This week I’m hosting Irene Brand with An Appalachian Christmas from Love Finds You Under the Mistletoe, Roseanna White with Jewel of Persia and Terri Blackstock with Vicious Cycle. If you want to enter the drawings, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (February 27th) evening.
Interview with the heroine from Jewel of Persia by Roseanna White:
1.Kasia, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
I cannot think I am all that interesting . . . I grew up one of ten siblings, though. The eldest daughter, the second child. But I am afraid the most interesting things about me are not about me at all, but rather about those I love. My husband is the king, you see, and my dearest friend is now the queen. Interesting . . . but only by association.
2.What do you do for fun?
I enjoy little more than playing with the children. My own, certainly, but I also love to regale the children of the other wives with stories of my people. Who would have thought that these sons and daughters of Persia’s king would find such joy in the tales of King David and Moses?
3.What do you put off doing because you dread it?
I am not much of a procrastinator. Better to put my hand in Jehovah’s and dive into those dreaded waters without hesitation.
4.What are you afraid of most in life?
Losing myself. Here I am, the favorite of Xerxes, king of kings, the most powerful man in history . . . but sometimes I fear loving him will cost me what makes me the woman he loves to begin with: my faith in the Lord of lords.
5.What do you want out of life?
To live free of intrigue, to have the love of my husband, the guidance of my God, and a quiver full of children. If I can have all this with my dearest friend, sister of my heart, by my side, then so much the better.
6.What is the most important thing to you?
Staying true to Jehovah and his precepts. It is a hard task here in the Persian palace, surrounded by enemies of my soul . . . but only through my God can I hope to preserve my life.
7.Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
Reading was not considered an important thing for daughters in my father’s family, so I never learned how. But I enjoy little more than recalling the tales of my people. I have taught my servants the psalms, and one of the favored pastimes in my rooms is bringing them to life with harp, lyre, and voice.
8.If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would be less dependent upon my husband’s affection. Sometimes I feel I have learned this lesson, but other times . . . other times I know that I have hurt myself by valuing him higher than the Lord.
9.Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
Ah, yes. I have a dog, Zad. He was once a palace guard dog, but after ingesting a bite of poison on my behalf, I brought him to my chambers and grew too fond of him to ever let him leave. My husband’s friends all scowl and growl at me for making a pet of a beast meant for work, but Xerxes always laughs and claims he still guards—me now, rather than the palace. Oh, how I love that dog. He has saved me more times than I can count.
10.If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
So many amazing places and stories to choose from! But I think I would pick one very near my own time and travel back only a few decades, a few hundred miles. I would go Babylon in the time of the great prophet Daniel. I long to see the three emerge untouched by the fire (one of these great men is ancestor to a dear friend of mine, you know), to hear the snarls of the lion and know Daniel will not be harmed. And oh, to have an afternoon with these faithful men just to hear their wisdom and talk to them of our God! I think they, more than anyone, would understand what it is to be a follower of Jehovah in a court that does not know him, to have to excel at things of the world but keep one’s soul aligned with heaven. I would love to learn from them.