Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund

Emma Miller announced the development of the first ever Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund. Emma reports: “I thought about it many times during the years I was studying and I'd mention it and people were very encouraging. On my graduation day I vowed I would do my best to get it started and I reached out to two other former-Amish who are in college and the three of us put it together. I kept a blog of the process so you can see it took us very long to get this far! www.adsfund.blogspot.com/ .

The Scholarship is called Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund and the money would be deposited directly through the student's financial aid at the university. Usually they apply that to tuition first and if there is any left over, it can go towards books etc. The majority would likely to tuition. We don't know how much the scholarship will be yet. We have to raise the money. Hopefully we'll have an estimate by May. We would like to first help those who came directly from an Amish background and have Amish parents who are not supportive of their decision to study. We feel like those are the ones who need the most support and encouragement.

The money will be kept at The Mennonite Foundation in Goshen Indiana and the scholarship winner will be chosen based on grades, need, and a written essay. The money will come from donations, which we are still working on. There has been some interest from sponsors, but we haven't locked in a large amount yet. We have faith that we can at least raise enough money to give one scholarship by June and then lock in some sponsors who can donate annually so we're not starting from scratch each year. I am planning on donating as well, especially once I'm working full time again. (I'm finishing up a Masters degree in May)

Our plans are to award the first one around June/July of this year which would go towards the fall semester. Potential applicants should keep an eye on the website at http://adsfund.weebly.com/scholarship-application-information.html. We will update the information as soon as we're ready to take applications. They will have to fill out a form and write a short essay and supply copies of their grades (either GED or college grades) and their proof of acceptance or enrolment at a college. There is a form to fill out on the website which will go to me or they can email me directly at emmamiller.adsfund@gmail.com

Our website is : http://adsfund.weebly.com/index.html
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amish-Descendant-Scholarship-Fund-ADSFund/132258213452458 .”


If you’d like more information about how to donate to the fund or how to apply for the scholarship, please contact Emma at: emmamiller.adsfund@gmail.com

The Letter F: Fun, Fun, Fun!

I've missed the last two weeks of Patty Wysong's A to Z: Take 2 meme. But I'm excited about the letter F!

I was chatting with my husband recently how I've dropped the fun things I used to do to relax. I love paper crafts, and card making was one of my favorite things to do. But when I started to write, a little less than 5 years ago, I slowly dropped those fun crafts. But I now realize I miss having a little fun in my life.

I decided fun is going to make a comeback in my world. With that in mind, I'm looking forward to browsing the craft stores soon. I hope I can find inspiration for something new to make with my hands.

I don't envision as much crafting as I used to have time to tackle, but I hope to set aside a few minutes every week or so to create something besides words and tales and outlines.

What are some of your favorite fun things to do to relax? It is never a bad idea to schedule down time when we can disengage the brain and just enjoy creating something new!

My Three-Book Amish Series

I finally have three working titles for my Amish novel series! Whew. I had vague ideas about where I wanted the third book to go, but coming up with a title was killing me. Writing the synopsis was futile, too, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to include. Then tonight, it fell into place: title and direction for the characters.

As it stands now, barring the titles change as per my publishers request, the series will include:

Book One: The Miting
Book Two: The Way Out
Book Three: Falling Off the Belief

The last book's title was inspired by something my former-Amish "adopted" daughter said while we were chatting one evening. She told me the Amish in her strict sect didn't encourage Bible reading on one's own for fear the person will "fall off the belief". That was her nearest translation in English from the Pennsylvania-Dutch. I think that describes quite clearly what my main characters will face in the third book.

So now I can breath a bit easier and look forward to the actual writing. It's going to be a busy year for me, but I'm excited to meet the challenge!

Stay tuned.