When people hear that I am from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, they always jokingly ask if I'm Amish. I normally deny it, but it is time to come out with my secret. The plain truth is that I am, in fact, Amish. We are called the Plain People, but our life is far from plain. We are hard workers, and there is a lot to be done on a normal day on our farm. Here is a glimpse into my life as an Amish girl.
The first example of our hard life is our mode of transportation. We take a horse and buggy wherever we go. While much slower than your motorized vehicles, it can be a fun way to travel. Just don't speed by us too fast on the roads - it scares the horses!
Our morning begins by milking the cows. Avery and I get up at the very early hour of 8am to milk Bessie. We work together so we can quickly get the milk back to the house - Fruit Loops aren't as tasty without fresh milk!
In case you're wondering, we buy our Fruit Loops and other groceries where everyone else does - Target! There happens to be one right next to our farm!
After milking Bessie, I make sure the Serta Sheep gets her exercise by taking a ride with her around the farm.
Next it's off to feed to goats.
After I feed each of them, they need to be groomed. Brushing them through the fence offers extra conditioning for their fur.
Even the play equipment needs to be maintained. Here I am (in the window), checking the safety of the slide and playhouse.
About a minute after this photo, Daddy put me on his lap and down the slide we went. This was the daily safety check. Daddy scraped his knee on the top of the slide the whole ride, so we shut it down immediately. Safety first on our farm.
After morning chores, it's off to school. We go to school up to the eighth grade, and all ages are taught in the same school house. The teacher says I sit in the front because I'm one of the youngest students, but I think it's really because I'm the smartest!
This is Big Jimmy Stoltzfus. He's in his 30s, but only now finishing the eighth grade.
He's excited because now that he is finished school, he can go on rumspringa. Rumspringa is an Amish traditional rite of passage where adolescents (or Big Jimmy) are released from the church and school for months or years to decide if they want to be baptized as Amish.
To celebrate Big Jimmy Stoltzfus's journey into rumspringa, we went to the playground on the farm and ignored our chores for a full hour.
To continue the celebration, we loaded onto the buggy to go to market. We had to get some shoo-fly pie and whoopie pie (Big Jimmy's favorite) for his party.
While life on the farm can be difficult, we still manage to have fun on days like today. Thanks for spending the day with us, Big Jimmy and the whole Stoltzfus clan (Amy, Avery and Evan.) We had a blast!
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After we got back from market, we received word (through messenger, of course, since we have no phones) that Mommy's cousin Ted and his wife Ellen welcomed their second son into the world last week. His name is Kyle Matthew. He is adorable!! We are excited to welcome him into the family - now we have another set of hands to help with the farm chores! :)
Kyle Matthew
Born Sunday, April 22
Our morning begins by milking the cows. Avery and I get up at the very early hour of 8am to milk Bessie. We work together so we can quickly get the milk back to the house - Fruit Loops aren't as tasty without fresh milk!
In case you're wondering, we buy our Fruit Loops and other groceries where everyone else does - Target! There happens to be one right next to our farm!
After milking Bessie, I make sure the Serta Sheep gets her exercise by taking a ride with her around the farm.
Next it's off to feed to goats. 
After I feed each of them, they need to be groomed. Brushing them through the fence offers extra conditioning for their fur.
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