Friday, April 27, 2007

Scribbles and Scrambles - Motherhood Moments - Girls

I suppose if I was a great mother I'd separate my girls and share what I love best about each of them.

I'll settle for being a decent mother.

If you've ever parented sisters, you probably understand that this is nearly impossible anyway.

Besides, I can always share something and still act as if I haven't, because they will a) blame it on each other or b) I can claim to have been talking about the other one.


What can I say about girls? Sugar and spice and everything nice?


Obviously written by someone who didn't have a set. Nice is sometimes not an option.

Spice - well, that is rarely lacking.

Snuggle time seems to be a big issue at our house. As is what I label as LOUD time. Snuggle time is when one of the girls wants my undivided attention. This always results in a dog pile kind of event where I sometimes pass out from a stray foot to the temple, or at least see pretty light shows in my head from the lack of oxygen as they take turns wrestling me from each other.

Sometimes I feel like our home is a small cardboard box of puppies. The mother dog jumps in and is set upon like food at a picnic. Did I mention the mother dog's exhaustion? And headache?

Writhing warm bodies seeking something from me...all the time...must get fresh air.

Loud time. I believe the adolescent female voice, if honed, could cut glass. I know it's robbed me of acute hearing, and brought Rob to tears a time or two. My suggestion to anyone with girls - DO NOT EVER STAND in between two girls having any sort of fight, competion, conversation or attitude exchange. NOT. On the flip side - mumble time is used frequently to rest the voice - preparing it for the next loud session. There is no middle decibel.

But then just when I think my nervous tics will never go away, they do something so sweet, so special, I dare would call it sugar. There's just nothing like a dewy-eyed girl who's intent on sharing her heart.

My girls can bake brownies, too. This belongs in the plus category.

They often attract and bring home other nice girls who love chocolate and bring it along. Or the friends with terribly good taste and wonderful senses of humor may think of me as funny and begin calling me Mom B or some other sort of pet name.

Rob has learned to look both ways before darting down any hallways. One never knows if a friend has dropped by, or if a daughter is feeling a little on edge. If it's too quiet in house, he steps carefully and asks me questions with his eyes - whites showing. But the boy prepared him for sneak attacks and sudden lunges, so he's still pretty quick on his feet.

Serials and Scenarios - Paul Robertson

Paul opted out of answering the usual dregs questions. Instead he has posed a few to us.

And he has some deep thoughts, too.

What do you think?


After reading through some of the comments already posted, I’d rather ask questions of all of you than answer questions about myself.

Where is Christian Fiction supposed to be going, and what is it, anyway? Writing the stuff is very different than reading it. There are a lot more limitations – I find that I’m very poor at creating a convincing “conversion” scene, for example. A reader would feel a plot was incomplete without it. For a different reader, the story would lose all credibility when a character drops to his knees.

I sure think Jason needs to get saved. His whole state needs for him to get saved. His whole state needs to get saved. I hope any of them do.

I know what Christian Fiction should do, or what the world needs for it to do. I live about two miles from Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus here in Blacksburg, VA. I have close friends who were personally touched by the shootings here last week. It’s amazing how many connections 32 people can have in a community of forty thousand – everyone knows someone who was closely affected. Everyone has questions and for many of them, an evangelism tract or a church service are not answers. What can I say to them, and how can I say it? These are not just the “unsaved”. It might have been an even bigger shock to comfortable Christians who thought they had God figured out.

My goal is to speak Christ and Truth to the church and the world. The moment of one person’s salvation doesn’t happen by itself – there will be a process, maybe years or decades, and people will be at all different stages. After salvation, the process continues. That’s where it even starts for real. I want to explore that process and illuminate God’s work in individual lives.

Thanks to everyone for their time and willingness to read “The Heir”. I hope at least some people enjoyed it! I’ve been reading the reviews. It’s helpful to see what a diversity of expectations and interests readers have.

The plan is for “Road to Nowhere” to come out next spring (2008), depending of course on Bethany’s schedule. No billionaires. Just the Board of Supervisors of a tiny county in the mountains of North Carolina and some real big issues they end up dealing with. Including an abrupt vacancy on the board itself …

God bless

- Paul Robertson