Old Order author Darla Weaver details spending Tuesday’s with Mom and family in new book

September 11, 2018

Old Order author Darla Weaver details spending Tuesday’s with Mom and family in new book

To sign books at Buckeye (Wooster, Ohio) Book Fair Nov. 3.

HARRISONBURG, Va.— Once a week Darla Weaver loads her children into the carriage, hitches up her spirited mare, and drives six miles to the farm where she grew up. In summer they ride bikes. Year round she gathers with her four sisters and their children for a day with their mother and grandmother.

In Gathering of Sisters: A Year with My Old Order Mennonite Family, Weaver writes about her horse-and-buggy Mennonite family and the weekly gatherings that keep them connected.

On warm days, the children play, fish and, build houses with hay bales in the barn. In the winter, everyone stays close to the woodstove, with puzzles, games, crocheting and “stamping.” No matter the weather, the Tuesday get-togethers of this family keep them grounded and centered in their love for God and for each other, even when raising an occasional loving but knowing eyebrow at each other.

The rest of the week is full of laundry, errands, and work that never ends. But Tuesdays are about being sisters, daughters, and mothers.

Donald B. Kraybill, bestselling author and oft-consulted expert on Amish- and Mennonite-related topics, lauds Gathering of Sisters as a “wonderful book that throbs with joy, laughter, and love on every page. Story after story takes us inside her fascinating world on a backroad to heaven.”

The Buckeye Book Fair takes place from 9:30-4:00 Nov. 3 at the Fisher Auditorium at the Ohio Agricultural Research Center. More information at www.BuckeyeBookFair.com

Gathering of Sisters is the sixth book from Herald Press in the Plainspoken series of Amish and Mennonites writing about their daily lives. Weaver is a homemaker, gardener, writer, and Old Order Mennonite living in the hills of southern Ohio. She is the author of Water My Soul and Many Lighted Windows and has written for Family Life, Ladies’ Journal, Young Companion, and other magazines..

The book is now available from Herald Press (800-245-7894) for $14.99 (paperback) and 11.99 (ebook), favorite bookstores and online retailers. In Canada, order from CommonWord (877‑846‑1593), Parasource (800‑263‑2664), and elsewhere.

To schedule a phone interview with Darla Weaver, contact LeAnn Hamby at 540‑908‑3941 or [email protected].