Interview about Sarah’s Orphans by Vannetta Chapman
Tell me about Paul Byler.
Paul is that guy we all know who seems perfectly happy being a bachelor. He likes that his life is uncomplicated. He was never that comfortable around women, and now that he’s thirty years old, women seem to kind of look through him. Which is fine. It saves him the embarrassment of not knowing what to say.
But then he moves to Oklahoma to help his brother, and he buys a farm, which just happens to be next door to Sarah Yoder. Her life is the exact opposite of calm and predictable. She represents everything he has spent his adult life avoiding, and yet…
He feels God’s call on his heart to help this family.
He becomes close to Sarah and her large brood of brothers.
He admires how she is trying to help Mateo and Mia, and then those two sneak their way into Paul’s heart.
So he has a decision to make? Go back to the quiet predictable life he had, or embrace a life that he never envisioned for himself.
How is Sarah raising 8 children? What difficulties is she encountering?
Sarah’s home has always been unstable, which might seem strange for an Amish family, but Amish people deal with many of the same issues that other people deal with. Her father is bi-polar. As a young girl, Sarah coped with that through an eating disorder. Now that she is 23, she understands that isn’t a healthy way to live.
When her father dies and her mother runs away, Sarah is left to raise her brothers. It’s a lot to expect of a young girl. Then she finds two orphaned children, and though it’s illogical and crazy, she understands that she has an obligation to Mia and Mateo–who are orphans in the same way that she is an orphan. Things don’t get easier when she brings these two into her home. Meals are a problem. School is a problem. Handling so many children is a problem. But as Sarah works to care for these little ones, a healing takes place in her heart, and she finds herself wondering if perhaps God could have a hope and a future planned for her.
What attracts Paul to Sarah?
Though Sarah is small physically, she has the spirit of a warrior. She’s endured so much, but instead of whining about it, she gets up each day and does what needs to be done. Some days are good. Others are a red, hot mess. But she puts the children first and believes that they have a future together. That stepping out on faith, is something that Paul has never had to do…and it draws him to Sarah even though he can’t imagine how he would fit into her life.
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