The Social Porcupine

Mostly, people asked me, "Why are you/ did you come to Germany?" But once someone asked, "Why did God call you to Germany?" I value honesty, so the first question was very hard to answer at first. I didn't really know why I was going, and after I'd come I really didn't know why I had gone. But I didn't allow the questions to simply annoy me and roll off my back. Every time I was asked, I searched deeper into my soul. Why had I come, and what did I want out of this trip? I knew it from the very start, and yet I didn't fully understand the answer until weeks before I left Germany. It was the last that bothered me the most, though. Because of my inability to answer the first, and because I knew God hadn't called me to Germany, but rather that I simply wanted to go, that last question forced me to wrestle with a more difficult question, "Is it wrong for me to do something out of my own desire if God hadn't asked something else of

Wool yarn I bought from a little German store and took with me to the Black Forest.  When I came to Germany I planned on being so busy doing who-knows-what, but probably taking care of children, that I figured I would have little time for actually making things. Even so, I took a huge project with me that I've been meaning to do since I was fourteen or fifteen: a rayon scarf with a dragon embroidered on it. I also brought along my fifth and last quilt strip. Two huge projects that I hoped to have time to finish.  Turns out, I finished both of them easily along with many other things. WARNING: I tried to not use too many pictures ... but that was impossible.  Project number one was technically my embroidered scarf, but I made many things in between of working on that. Somehow, when I came to Germany I forgot to bring a stocking hat with me. So, naturally, I bought some yarn and knitted one on my way to the Black Forest with my first Au Pair family.  Actually ...

DISCLAIMER: Not my image You dare me to do it; I say nope. 🤨  You say that’s how it’s done; I show you how it’s REALLY done. 😅  No options? I can come up with twenty plans hundreds of times more ingenious. 🧐  I refuse to do or believe anything "just because".  Dead or alive, I like doing my thing. 🤩  Or maybe I’m just super anti-social and don’t care what the party wants? 🙁  Rebel or rude or right?  I like thinking before doing, and then doing, too 😉 Just not the same sort of doing as you would do 😆  Tradition or fashion; I don’t care. Why should I? There’s no growth in being the same. There’s no fun in never knowing why others are the same.  It’s not about why I don’t care; I’m asking why you don’t care about what I care about?  It’s a matter of opinion until it comes to this ... and in this, I say all that matters is my opinion.  My way or the highway ... I’ve chosen BOT H.  Life is more than sentiment; it’s living

I'm not really sure how Melissa and I became friends. Beginnings are often abstract and fuzzy for me, and so that something that didn't exist before feels suddenly as if it always has. I do know it started mostly on her side, though. She beta read some of my books and fangirled over every line in such a flattering way that I couldn't help loving her. Then she became enthralled with some of my beliefs. After that, I would often see a message from her, "So what do you think about ..." and the question was of the nature that sometimes I'd have to think about it for a while before replying properly.  Because of her abundance of questions, she asked if she might interview me for her blog. Of course, I said yes. But then she saw that I also love to interview people. "Why not do a double interview?" she suggested.  I loved that idea.  Here you can find part one of our double interview  over at her blog . Some of it got quite deep and angsty, as

The first draft of "Susan of Narnia" I was first introduced to the world of Narnia when I was about eleven years old, through the BBC movie, " Prince Caspian" . I hated that movie so much. In fact, I don't remember ever hating a movie in such an irrational way before or after the BBC " Prince Caspian". I didn't hate the movie because of the poor quality. Back then, I was the sort of child that liked a movie no matter how poorly made. And today I actually quite like all of BBC's Narnia movies. No, to be fair, my hatred had nothing to do with the movie at all.  I hated the movie because my routine had been broken.  You see, Mom was away visiting a friend and she was rarely away. Dad and my Uncle Caleb were home taking care of my siblings and me, and they were doing a poor job of it. The house was chaos, my brain hurt from watching too many movies, and the food wasn't all that good. To top it all, we ended a horrible day with