Amish Values for Your Family by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Applying Amish Values Can Simplify Your Life, Health, and Career

Learning principles from a gentle people will help safeguard your time together as a family as you learn to slow down, prioritize, and value what’s truly important.

About The Book

Award-winning author Suzanne Woods Fisher inspires readers to slow down and understand the values that help build a strong family in Amish Values for Your Family (ISBN: 978-0-8007-1996-8, $12.99, 192 pages August 2011). Studies are finding some alarming trends in the daily life of modern families –family time is a vanishing commodity. Compared to thirty years ago, today’s parents spend 40% less time with their children. This decline coincides with the rise in internet use, the popularity with social networks, and the swell of children’s organized sports and activities. What is competing for your family time? Who is winning?

The Amish have maintained one of the strongest and most stable family systems in America. Harvard School of Medicine recently found that Amish people have a lower rate of heart disease than do average Americans as well as lower rates of cancer. Could their simple way of life, hard work, and value of family contribute to a healthier way of life? And, if so, how is it possible to incorporate some principles of the Amish into a modern family without “goin’ Amish?”

In Amish Values for Your Family, Fisher shows how you can adopt the wisdom of the Amish when it comes to family matters. In this inspiring and practical book, readers will find true stories interlaced with solid, biblical advice about parenting, marriage, and all aspects of family life – without selling your car, changing your wardrobe, or moving to the Amish countryside. Readers will learn to prioritize what's truly important, simplify decision-making, slow down as a family, safeguard time together, and letting go when the time comes.

My Review

Amish Values for Your Family by Suzanne Woods Fisher is simply a book about living... simply. Filled with stories from the Amish themselves, you will discover how they keep their lives focused on what matters most and how that decision affects not only the whole family, but the entire community as well.

One of my most recent goals in life has been to SIMPLIFY. Get rid of all the 'stuff' so I have more time to enjoy what matters most... God, family, and people. This book has not only increased my desire for simplicity, but it has shown me even more reasons for doing so. Filled with heart-warming stories from the men and women raised in the Amish community, it has only made me wish I had made the decision sooner.

One of the stories that struck me the most was of a man who worked for a company that builds houses. He said that they worked on custom built homes, some with a price around a million dollars. He said "I see these folks wanting these big grand houses, strapping themselves to pay the mortgage. Both the mom and the dad have to work to make those big payments, and then the house is empty all day. Little kids get stuck in day care, or older kids come in to cold, empty houses..."  I see this happen in all income brackets. If we only thought of these things before we get ourselves into debt.

While no family is perfect, we can always seek to improve the quality of our lives and those around us. The Amish seem to have it right... keep God, family, and others as a priority. I could learn a lot from the Amish and I'm glad that Suzanne Woods Fisher is willing to share what she's learned with us. :)

*Revell Books and Baker Publishing Group have provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review. ~ Thank you!

About The Author

Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of The Choice, The Waiting, and The Search, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace. Her interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, W. D. Benedict, who was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Benedict eventually became publisher of Christianity Today magazine. Suzanne is the host of a radio show called Amish Wisdom. She lives in California. To learn more about Suzanne visit her at suzannewoodsfisher.com

Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books that bring the Christian faith to everyday life. They publish resources from a variety of well-known brands and authors, including their partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Hungry Planet.