This week I’m hosting Sandra Orchard with Critical Condition (she will giveaway Deep Cover, a previous Love Inspired Suspense), Kathi Macias with Unexpected Christmas Hero, Laurie Alice Eakes with A Flight of Fancy, and Kelly Irvin with A Heart Made New. If you want to enter the drawings for the books, 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 (October 21st) evening.
Heroine Interview from A Heart Made New by Kelly Irvin:
Annie, tell me the most interesting thing about you?
I’m not very interesting. I’m a Plain woman who works in a bakery and helps take care of my family. I can’t imagine anyone would want to know much about me. I’m interested in other folks, though. That’s one of the reasons I like working in the bakery, besides making good food that people enjoy eating. I like to see all the people who come in and chat with them and learn about their lives. Sometimes that gets me into trouble. Like when the man came into rob the bakery and I ended up giving him food. And then I met his girlfriend and his little girl. I had to help them. They were homeless. It’s my nature, I guess. To want to help people. That’s what you’re supposed to do, right? I imagine some folks might find that interesting about a Plain woman like me, someone who meddles in other people’s business a little too much—at least that’s what my sister-in-law Leah says.
What do you do for fun?
I bake! I love to make pies and bread and cookies of all kinds. Generally, I love to cook. It gives me joy to see others snatching the cookies from the plate and gobbling them up. Of course, I like to take walks on our farm and play with the baby kittens. I still like to play volleyball and baseball, even though I’m not in school anymore. We visit with friends and family on Sunday afternoons and I’m always in the middle of the games, running around, hooting and hollering. I guess I’m not all grown up yet.
What do you put off doing because you dread it?
This sounds bad and I’ll have to ask forgiveness for it. But just between you, me, and the bedpost, sometimes I put off going home from the bakery at the end of the day. I dread it a little bit because I know my sister-in-law will be there and she’ll complain about me not helping out more, even though I’ve been working at the bakery all day. She means well. She really does. It wasn’t her idea to move into our house and help take care of my little brother and sisters. I have to try harder to be there to help with the chores. She has twins babies. She has her hands full. So I need to be more helpful, I just get tired of her complaining sometimes.
What are you afraid of most in life?
I’m not afraid because I know God has a plan for me. Everything in God’s time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t worry, even though I know it’s a sin. A person can’t help but worry sometimes. It’s human, don’t you think? I worry the man I love won’t love me back. I know he cares for me, but he’s the one who’s afraid. He’s afraid his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma will get worse. He’s not afraid of dying, but he’s afraid I’ll be left alone and sad. Instead, I’m alone and sad because he doesn’t want to step out in faith in whatever time we could have together. I’m afraid I won’t get to marry and share my life with the man I love and have children with him because he’s afraid.
What do you want most out of life?
What every Plain woman wants. I want to marry and have children and live my life according to God’s plan for me. I want to grow old sitting across the supper table from the man I love. I want to be a good mother and a good wife. I want to have children and grandchildren and God willing, great grandchildren in my home on Thanksgiving Day. I want to go to prayer service on Sunday with my community and worship the way my daed and mudder taught me to do before they went on ahead of me to God’s house.
We learned this little saying when I was in school. JOY. J is for Jesus. O is for Others and Y is for You. You have to put God and family first. The most important thing is God and being right with Him. Then my family comes next. Taking care of my family is so important to me. I want to do everything I can to make sure they’re healthy and happy and safe. I cook for them and clean and sew clothes. It’s not much, but it’s what I’m able to do for them.
Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
What with working at the bakery and all the cooking, sewing, and cleaning at home, I don’t have much time to read these days, but I’ve always liked to read. I like novels about American history, like the pioneer women. One of my favorite books in school was called The Oregon Trail about a family moving out west. The parents die and the children have to go over the mountains alone in winter. They have a baby to take care of. I guess I can relate to that, what with my parents being gone. I never had to want for a home or family, though, or food. I’m so blessed. I like stories about overcoming the hard times. I know there will be hard times. I know we will overcome them.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’d learn to think first and then talk. To think first and then do. I tend to rush into things without thinking them through. David—the man I love—says I trust in human nature too much. I see the good in people. Which is a good thing, but sometimes I don’t stop to think how my actions will affect the people around me. I figure as I get older I’ll slow down a little and become wiser. Like my mudder was. I hope!
Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
We don’t really set out to have pets. We have so many animals to start with, but animals seem to adopt us. We have a batch of kittens that are cute as can be. Cats are great mousers and they keep the critters out of the garden and the chicken coop. So we feed them in appreciation of their hard work. Everyone, even the animals, work hard around the Shirack farm. My favorite kitten is a calico. She has the prettiest little dainty face and she comes when I call her name—Sassy. Because she does get sassy with me.
If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
Now, there’s a fanciful idea. I’ve never given it much thought. If I could go anywhere? I’d go back to my childhood and relive the years I had with my mudder and daed. Only this time, I’d know that these happy times weren’t going to last forever. I’d know I needed to relish every moment I spent with them and appreciate them and not give them a hard time. I’d enjoy every Thanksgiving and every Christmas and every birthday and I study the memories really hard so they wouldn’t slip away once my parents were gone. No one gets to do that, but if we could, I’m sure everyone would want the chance for one more good memory with their loved ones. I know I would. That’s how I know I need to spend every minute I can with David because those moments aren’t going to last forever.