Welcome to
the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!
Merry Christmas
from Pearl Girls™! We hope you enjoy
these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom” from the authors who were so kind to donate
their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you’ll be able go back through
and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.
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away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items
(books, a gift pack, music CDs) from the contributors! Enter
now on Facebook or at the Pearl Girls
blog. The winner will announced on January 2, 2013 at
the Pearl Girls blog.
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***
Year of
Adversity Brings Joy
By Leslie
Gould
I’ve been writing
Amish fiction for nearly three years now—telling stories about non-resistant people
who live a simple life. It’s a nice reprieve from my own life.
When my husband,
Peter, joined the Army Reserve back in the mid 1980s, I wasn’t thrilled about
it. Nor did I believe him when he said he’d probably never see action. Sure,
the Cold War was ending and—for a short time—all seemed well in the world, but
I had a degree in history. I knew better. I didn’t want to be a controlling
wife (as new to the job as I was!) and come out and say he absolutely couldn’t
do it. And it did help that he was joining a medical unit. Still I had my
reservations.
We’ve been far
more fortunate than many military families, but still it’s been quite a ride.
The first exciting episode began in 1990 when Peter flew to Germany on
Christmas Eve to work in an Army hospital during Desert Storm, leaving me
behind with our two young sons. During the next twenty years, Peter went from
being a Lt. to being a Col. and commanding a unit. Countless maneuvers and a
mobilization occurred during that time, but his Army Reserve career culminated
in his deployment to Afghanistan in 2011.
My days
throughout last year were an odd combination of hearing the daily news from a
war zone via Skype and then writing about the plain life of the Amish. By last
December I was working on my third Amish novel of the year while, in contrast,
Peter and his field hospital staff had cared for hundreds of NATO soldiers and
Afghan nationals, endured ten months of rocket fire, and continued to grieve
the killing of one of their own.
Surprisingly,
what seemed like it might be our worst Christmas ever, even harder than in
1990, wasn’t. Our four children (one teen and three young adults now) rallied
to help make it a memorable day. We counted our blessings—Peter was well, we
had all we needed, and God was at work in the life of our family. The result
was an underlying joy, deeper than what we’d felt during past Christmases.
In reflection, I
wrote: When it started, I thought 2011 might be one of our worst years.
But it hasn’t been. Sure, it’s been one of our hardest, but a lot of good has
come from it.
That was
evident on Christmas morning as we Skyped with Peter. We were so thankful for
the good connection and for all of us to be “together” that we hardly noticed
we really weren’t.
This December,
Peter is back at his civilian job (as a manager for a hospital corporation) and
also commanding a nearby Army Reserve unit, which means one weekend a month and
plenty of evenings—but no rockets or causalities.
I’m working on a
new Amish novel and still enjoying my “time” with those who practice
non-resistance, which doesn’t discount the appreciation I have for my husband’s
service. I’ve even grown to the place where I’m thankful he joined the
military. They’ve served each other well.
Our year of
adversity resulted in a deep joy. I’m pretty sure it will carry over to this
Christmas as well.
***
Leslie
Gould is the award-winning author of fifteen novels, including the #1
bestseller and Christy Award winner The Amish Midwife, co-written with
Mindy Starns Clark. Her latest release is Courting Cate, a retelling of
the “Taming of the Shrew.” Leslie lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband,
Peter, and their four children. www.lesliegould.com
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