It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
Today's Wild Card author is:
Patrick E. Craig
and the book
Jenny’s Choice
harvesthousepublishers
***Special thanks to Ginger Chen of Harvest House Publishers for sending me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Patrick E. Craig is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful songwriting and performance career in the music industry to follow Christ in 1984. He spent the next 26 years as a worship leader, seminar speaker, and pastor in churches, and at retreats, seminars and conferences all across the western United States. After ministering for a number of years in music and worship to a circuit of small churches, he is now concentrating on writing and publishing both fiction and non-fiction books. Patrick and his wife Judy make their home in northern California and are the parents of two adult children and have five grandchildren.
SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:
In the concluding novel to the Apple Creek Dreams series, Jonathan and Jenny Hershberger are settled on the farm Jenny inherited from her grandfather. But when an accident takes Jonathan’s life, Jenny and her daughter, Rachel, return to Apple Creek to live with her adoptive parents, Reuben and Jerusha Springer.
Book trailer:
http://youtu.be/iuEZL1sUdho
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
The Departure
November 1978
Jenny Hershberger walked slowly into the
room and surveyed the piles of boxes waiting to be moved out to the wagon. Her
eyes turned to a heap of clothing spread across the bed. With a weary sigh she
brushed back an errant curl that had escaped from her kappe. Each item
she looked at seemed to have a mouth clamoring for her attention, each with a
story to tell or a memory to unveil.
This will be the hard part.
She went to the pine dresser—the first
big project Jonathan had undertaken after Grandfather Borntraeger began to
teach him woodworking. The detailing was coarse and the lines of the piece a
bit awkward, but she had loved it from the moment Jonathan moved it into their
room. She remembered him standing proudly beside it as she ran her hands over
the top and opened each drawer as though it were a treasure trove. She loved
the smell of the linseed oil he had rubbed into the wood, and when she had
spread a lace piece over the top and placed her things there, it had become a
symbol of all that Jonathan had left behind from his old life and all that he
had become to be with her.
Now she picked up one of the objects on
the top of the dresser, a small box. A sharp, almost physical pain touched her
heart as she opened the lid. Inside were several folded pieces of paper. She
took one out, slowly spread it open on the dresser, and began to read.
My
precious Jenny,
It’s the end of another long day here in Paradise. I’ve been in
the fields since daybreak with Grandfather Borntraeger. As soon as the thaw
came and the soil started to warm, we began preparing the ground for spring
planting. This is the hardest work I’ve ever done, yet at the same time it is
the most fulfilling. Your grandfather is a kind man, but he’s very strict and
doesn’t put up with any complaining or questioning of his methods.
Since I’m so new to this, he must teach me as we work. I feel like
a little boy all over again, but he’s very patient with me even when I make
mistakes.
I’m beginning to comprehend so many things, especially about God
and His Son, Jesus. The Bible is a wonderful book. Did you know that God made
the first man out of dirt? I wonder if that’s why I feel so at home on the
land. When I’m out in the fields with Grandfather Borntraeger, walking behind
the plow, I feel as though my life finally means something, as if this is the
most natural and real way I could ever be. As I work, I remember the words of a
song I heard the Amish men singing when I first came to Apple Creek.
Let
him who has laid his hand on the plow not look back! Press on to the goal!
Press on to Jesus Christ! The one who gains Christ will rise with Him from the
dead on the youngest day.
That’s who I want to be—the one who lays his hand to the plow and
doesn’t look back!
Jenny didn’t finish reading, but folded
the letter and placed it back in the box. Tears formed in her eyes as she stood
alone in the room, lost in her sorrow.
“Mama?”
A quiet little voice spoke from the
doorway. Jenny turned to the young girl who stood there. She was small, with
dark hair and deep, sea-blue eyes.
She has his eyes—she’s so much like him.
Jenny went to the girl and stooped down
as she took the little one in her arms and lifted her into a hug. The girl
softly touched Jenny’s face.
“Why are you crying, Mama?” she asked.
“It’s nothing, my Rachel,” Jenny
answered. “I was only reading your papa’s letters, the ones he wrote to me
before we were courting, when he lived here with your great-grandfather and
learned the Amish ways. He wrote to me every day of the two years we were
apart. I kept the most special letters in this box so I could read them now and
again and let du lieber Gott remind me how much He blessed me by sending
me your papa.”
“Is Papa happy in heaven?” Rachel asked.
“Oh, yes, my dearest; Papa is very, very
happy with Jesus and all the angels.”
“Why do we have to move to another
house, Mama? I like our house. What if Papa decides to come back from heaven
and he can’t find us? Won’t he be sad?”
Jenny sat on the bed and set Rachel down
beside her. “Papa won’t come back from heaven, darling. Heaven is so wunderbar
that once you’ve gone there, you don’t ever want to come back. And we
wouldn’t want to call him back to this world once he’s been with Jesus. He will
wait for us there, and one day we will join him and be with him again.
“In the meantime, we’re sad that he’s
gone…very sad. We must move because it’s very hard for your mama to live here
without Papa. There are so many things that make me remember him, and my heart
breaks again each time I see them. I need to go back to my old home and be with
my mama and papa so they can help me not to feel this way. And they will help
you to be happy again. Your grossdaadi can’t wait for you to come, and
Mama, my mama, has prepared a special room just for you. You will love being
with them. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here soon, and it will be
comforting to be in Apple Creek with our family and friends for the holidays.”
“Oh, yes, Mama, I love Grossmudder and
Grossdaadi. It will be nice to see them. But won’t we ever come back to
Paradise?”
“Only der vollkluge Gott knows
the answer to that question, my darling. Now, do you have all your things
packed up like I asked you?”
“Mostly, Mama. Can you help me with the
rest?” Rachel asked.
“Yes, dearest. I’ll be there in a bit,
when I finish here. Run ahead.”
Rachel bounced off the bed and ran from
the room. Jenny smiled as she watched her go.
She has her papa’s eyes and my bounce!
Jenny sighed again as Jonathan crowded
back into her thoughts. She stood up, grabbed an empty box, and quickly put the
letter box and the rest of the items from the dresser top into it. Then she
folded up the lace piece, placed it on top of her other belongings, and closed
the box. She set it with the others, piled the clothing on a chair by the door,
and then pulled the quilt and the linens from the bed. She folded them and put
them into the last remaining empty box. She surveyed the stack of boxes and
then went to the closet and took out her suitcase. Carefully she packed her
clothing in it and snapped the latches shut. The click of the latches echoed in
the room like tiny gunshots. Finished.
She took a deep breath.
There, I’m done. That wasn’t so bad.
Cousin Borntraeger can carry all this out for me and take it to the storage
place. Mama said to just bring our clothes for now.
She heard boots on the front porch, and
her heart leapt. Then just as quickly, reality dashed her hopes. Another deep
sigh. How many times had she heard Jonathan coming up the front stoop and
walking across the porch to the door? It was always such a comforting sound at
the end of the day. But now…
There was a knock and then a voice
calling. “Jenny? Are you ready, then?”
“I’m here, Cousin, in the bedroom. Can
you help me with these boxes?”
Lem Borntraeger walked down the hall and
into the room. He glanced around at the emptiness and pulled his black hat from
his head.
“Jenny, are you sure this is what you
want? We all want you to stay. I know it won’t be the same without Jonathan,
but you have family here.”
Jenny looked at her tall cousin. He had
been one of the blessings God bestowed on Jenny and Jonathan when they had come
to Paradise ten years before. He had taken her into his heart from the first
day they met, and after she and Jonathan married, he became their good friend and
helper. She reached over and patted his arm.
“I have to go home, Lem. I need to be
with my mama and papa. You will run the farm, and it will prosper in your care.
For me, there are too many memories. Sometimes my remembrances of Jonathan and
our days here feel like cobwebs that stick to me and hold me fast. They keep me
from going on with my life. And I need to go on now or I’ll die inside.”
“Will you ever come back?” Lem asked.
“Right now I would say no,” Jenny
answered. “But who knows the road ahead? We may come back someday when I can be
in this house without weeping every time I turn around.” Jenny managed a weak
smile.“I need to go, Lem.”
“All right then,” Lem said. “I
understand.”
He stood for a moment with his hat in
his hands. “Jonathan was a good man, and he was my friend. I will miss him
deeply.” Then Lem put his hat back on and smiled. “It’s enough. Now let me load
these boxes.”
Jenny watched him as he picked up two
boxes and went out. She took one last look at the room and then turned to go.
“Jenny…”
She stopped and turned, thinking she had
heard Jonathan’s voice. But it was only the echoes of unspoken longings that
filled her aching heart. She went one last time to the bed and touched it
softly.
“Jonathan, oh, Jonathan. You are my true
love. There will never be anyone like you for me. Thank you, my dearest, for
loving me so deeply. Thank you for being a good man, a wonderful husband, and a
loving father to Rachel. May Gott be with you on your journey.”
Jenny stood silent for a moment and then
picked up her suitcase, turned, and left the room. She went into Rachel’s room,
gathered up the few remaining things that were still unpacked, and laid them in
her daughter’s suitcase. Then she took Rachel’s hand, and together they walked
down the hall, through the empty front room, and out onto the porch. A buggy
waited for them in the driveway. She boosted Rachel up as Lem put the suitcases
in the back, and then she climbed in. She nodded to the driver, who clicked his
tongue and set the horse in motion.
The buggy rolled slowly down the
driveway. Jenny looked straight ahead. She would not look back. But then just
as the horse turned onto the main road, her resolve crumbled, and she turned.
The blue two-story house stood in the middle of the harvested fields. As she
looked she could see Jonathan behind the plow, waving to her as the rich soil
turned and broke beneath the sharp blade. She could see his smile and his blue
eyes. She could feel his strong arms around her as they stood together on the
porch, looking out over the land—their land—in awe of the blessings of God. She
put her face into her hands and silently began to weep. The clopping hooves
beat out a slow and mournful cadence—“He’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone.”
