[CharliefromKS]

Their focus is on other, more eternal, concerns. I cannot tell you how many times an Amish farmer has come into my office to take care of some business with the tiny creases in his hands and face seemingly permanently soil-filled, wearing a straw hat whose brim is soaked with old sweat, and boots that have walked hundreds of miles behind a horse-drawn plow. Clean people, and yet permanently work-stained. Yet you would be hard pressed to find a more honest, decent, hard-working, faith-filled person.

Beautifully said, Joanie. I have never met any Amish people but I would like to.

[joanie-f]

Per a request:

A photo of an Amish handmade quilt that I have on the bed in our guestroom. This is a pieced-quilt that probably took over a hundred woman-hours to make. It consists of more than five thousand tiny hexagonal fabric squares pieced together, with all of the quilting done by hand, each stitch about a sixteenth of an inch in length, and the stitch lines as straight as an arrow. Although I think it is beautiful, pieced-quilts don’t hold a candle to appliqué quilts (which generally cost many times as much as a pieced-quilt – often several thousand dollars, and worth every penny).