The More the Merrier
(By Linda Byler)
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| Author | Linda Byler |
It’s 1931 and times are tough for the Miller family who are raising eight children in the midst of the Great Depression. When Eli Miller passes away unexpectedly, Emmy has no idea how she’ll make ends meet. The Amish community rallies around her and the children, as is their custom, but as days turn into weeks and then into months, Emmy’s friends and neighbors return to their own routines and seem to expect Emmy to do the same. Emmy knows she needs to stay strong for the children and figure out a way to keep everyone warm and clothed and fed, but she is heartbroken and exhausted. She reminds herself that God will provide, but every day feels like an uphill battle.
Emmy immerses herself in the tasks at hand, rallying the children to help with harvesting and canning so they’ll have something to eat over the winter. When did the kids become so unruly? How is she supposed to love and discipline them properly when it’s all she can do to get herself out of bed some mornings? When a friend suggests maybe she should think about remarrying, Emmie laughs out loud. Even if she could find it in her heart to love again, any man would have to be crazy to take on her motley crew of disheveled, disobedient children. And it’s not like she herself had much to offer anyone, either.
When she meets Dan Beiler and learns that he’s a widower with six children of his own, she finds a listening ear—someone who understands her struggle. She feels a stirring in her heart that she never expected, but surely Dan would not be interested in taking on her family in addition to his own. And could she be a good mother to fourteen children? It was better to put the idea out of her head altogether. Wasn’t it?”
