amish wedding for years to come. Hal's married life is downhill from there. She refuses to give up her car and cell phone. Getting caught by Stella Strutt at the Old Thrasher Reunion on a "joy ride" doesn't help her avoid punishment. Is Hal going to get sent away before she gets settled in? Stick around after the wedding and find out, why don't you?

Join the fun! You're invited to the wedding of John Lapp and Nurse Hal. Family and friends gathered to cook, clean and plan. Men put a tent up in the yard for guests. So put on your bonnet or felt hat, hitch up the buggy and take a ride by scenic pastures and rolling hills to Wickenburg, Iowa. Take a seat on a bench next to Hal's parents. They will be glad to explain the ceremony to you because they came armed with facts from Aunt Tootie's book on Amish customs. You will find a few surprises during the wedding. Little Daniel Lapp interrupts the bishop, when he asks if anyone objects. Oh and Stella Strutt has some sort of fit. It will be the most talked about Amish wedding for years to come. Hal's life is downhill, from there for awhile. She refuses to give up her car and cell phone. Getting caught by Stella Strutt at the Old Thrasher's Reunion on a "joy ride" doesn't help her avoid punishment. Is Hal going to be sent away, before she gets settled into her new home? Stick around after the wedding and find out why don't you?

If spring is a season of rebirth and love, Hallie Lapp's farm, at first glance, seems to be the place to be. What she didn't see coming after the birth of her daughter, Redbird, was an abandoned baby dropped off in her buggy as part of the Safe Haven law. She couldn't imagine a runaway girl, Annie Hosteller, showing up on her doorstep, either. Once Nurse Hal is forced to meet the scary men from the Hosteller compound life isn't the same for the Amish community for months to come. In the middle of the night, Joseph Hosteller sends his sons to search for his daughter and her newborn infant. They beat up Amish farmers, cut off their beard and their wives hair. More violence is threatened if Joseph Hosteller's daughter and baby aren't returned to him. Bishop Bontrager warns everyone to stay home and protect themselves from home invasions in the middle of the night. Nurse Hal fears what will happen when the Hostellers find Joseph's daughter, Annie, and her baby are at the Lapp farm. What harm will come to Nurse Hal and her family when the Hostellers invade their home?

Welcome to the Lapp farm near Wickenburg in southern Iowa. Come to visit and bring your sense of humor. Dependable Emma Lapp dreams about the same fate that happens to all teenage Amish girls. Eventually, she will fall in love, marry and have a large family, but she's been offered the teacher's job for a term. That means working away from home and leaving Nurse Hal to take care of the household while she's still trying to perfect her cooking skills. That worries Emma. She doesn't think Nurse Hal is ready to take on the responsibilities of homemaker and continue her nursing duties at the same time. However, Emma wants to take her place in the grownup world and teaching school will be an exciting challenge. Emma turned seventeen and is considered a good catch by several eligible bachelors. As Emma puts it, every single man in the community is sizing her up for his wife. The men make it obvious they want to be her special friend. She spent her childhood growing up with Levi Yoder. Now he thinks he has first claim on her. Emma's not so sure about that when she finds herself tempted by Eli Yetzy, the deacon's son. He's wildly into rumspringa so he imitates English teens and does things that are against Emma's beliefs. She wants to turn away from him but finds him appealing. Emma is really confused when a school board member, widower Amos Coblentz, takes a liking to her. At the same time, Bobby Keim tries to get her attention. Emma becomes so troubled about which man she wants to spend her life with that her nights are riddled with unsettling dreams that tangle together in her mind. Filmy male faces move about like strong transparent gauze in a gentle breeze, competing for her attention while she tries to sleep. In the dark of night, these dreams seem very real while the break of day leaves even more room for doubt and confusion as Emma's Gossamer Dreams keep her in turmoil.

Nurse Hal invites her parents to visit the Lapp farm near Wickenburg, Iowa to get acquainted with their two little granddaughters. She is in total turmoil when she hears she's going to get more company than she bargained for. Jim and Nora Lindstrom are bringing Nora's sister, Tootie, with them. Nurse Hal is sure her family is going to be shunned, when scatterbrained Aunt Tootie does or says the wrong thing around their Amish friends. With all the scenarios that Hal imagined, she didn't come close to dreaming up the things this a little plumb off center aunt could do to get them in trouble with the Amish community. John Lapp invites Jim to go to the salebarn with him and his sons. He wonders if that was a wise thing to do when Jim buys a courting buggy and horse. The man is as excited about his purchase as he'd been about his first jalopy. However, Jim has doubts about the horse on the first ride home. Mike has traffic fright so he stops, when traffic goes by him. Jim has to hide that fact from Nora. She made up her mind right away that she didn't like the courting buggy and doesn't want anything to do with it. She would be even more upset if she knew the horse had a problem. An elderly neighbor, Peter Rogies, has Alzheimer's disease. Before Nurse Hal can educate his family about how to care for the man, Aunt Tootie takes a liking to Peter. They go for a walk and end up on Lover's Lane in Jim's courting buggy. The next time the couple go for a walk they get lost in a timber in the dark. It would be just a matter of time before they succumb to the elements if the search party doesn't find them. What else will Aunt Tootie do to complicate Nurse Hal's Amish way of life? Lots of things and not all of them in The Courting Buggy.

Emma Lapp is marrying Adam Keim. Excitement prevails as Emma and her step-mother, Hallie, discuss details for the wedding. Soon Emma's excitement turns to dread. Nothing is going right. She planned on the former teacher to substitute teach for a month. She didn't plan on Ellen Miller being eight months pregnant with twins. Who else could Emma trust to teach her students? The Weber sisters are in a family upheaval over their cooking and garden methods. She wants them to bake her wedding cake. What if they get so upset with each other the cake doesn't get made? Emma would like to discuss her worries with Adam, but he hasn't been to see her for days. She is consumed by worries about the missing husband-to-be. What if he wants to back out of marrying her? She asks everyone what is Adam doing? The answer is always, he is very busy. When Emma found out Adam hired pretty, man magnet, Priscilla Tefertiller to clerk in his furniture store, she suspects Adam has developed a fondness for Priscilla. Is he going to wait until the last minute to tell Emma he changed his mind about marrying her? A talk with Bishop Bontrager didn't help. He sided with Adam, telling Emma she should trust the man she's going to marry with blind faith. She said she couldn't do that. The bishop told Emma if she couldn't trust Adam now, she might never trust him. Perhaps, they shouldn't get married. The bishop called Emma a Doubting Thomas. Will her worries get so bad she'll call off the wedding before the wedding is published at the worship service? If she does she fears she will forever be a maidel who is known by others as a Doubting Thomas.

Fall was normally a routine season in Amish Country with harvest taking up much of the Plain farmers time. They put in long hours of hard work, shucking corn and making the last crop of hay. But one fall near Wickenburg, Iowa wasn't normal at all. When Jacob Stolfus's barn burnt down, he saw a rider on horseback leave his cornfield. After Sheriff Dawson investigated, he said the fire was arson. The news spread through the Amish Community, leaving Plain people stunned and in fear. As quickly as they could, the Amish farmers organized a barn raising so life on the Stolfus farm could get back to normal. What the Amish Community didn't realize was that life wasn't going to be normal for weeks. Next Rudy Briskey's corn field burnt, and after that Nurse Hal was attacked in her barn. While she laid unconscious on the barn floor, the arsonist set a hay bale on fire, hoping to kill Hal and destroy the Lapp barn at the same time. When the arsonist hurt Nurse Hal, a valued member of the Amish community that really tested the faith of the devout Amish pacifists. This inferno of destruction caused a great deal of lost income and worry for the safety of Amish families and neighbors. Why was this happening to the Amish, and what building would go up in flames next? Would the next fire take someone's life?

Early spring is once again turning the snow melted hills of southern Iowa into green, lush pastures filled with livestock and their capering newborns. Amish farmers are in the fields, tilling and planting corn. In the Amish community, usually it isn't mentioned outside of the family and close friends when new babies are expected. This particular spring all that changes in Nurse Hal's community. At least for the Lapp family. Hal's expecting a baby very soon and not feeling well with so much work to do for her family. That's why she's pleasantly surprised when she receives a letter from her parents. They're moving lock, stock, barrel Spring once again in southern Iowa finds green pastures filled with livestock and their capering newborns. In the Amish community no mentioned is made of expected babies outside of the family and close friends. This particular spring all that changes. Nurse Hal's expecting a baby. She's pleasantly surprised when she receives a letter from her parents, saying they're moving lock, stock, barrel and Aunt Tootie to be near Hal and her family. Emma Keim is anxiously waiting the arrival of her baby only to have Nurse Hal tell her she's having twins. The news Dr. Burns gives Adam and Emma about the babies is heartbreaking. Still there's more for Emma to endure when she realizes she's being stalked by a serial attacker, an Englisher in a red sports car. She manages to avoid the man. Adam's store clerk isn't so lucky. Priscilla Tefertiller finds she is no longer marriage material and is the Amish community's main topic with the label Second Hand Goods.and Aunt Tootie to Wickenburg to be near Hal and her family. Hal's looking forward to the much appreciated help from her mother and even Aunt Tootie. Emma Keim is anxiously waiting the arrival of her baby only to have Nurse Hal tell her she's having twins. If that wasn't enough of a shock, the news Dr. Burns gives Adam and Emma about the babies is heartbreaking. That starts the largest prayer circle ever heard of in the Amish community and back home in Titonka, Iowa. There's still more for Emma to endure and put fright in the heart of every young Amish woman. Emma realizes she's being stalked by an English man in a red sports car. While she manages to avoid the man, Adam's store clerk isn't so lucky. Priscilla Tefertiller soon find Bobby Keim is no longer willing to marry her, and she's the Amish community's main topic with people labeling her Second Hand Goods.

Hallie Lapp's parents, Jim and Nora Lindstrom, decide to uproot themselves from northern Iowa after they retire. They move to southern Iowa to live near their daughter and her Amish family. Aunt Tootie comes along and move into the grandfather house on the property. While the Lindstroms adjust to living in an Amish community, they get news that Nora and Tootie's nephew and his wife have been, killed in a car crash. Surviving them is a fourteen-year-old daughter that will be put in foster care if they don't take her in. Tootie is, against having a teenager underfoot, but the Lindstroms think it's their duty to raise their great-niece. They find her to be an enthusiastic bundle of energy named Joy. The Lindstroms, take to her instantly, but Joy clashes with Tootie, a woman set in her ways. To start with, Joy brought her parents with her in an urn. Tootie, thinks that is in poor taste and demands Nora tell the girl to bury the urn. Hallie Lapp's stepson, Daniel Lapp, becomes good friends with Joy and helps her clear off a small cemetery they discovered at the back of the property. Tootie, complains Joy has too much freedom and needs more, constructive activities. She warns Nora that Daniel and Joy are becoming more than friends, but the Nora doesn't want to listen. As the Amish would say, she hadn't seen a match strike between Daniel and Joy yet. They all agree Joy keeps life interesting, from bringing home a baby skunk, to picking wild flowers and ragweeds, as a gift for Tootie that gives her a dangerous, allergic reaction. Join the Lindstrom family and find out more. I've only told you part of what happens in Joyful Wisdom.

The longest year of Joy Petermeyer's life is just about over. Nurse Hal's stepson, Daniel Lapp, is due back from Tennessee in August, and they planned to get married. Only according to his Aunt Ida's letters, Daniel is having a good time in Tennessee working with his Uncle Marvin's horses and dating an Amish girl named Arlene. Joy worries that Daniel isn't coming home, and decides she has to move on. Her only friend is Melinda Esch. One night, they go on a camping trip, which ends up tragically. Joy is determined, to never have anything to do with Melinda after that night. Just when she considered her life was in bad shape, Daniel's friend, Jimmie Miller invites Joy to step out with him to the teen singings. Joy is welcomed back by the Amish teens after months of avoiding the singings. That date with Jimmie leads to a picnic and horseback riding dates. Summer is fun again, and Joy realizes she has developed deep feelings for Jimmie. To Joy's surprise, not even her romance with Jimmie goes well. Samuel Nisely, Jimmie's stepfather, tells Joy to stay away from Jimmie, as long as she is promised to Daniel Lapp. Even if Daniel doesn't come back to Iowa, Joy might not be able to see Jimmie ever again, as long as Samuel Nisely says Jimmie can't date her.