Babies have their own schedule. But so does God. Annie's life is deliciously full as the Christmas season approaches. She helps her husband, Samuel, attend to the community's minor medical needs. She occasionally assists Belinda, the local midwife. And most days, she finds herself taking the buggy to her brother Adam's home. Where her sister-in-law Leah is due to deliver her first child before Christmas, Annie becomes determined to finish a crib quilt before the infant arrives. But God's plans are different from Annie ...
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Babies have their own schedule. But so does God. Annie's life is deliciously full as the Christmas season approaches. She helps her husband, Samuel, attend to the community's minor medical needs. She occasionally assists Belinda, the local midwife. And most days, she finds herself taking the buggy to her brother Adam's home. Where her sister-in-law Leah is due to deliver her first child before Christmas, Annie becomes determined to finish a crib quilt before the infant arrives. But God's plans are different from Annie's, and she may not finish the quilt in time. As each piece of the quilt comes together, Annie discovers the quilt holds far greater significance than she ever imagined. This bestselling classic from USA Today bestselling author Vannetta Chapman has been updated and is now available in e-book, print, and audio. Vannetta Chapman is the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of over 50 novels in a variety of genres that include Amish romance, inspirational romance, cozy mystery, romantic suspense, dystopian, and thrillers. Having sold more than one million copies, she currently lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country.
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The Christmas Quilt by Vannetta Chapman is a heartwarming tale. I like Vannetta Chapman�s writing style. It is engaging and friendly. I enjoyed getting to know more about Annie, Samuel, Adam, and Leah. Leah is in the third trimester of her pregnancy with twins. Leah feels like an overstuffed sausage casing and her emotions are bouncing all over the place. Communication between Adam and Leah has broken down leaving each one with doubts. Pregnancy complications add more stress to their marriage. Samuel and Annie�s marriage is the opposite of Adam and Leah�s. Annie and Samuel use their medical knowledge to serve their community. They have a loving marriage. Annie is also pregnant, and the couple is eager to welcome the newest addition to their family. Annie and Leah get to spend some time together. They work together on a quilt for the twins while discussing the Bible and issues of faith. I like how the Amish come together to help each other in times of need. We get to catch up with the characters from when Annie was working at Mercy Hospital. There are some special doctors and nurses at that hospital. The Christmas Quilt is the eleventh book in the Quilts of Love series. It can be read as a standalone, but I do recommend reading A Simple Amish Christmas. There are good life lessons in this story. Make sure to have a tissue handy while reading this one. The Christmas Quilt is an emotional tale about patience, friendship, family, friendship, love, and faith.
Sonja N
May 26, 2014
The Christmas Quilt
I just finished reading The Christmas Quilt and really enjoyed this. I would gladly say that the author wove together a beautiful story of peace, forgiveness and family ties.
The story begins as two young Amish women are preparing for their marriages on the same day. Annie and Leah share their feelings of joy and happiness at the coming of this happy event. The story progresses as both women, now married, are both expecting a child, or in the case of Leah, twins. Leah is married to Annie's brother and as her pregnancy advances she is no longer feeling the closeness to her husband and their marriage does not appear to be as happy as she had hoped or expected it to be at the time of their wedding.
Leah's pregnancy starts to have complications and some serious problems associated with it. As time progresses, her husband, Adam, finds her curled up on the floor in the middle of the night. Realizing that she needs more help than he himself can provide for her, he contacts Annie and her husband, Samuel, for help. Samuel having some medical knowledge, himself, realizes that he too must call for help and an ambulance is summoned. Leah is brought to the hospital and after a time, it is realized she must go to yet another hospital for the care her two unborn children are so in need of. This will take her farther from her family but it seems there is no option.
Annie realizing that Adam needs to care for their home and continue to work to help pay for the hospital expenses, finds a place near the hospital where she can stay and take care of Leah's needs.
Each day she works on a quilt for Leah. The quilt takes on significant meaning as the two share scripture time together and special stories together. The two become close as the time progresses and Leah realizes how much Adam still means to her and Adam finds he too, greatly misses his wife. As the two await their child, their Amish community comes together to find ways to help them with their expenses due to the extended hospital stay.
The stories and scriptural references begin to bind the two women together and help to calm Leah's fears and apprehension of the expected earlier birth of their children. With each day the tender feelings between Adam and Leah seem to be returning. This story gives wonderful hope that we can all find ways to heal wounds that have torn us apart from those that are the most important to us in our lives. It is a sweet book that helps us mend our souls.
Narita R
Dec 6, 2013
MORE THAN JUST A CHRISTMAS NOVEL!
Annie Yoder did something different during her rumspringa, she went into the English world and became a nurse. Upon her return she married herbalist, Samuel Yoder, who took care of the local Amish?s basic medical needs. As the story opens they are expecting their first child and her brother, Adam and his wife Leah are expecting for the first time too. Leah is carrying twins. The two women are very close. Annie wants to make Leah a special quilt for the babies. Thinking she has time to spare, (Leah isn?t due for two months), Annie gets a late start.
Leah unexpectedly goes into early labor, endangering her life and the babies. She is must be taken to a hospital in Philadelphia where she and the babies can be cared for. Annie agrees to stay with her until the babies are born.
Adam and Leah have been having struggles in their marriage since Leah became pregnant. Neither knows what the problem is and the distance grows between them. The sudden separation they experience while Leah is in the hospital causes both of them to view their marriage through different eyes.
Annie and Leah work on the quilt together and to pass the time share stories that illustrate the nine fruits of the spirit from Galatians chapter 5, one for each quilt square.
The community pulls together to have an auction to help pay for Leah and the babies hospital stay. Adam is overwhelmed by their love and generosity.
While this book would be a great read anytime, it is especially so for the Christmas season. Not because the story takes place around the holiday, but because of the many lessons associated with Christmas that can be learned from it.
Adam and Leah?s marital problems stemmed from losing focus on what was important. Adam was worried about finances and being a new father. Leah focused on her pregnancy discomfort and began to be selfish and ill tempered. When faced with the possibility of losing one another their priorities became very clear. I was reminded of how we lose focus of Christ, during the Christmas season. He is the true reason to celebrate, yet people caught up in buying gifts, decorating, preparing special food; everything except the Child that was the greatest gift of all. He should always be our priority and focus.
Annie made a great sacrifice to stay with her sister in law. She spent many days away from her husband whom she missed and loved. She sat long hours caring for Leah and keeping her company. The Amish community made sacrifices of time and possessions to help earn money for the young couple?s medical bills. This time of year the greatest sacrifice ever made began with the birth of Jesus. God sent His only Son to begin life on earth only to give it up for us.
I enjoyed the examples the women shared to illustrate Galatians 22 -23. It gave me the idea to do the same thing. I plan to find nine examples of each ?fruit? from people and situations from my own life. This would be a great thing to do in a group as a Bible study too!
There are more examples I found, those were just a few. How many can you find?
A wonderful heartwarming book! This is the first of Ms. Chapman?s I have read and I look forward to reading more!
I received this book free from Abingdon Press. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
