I have this great friend. She has let me borrow so many Amish books by Beverly Lewis and Wanda Brunstetter that it seems as if I have a non-ending supply of them. We’ve been trading books back and forth for over a month now…and we still have a lot of books to trade back and forth. 
I’ve always liked Beverly Lewis and her Amish fictions, but we only had like 3 of them; two of them being the last two in a series, so I’ve never read much of her books. We have a 3-in-1 Wanda Brunstetter book, too, and I loved it. But, I never bought any more.
Becky, my friend, strictly likes Amish fiction. So, she has a lot of them. And she’s got me hooked.
I still love my fantasies, historical fictions, and suspence novels, but Amish fiction has my attention now.
In the last month, Becs and I have traded more than 15 books, probably. All of the ones she’s giving me are either Beverly Lewis or Wanda Brunstetter. They’re really good. And I’m reading them practically around the clock.
If you’ve read any Amish books or researched the Amish culture at all you’ll realize that they speak two different languages – English and Pennslyvania Dutch. They also know German, but they speak Pennslyvania Dutch and English. English when they’re around us Englischers, and Pennsylvania Dutch at home. Or, if you read fiction books about them, a mix.
“Jah. It’s a wunderabaar-gut day today, ain’t so?”
I’m starting to speak they’re language. I’ve always liked it and every once and a while would say “Danke” instead of “Thank you”, but now it’s becoming habit…and without me really realizing it, too.
The other night we were on our way back from a ball we went to when we got on the subject of where I wanted to get married. Don’t ask me how we got on the subject for I don’t remember exactly, but it probably started with one of my dad’s clever jokes. Anyway, I mentioned that I wanted to get married in a large field out in the middle of no where. Gabe perks up and says “Kait, you can get married in my field!”
“Gabe,” I replied jokingly to my 8 year old brother. “By the time you have your own field I’ll be like 27. I will be an old Maidel if I’m not married by then.”
Silence. Then my mom broke out laughing.
Maidel?
The Dutch term for “maid”.

That’s not all. I’ve started writing “Jah” instead of “Yeah”. Jah, another Dutch word.

And then there’s “Danke, Danki, or Denki”(pronounced dawnka, daynkey, or denkey). Which one you say depends on what Amish county you live in, but I say the first one. I almost said that to the waitress at Waffle House this morning. That would have really confused her.
And “Wunderbaar-gut” (pronounced wunderbar goot) which means “Wonderful good.

I say other words, like the occasional “Mudder” and “Daed” which obviously are “Mother” and “Father”.
And I say phrases that they use. Like…”It’s really rainy today, ain’t so?” and “Maybe could be”.

I’ve mentioned to my mother that I would love to become New Order Amish.(Their beliefs are closer to mine) I would, too. Their way of living fascinates me, and hopefully one day I’ll be able to visit an Amish community.

Jah, that would be wunderbaar-gut fun.

Am I crazy, or am I just an Amish wanna-be?

Da Herr seimit du – the Lord be with you!

Posted by Kait in Fun, Funnys

Last night we went to some good friends of ours house for dinner.  They have 3 kids; Victoria, Spencer, and Andrew. Victoria and Spencer are closer to my age(Victoria’s 2 years older, Spencer’s a year and a half younger), and Andrew is in between Joe and Gabe’s age. They’re family is totally awesome, and you can’t not smile while in their presence.
Dinner was great.
After Victoria tried to kill me and Spencer devoured some stationary we played Life. I landed on the “Get Married!” spot of the game. Victoria asked me what I wanted to name him. “Johnathan Marcus” I replied. “I’ll call him John, but not Johnny.”
Victoria just smiled at me, but that wasn’t strange; she smiles all the time.
But Spencer gave me this really strange look.
“What?” I innocently asked.
He kept on giving me that look. Then I realized it.
Duh, I thought to myself. Their dad’s name is Jonathan, and he’s called Jonny for short.
Truth was, I’ve been planning to name one of my kids Johnathan Marcus, in the future of course, for a while now. I’ve liked the name Johnathan since I read one of Janette Oke’s books where one of the main characters was named Jonathan, which was years ago. And the other day I happened to be joking with my mom about how they would be the crazy grandparents who would call my kids nicknames I don’t like. Like if I named my kid Johnathan they’d call him Johnny instead of John. (it was just an example; I have nothing against the name Johnny)
Victoria and Spencer didn’t know that.
Oh well.
We continued playing and soon enough I landed on a “Adopt Twins” spot. I decided to get a girl and a boy.
“Okay, Kait. What are their names?” Victoria asked once again.
“The girl is Coraline Marie, and the boy is William Christian.” I answered.
Another strange look from Spencer.
This time I was a a little quicker to link 2 and 2.
Oh double-duh, Spencer’s middle name is Christian. I realized.
Another name I’ve always liked, but never really liked as a first name so I set it aside for a middle name.
It just keeps getting better.
…

 I must look like a name thief.

What can I help it if their family has such great names?

I never did explain the sillyness of it, for I was laughing too much to say it.

They probably think I’m crazy. And hey; perhaps I truly am.

Posted by Kait in Fun, Funnys