Anne Mateer: Infusing Fiction with Fact

 

Jennifer AlLee here. Today it's my great pleasure to present our guest, former founding Inky and fabulous author, Anne Mateer! She's giving away a copy of her newest novel, At Every Turn. Details are at the end of the post.

Having been a history major in college, I have a great respect for historical facts and historical accuracy. But even back then, my goal wasn’t to make a name for myself in the halls of academia. I wanted to write fiction infused with historical fact.

I remember the day I mentioned this, with fear and trepidation, to the professor who was advising me on my senior honors thesis.

“What will you do next?” he asked that spring, as we neared the end of our time together.

I gulped, took a deep breath, and let out the secret dream I’d told to few others. “I want to write historical fiction.”

To that point in my life, most of the historical fiction I had loved had been much more than costume drama. It was authors such as Eugenia Price and Irving Stone who fictionalized real people who lived in an earlier era. I explained this to my professor, thinking it would elevate my goals in his eyes.

Instead, he frowned and shook his head. “Don’t try to fictionalize those big historical figures. Instead, steep yourself in a time period and write a story out of how you know it to be.”

That advice went deep and stuck. But eventually, fictional characters and their fictional stories bump up against historical events. To me, this is a good thing. It’s a chance to educate readers about things they never learned or have long forgotten that impacted at least some people’s lives. This is where my love of history and my devotion to fact intervenes. I simply cannot make my characters interact with a historical event in a way that changes the historical record.

I don’t want people to walk away from my novels believing something about a historical event that isn’t true. So my character can’t be responsible for the outcome--or change the outcome. I just can’t do it. While writing At Every Turn, I truly wrestled with this for the first time. In the story, there are three historic auto races that are significant to the plot. But how could I insert my character and serve the plot without changing the results on record? At first it had me stumped. I pondered and experimented, but I simply couldn’t alter those events. I had to find a way to make them work within the story.

The result? I found more creative ways to get my character into the event and to use the historical record within the plot. And guess what? Doing so actually added more conflict--more obstacles--to my heroines journey! I came away with a story that worked while remaining true to the historical events portrayed.

And to me, that is the beauty of a historical novel--a blending of fact and fiction in a seamless union that doesn’t distort truth.

Are there any historical events you’ve learned about through a fictional character’s interaction with them? Did you ever look up the facts later to compare them to the novel’s treatment?


Win the Book
Anne is generously giving a copy of At Every Turn to one lucky reader. To enter, please leave a comment to the post along with your email address. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday, November 9th.

About the Book - AT EVERY TURN

Caught up in a whirlwind of religious fervor when two missionaries speak at her church, Alyce Benson impetuously pledges three thousand dollars to mission work in Africa. She’s certain her wealthy father will simply hand her the money. But when he refuses, she must either stand up in front of the congregation and admit failure, or raise the money herself.

Alyce harbors a secret passion for speed and automobiles. It’s 1916, and the latest advancements in car engines allow some to post speeds upwards of seventy miles per hour! When she discovers her father’s company has sponsored a racing car that will compete in several upcoming events–races in which the driver will be paid and could win as much as five thousand dollars in prize money–she conspires with her father’s mechanic, Webster, to secretly train and compete.

But as Alyce comes across needs in her own community, money slips through her fingers faster than she can earn it. And when her friends cast aspersions on Webster’s past, she believes she might have trusted the wrong man with her secret. Will Alyce come up with the money in time, or will she have to choose between her promise and the man who holds a piece of her heart?

Anne Mateer has a long-held passion for history and historical fiction. She is fascinated by all eras of the past, but currently writes about the years preceding and including World War I. She is the author of two works of historical fiction, At Every Turn and Wings of a Dream, with two more coming in 2013 and 2014. Anne and her husband live in Texas and are the parents of three young adult children.

Wings of a Dream by Anne Mateer

By Lisa Karon Richardson

Seeing as we've just celebrated our two year anniversary, it's especially poignant to get to review a former Inky's debut novel today. Anne Mateer's Wings of a Dream is available here. In fact, I downloaded it to the Kindle app on my phone and finished it in a single day. That doesn't often happen with me!

Rebekah Hendricks has big plans. Plans that don’t include the farming life she grew up with in rural Oklahoma. Secure in her conviction that she holds an aviator’s love, she jumps at the chance to head to Texas to nurse her aunt. A move that coincidentally puts her closer to the fellow she’s given her heart to.

Rebekah’s plans start to fall apart when she finds that her aunt was responsible for four young children whose father is off fighting the Kaiser. Then Aunt Adabelle passes away with one request on her lips; that Rebekah will care for the children until their father comes home. The path is more twisting than she ever expected, but in the end she finds the dream God has been dreaming for her.

On the surface it is a simple story, but Anne did a great job in layering different elements into her plot, and most importantly she crafted characters that pop off the page with realism. I really enjoyed the first person voice of the heroine, Rebekah. She’s no porcelain princess. Not in the least bit perfect, but her growth throughout the novel makes the story work. We know her and root for her to make the right decision, even when we’re not entirely certain what the right decision is ourselves.

Simple, elegant prose without unnecessary flourishes sets the perfect tone for the novel. And I really loved that this was a real historical. And by that, I mean, that the story couldn’t have been set in other time.

Wings of a Dream is not a typical genre romance, but it does include a very satisfying and sweetly woven love story. I highly recommend Anne’s debut novel!

Influenced by books like The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, Lisa Karon Richardson’s early books were heavy on boarding schools and creepy houses. Now that she’s (mostly) all grown-up she still loves a healthy dash of adventure and excitement in any story she creates, even her real-life story. She’s been a missionary to the Seychelles and Gabon and now that she and her husband are back in America, they are tackling a brand new adventure, starting a daughter-work church in a new city. Her first novella, Impressed by Love, part of the Colonial Courtships collection, is coming in May, 2012.

Taming the Tongue

By Anne Mateer

I recently attended the She Speaks conference put on by Proverbs 31 Ministries. I didn’t get to go to many sessions due to my meetings with other writers, but one I thing I heard struck with me from the moment I heard it. Lysa TerKeurst said that of all the things she wanted us to take away, she wanted us to understand that ministry was 24/7 and that “God-honoring reactions will give us a God-sized reach.”

I remember nodding and thinking, “I’ve been doing pretty well on the reaction thing lately.”

Wait a minute—what is that scripture? Oh yeah, Proverbs 16:18. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

My fall came fast and furious! I returned to my room and called my husband to hear about his day. And I did not react well. I did realize it, but not until I’d had my say on the phone. So I picked myself up, asked for forgiveness, and finished the weekend believing I’d return to my good reaction mode.

But then I arrived home. And several times a day for the next week I heard the biting tone of my voice as my volume rose in frustration. Yes, I was tired. Yes, other people weren’t always acting right. But that wasn’t the point. The point was the quality of my reactions.

So I’ve gone back to some verses about the tongue and am committing them to memory.

Psalm 39:1 I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence.”

Proverbs 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 15:28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

James 1:26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.

James 3:8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

So how are you doing? Are there any other “tongue” Scriptures help you keep a rein on your mouth? Or maybe there is another issue that has cropped up in a sermon or a Bible study that you thought you’d conquered but it has reared its ugly head. How are you dealing with that? 

Photos courtesy of photoxpress.com

The Ultimate Weatherman

By Anne Mateer

I think I’ve mentioned here before that I spent most of my life in bondage to fear. So given my propensity to shake and shiver, it shouldn’t be any wonder that a clap of thunder could send me hiding under the covers or a gust of wind hurl me into the bathtub, radio in hand. 

Of course it’s good to have a healthy fear of weather. After all, weather is a powerful force. In high school, I babysat through one of the worst hailstorms in our city’s history in blessed ignorance. But when I returned home, the baseball-sized holes in windows were visible even through the pitch black of the power outage.

As the Lord set me free from my various fears, I still found myself panicked over weather. It was unpredictable. Uncontrollable. I’d seen too much, read too much history, not to understand that its effects could devastate a life, a community, even a country! Yet just as I could turn to the Word of God to allay my fears about other things, I found comfort in the fact that the God is never out of control.

“What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm . . . Does the rain have a father? . . . From whose womb comes the ice?  Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?” God said these words to Job. (Job 38:24-30) 

No wonder Jesus could calm the storm with just a word! And since He is the ultimate weatherman, I should fear Him over His creation. Just like the disciples, I can trust Him to care for me even through the fiercest wind and rain. Not that I don’t still get nervous when the skies grow black and lightning zips a fiery line from heaven to earth. And if the sky turns green, you can bet I’m headed for the bathtub or the hallway! But my first thought now is for the One who controls the weather and not for the weather itself.

So what kind of weather makes you most nervous? Have you ever been caught in a terrifying weather situation? How did God meet you there?  

All photos courtesy of photoexpress.com

Nostalgic Fiction

by D'Ann Mateer

When the subject of Genre week came up in discussion, it didn’t immediately stir anything within me. After all, I am the queen of no genre in that I can usually find a book I like in almost any genre! But then I thought of my friend Carla Stewart.

Carla’s debut novel, Chasing Lilacs, released a couple of weeks ago. It is one of those novels that falls in the general fiction category because there isn’t quite a genre for it. Not historical. Not contemporary. Chasing Lilacs takes place in 1958, a time that evokes a sense of nostalgia for so many people.

D’Ann: So, Carla, explain to us this unique place of nostalgia in a novel.

Carla: Nostalgic fiction takes a reader on a journey where the memory is engaged through sensory detail and provides a “getaway” from today’s hectic pace. Webster’s defines nostalgia as: 1) the state of being homesick; 2) a wistful or sentimental yearning for a return to the past.

Just as a child says, “Mommy, tell me the story of when I was a baby,” adults also enjoy an occasional trip back to the age of innocence and the simplicity of childhood. Whether we have wonderful memories or tragic ones, it was still a time when we felt deeper and more passionately about everything. It is the time when we were literally taking the first steps to becoming who we are today.

A writer I met recently said it like this. “Life was good, but never easy.” Yes, there were challenges. Adolescence was just as traumatic then as it is today. Who doesn’t remember the acne? Fitting in with the “in” crowd? Your first driving lesson? Or your first car? What it felt like to get a first kiss? I suspect there’s a bit in all of us that is homesick for the “good old days.”

Baby boomers are my primary target audience, and with more than 45 million “boomer” households in the US, that’s a sizable audience. It has turned out, though, that from what my early readers say, a lot of younger people are reading Chasing Lilacs and like finding out about a different era. I liken it to the way I enjoy learning about the flapper days of the 1920s—it was an interesting time and as long as the story is entertaining, maybe the audience is broader than we imagine.

D’Ann: So did you set out to write a book that might be characterized as “nostalgia” fiction?

Carla: I’m not sure the term nostalgic fiction exists as a stand-alone genre since the stories can be mysteries, romances, or coming-of-age. I’m often drawn to non-genre stories, and nostalgic fiction fits snugly into that. My initial goal as a writer was to write stories like those I loved to read—To Kill a Mockingbird, Peace Like a River, Mrs. Mike, The Shell Seekers, The Secret Life of Bees. It’s more about the story than the genre, but there is something delightful about stepping back into another era and reliving it in the pages of a book.

The concept of nostalgia, though, is sort of hard to pitch to an agent or editor, so it’s also a GREAT idea if you can define your nostalgic story as one with romantic elements or as a coming-of-age tale or one with issues that would appeal to readers of women’s fiction. Every story, even non-genre or nostalgic ones, needs an attention-grabbing hook and a focus.

D’Ann: So tell us about Chasing Lilacs.

Carla: It’s the coming of age story of a young girl’s search for her mother’s love. Elvis is on the radio. Summer is in the air. Life in the small Texas community of Graham Camp should be simple and carefree. But not for Sammie Tucker. Sammie has plenty of questions about her mother’s “nerve” problems. About shock treatments. About whether her mother loves her.

As her life careens out of control, Sammie has to choose who to trust with her deepest fears: Her best friend who has an opinion about everything, the mysterious boy from California whose own troubles plague him, or her round-faced neighbor with gentle advice and strong shoulders to cry on. Then there’s the elderly widower who seems nice but has his own dark past.

Trusting is one thing, but accepting the truth may be the hardest thing Sammie has ever done.

D’Ann: I can testify that it is a wonderful read—and I learned a lot about life in a time I didn’t experience myself but didn’t learn in history class, either! Will your next book continue in this same style?

Carla: Definitely. My next novel, Broken Wings, has a strong nostalgic thread woven into a contemporary story. What I liked about doing that was to show the parallel between the two eras and have the stories mirror each other with the events that were going on in the characters’ lives. It doesn’t have the same “good old days” feel that Chasing Lilacs does, but there’s a richness to the jazz age that I loved writing about.

D’Ann: Thanks, Carla, for sharing a bit about books that don’t always fall into a category and, thus, might get overlooked!

Carla: I’ve enjoyed being here and am always excited when I can connect with readers. You can find me here:

Website (http://www.carlastewat.com/ )

Blog: Carla’s Writing Café (http://www.carlastewart.blogspot.com/)

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?ref=profile&id=747513340

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ChasingLilacs

Chasing Lilacs is currently available at your favorite online bookseller or on the shelves of many bookstores!

So to those of you visiting with us today: what book have you enjoyed that doesn’t really fit a genre by definition? Do you usually stick to specific genres or venture into books that don’t have a “label”?

A Short Lesson in History

By Jeff Mateer

General Counsel for Liberty Institute

My lovely wife, D’Ann Mateer, asked me to share my thoughts on the right to life. She rejected my first submission, claiming that it was too much of a history lesson and that it lacked personal experience.

My first response to her is, of course, anything that I would write would contain a history lesson. I’m a constitutional lawyer, who believes a large part of our problems today result from the failure of judges, law professors, and lawyers to strictly interpret the actual text of the Constitution given the original intent of the Framers.

My second response is I’m a lawyer and a man. I don’t share personal experiences, at least not for free.

Nevertheless, taking appropriate note of her suggestions, here goes my revised submission.

When I hear the words “right to life” what do I think of? Immediately, my thoughts turn to the current debate over abortion. I also mull over the controversy concerning euthanasia and other end of life issues.

The phrase “right to life”, however, is not a creation of the 20^th or 21^st century. It has its origin in the Declaration of Independence. Two hundred and thirty four (234) years ago, our nation’s founding fathers declared the self-evident truth that “all men . . . are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The founders unequivocally recognized that God granted all mankind basic moral rights that include, at the forefront, the right to life.

Our Founding Fathers’ recognition of these unalienable rights was not new, even in 1776. Instead, their recognition was grounded upon established English common law and ultimately God’s law. As recognized by founding father John Dickinson, “[o]ur liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of pre-existing rights. They do not depend on parchments or seals, but come from the king of kings and the Lord of all the earth.”

For centuries, our law consistently protected the rights of the unborn, the infirm and the elderly. As founding father James Wilson (who would sign both the Declaration and the Constitution and would become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice in 1789) observed, “[w]ith consistency, beautiful and undeviating, human life from its commencement to its close, is protected by the common law.”

Regrettably, things are different today. We have forgotten our history, centuries of common law, and in the end, our God.

In 1973, seven unelected judges determined that, despite hundreds of years of contrary precedent, the unborn had no right to life. Since that time, 52 million innocent lives have been taken. This past year over 1 million lives were terminated. Today alone, in abortion mills through out the country, 2,739 babies will be killed.

For over the past 30 years, we seem to be living in a society that does not honor life, but instead promotes a culture of death. The unborn, the old, the imperfect are often seen as expendable instead of having a right to life—including a right to impact our lives in ways that might make us uncomfortable. Or might even require some sacrifice on our part.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we can also rejoice knowing that He came to save us from death and to grant us true life. God’s word expressly tells us that while the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy (sounds a lot like today’s culture of death), Jesus came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) Simply put, we have freedom and a right to life today only through the death and resurrection of our Savior and Lord.

So as we celebrate freedom this weekend, let’s remember that our freedom includes a right to life—physically and spiritually— as we stop to thank the One who created life in His image. Let’s also pausing to remember that the battle for the right to life and the protection of the unborn, the infirm and elderly continues.

How can we celebrate life this 4^th of July?

P.S. For my lovely wife: “Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.” And my personal experience in writing this post tells me blogging is hard work.

Camping? Maybe Not.

by D'Ann Mateer

I’ve been camping exactly one time in my life.

One.

It all started with a Lucy and Ethel moment, my best friend taking the Lucy role.

“Hey, you know what we could do?” she said. “We could go camping!”

We’d been lamenting our lack of money and time to go on vacation with our little ones. And I do mean little. At the time, her boys were 4, 2, and 6 months. My daughter was 3 and my son 18 months. We each took our meager stack of vacation cash and went to the sporting goods store where we purchased camping equipment for our families.

I’ll admit, I was wary from the beginning. After all, I’m not an outdoorsy girl in any sense of the word. And my husband isn’t an outdoor guy, either. But Lucy can convince Ethel that even the craziest of schemes will work out in the end, can’t she? So we loaded up and headed for a state park about an hour from our houses.

Oh—have I mentioned yet that I was 8 ½ months pregnant with my third child???

I can’t remember how we managed to get all set up, but we did. I mostly sat in the chair since I couldn’t bend down very far. The first day (or ½ day by the time we got there) was fairly uneventful, although keeping my I-have-to-touch-everything three-year-old out of the fire was a bit stressful. But the real fun started during the night. My friend’s two-year-old began coughing. A croupy cough. Fortunately we had picked a campsite near bathroom facility with showers. Since sleeping on the ground at 8 ½ months prego isn’t a pleasant experience, I was happy to accompany my friend and her baby to the showers. We sat in the dressing area letting the steam from the hot water soothe his chesty cough.

The next day, of course, we were exhausted. But things weren’t too horrible—until early that afternoon. That’s when the storm rolled in. And I do mean storm. Churning black clouds. Huge gusts of wind. Fortunately, the guys started loading the car as the rain began to spit. By the time we’d shoved everything, including the children, into the cars, rain fell by the bucket load. Then the hail began. So we headed home. Wet. Dirty. Tired.

Almost sixteen years later, I still hold to my mantra:

Camping + 8 ½ months pregnant + Texas weather = I’m never doing that again!

So what about you? Is there a vacation experience you refuse to repeat under any circumstances? Have you ever planned a trip where EVERYTHING went wrong? 

They Almost Always Come Home

by D'Ann Mateer

The tagline for this book grabbed me right away: She would leave her husband . . . if she could find him.

They Almost Always Come Home is Cynthia Ruchti’s debut novel—and it’s a doozy! Wilderness adventure combined with gut-wrenching emotion that rings oh-too-true. A story about the agony of grief, the value of friendship, the bond of marriage, and the amazing lengths the Lord will go to heal our hearts when we let Him.

And all this with stunningly wonderful writing to boot! Not just the words, the images and emotions they conveyed, but the way the story felt complete, whole. Nothing wasted. Everything for a reason.

I confess that literal “journey” books seldom hold appeal for me. Especially ones that involve the outdoors. I’m not a nature girl, in practice or theory. But Libby, the main character, wasn’t either. So maybe that made me appreciate her situation even more. 

Yet in sacrificing her comfort, Libby found her peace. And isn’t that so often the way of things? We are all on a journey of faith, both physically and spiritually, just like Libby. And also like her, even after surrendering ourselves to the Lord, life doesn’t tie up in a neat and tidy bow. Real life rarely does. But like the end of this book, it can still be hopeful. And satisfying.

Am I surprised at the depth and quality of this book? Not entirely. Cynthia, the current president of the American Christian Fiction Writers, is one of the most gracious, kind, and loving people I’ve ever come in contact with. Faith oozes from her. So it doesn’t shock me to find that the Lord has graced her with the ability to convey such a story in such a way.

I think it will be a very long time before I forget this book.

The Allure of a Good Book

by D'Ann Mateer

I confess, I don’t have as many vacation memories from vacations with my own children as I do vacations as a child. Maybe that’s because as the mom I’m responsible for so much to make a vacation happen that I don’t always retain the memories. But of all the vacations we took through my growing up years, there is one vacation memory that has become almost legend in my family.

Just before I entered 11^th grade, we took a driving vacation to California. From Texas. In the dead of summer. The drive was brutal. I can remember traveling through one of the desert states, stopping at a fast food restaurant, and leaving our van locked and running while we went in and ate lunch. Otherwise, it would have taken hours for the AC to kick in again!

On our way to Los Angeles, we took a side trip to the Grand Canyon. My mother, especially, seemed excited for my brother and sisters and I to see it. When we arrived at the rim, everyone tumbled out of the car. Everyone except me. I remained curled in the back seat, my nose in a book.

You see, at the moment we reached the Grand Canyon, I was thoroughly immersed in the world of Wuthering Heights. I couldn’t tear myself away! Finally my parents ordered me out of the van. I would see this natural wonder, they would make sure of that. I unfolded my lanky body from the seat, book still in hand, finger marking my place, and blinked into the blinding sun. My head roved from side to side.

“It looks just like the pictures,” I said with a shrug of the shoulders before climbing back in the van and rejoining Heathcliff and Catherine. My parents were aghast, but can I help it if great literature enthralled me more than a big hole in the ground? I felt quite vindicated a few days later on our Universal Studios tour when our tram passed through a mural of the Grand Canyon. “See?” I said smugly. “It looked just like the pictures.”

Maybe that’s the reason a good vacation is synonymous with a good book in my mind.

Is there a book that dredges up vacation memories—good or bad—for you? Do you prefer to read on vacation or to “do” things?

Grand Canyon photo courtesy of Photoexpress.com

Little House, Big Influence

By D'Ann Mateer

So I had a post about a children’s book all set and ready to go.

Literally.

Scheduled to post.

Then my husband took me to see Little House on the Prairie, the Musical and I knew I had to write about the Ingalls family instead.

My set of Little House on the Prairie books came on my 8^th birthday. That’s a long time ago now, but I still have them. I still read them.

(Yes, this is my actual set of books. Can you see how well-loved they are?)

Yes, you read that right. I still read them.

While the new stage musical didn’t make me jump up and cheer, it reminded me why I love these books. It’s because they’ve been with me through every stage of life. I meet Laura as a young girl. I followed her through the first four angst-filled years of her marriage. But the hold these books have on me is about more than following Laura’s life through the pages. It’s Mary and her incredible goodness. It’s Ma and her amazing wisdom. It’s Pa who never gives up and always has a song, in spite of the circumstances. It’s Mr. and Mrs. Boast and their hospitality and generosity. Ida’s and Mary Powers’ and Minnie’s undying friendship with Laura. Almanzo’s faithfulness. Mr. Edwards’ spunk.

I still pick up The Long Winter when life is stressful and I need a reminder that even when life is at its worst, the snow will eventually thaw, spring will eventually come. I reread These Happy Golden Years when I need to remember not the wildly romantic notions of young love, but the kind that comes slowly, in the midst of hard work and real life.

I understand that while these books are based on life, they are fiction. But somewhere in the blending of what was and what Laura Ingalls Wilder wished would be, a picture of truth emerged. Of wisdom to be gleaned. From good example and bad. Through suffering and joy. I’ve become a part of the Ingalls family over the years. Or maybe they’ve become part of mine.

What children’s (or middle grade or young adult) books still speak to you as an adult? Do you still reread books from your childhood?

My House(s) of Dreams

by D'Ann Mateer

My husband and I love old houses. We love touring them. We dream of living in them. Big or small, city or country, doesn’t matter much to us—as long as they have a history.

Of course we are destined never to live in any of our dream houses. For one thing, we are not handy. At. All. Nada. Zilch. My husband I both wield words. We work with our heads. So that means in order for us to actually live in a historic home, it would either have to be already restored (read: expensive) or we’d have to pay someone to restore it (read: expensive.) See what I mean?

So we content ourselves with tours. Just in case you share our penchant for old homes, here are some of our favorites:

The Bishop’s Palace,  Galveston, TX

Amazing house. It even survived the devastating hurricane of 1900.

The Beauregard Keyes House, New Orleans, LA

Ok, so not only did this house have cool Civil War history, it also housed a writer, Frances Parkinson Keyes, in later years. After touring the house, I read one of her books. Now I’ve read many and I’m a huge fan! You can’t beat finding a house and an author in one trip!

The Teddy Roosevelt Birthplace, New York City

Like many presidential homes, this is run by the National Park Service. Not only is it the house, but they also have a “museum” that not only tells about the life of Teddy Roosevelt and has some cool memorabilia.

John and Abigail Adams’s home, Braintree, MA

Yes, presidential homes are among our favorites!

Madewood Plantation, Napoleonville, LA

This house is also a B&B. What we love about this house is that it not only has a great history, it is not maintained as a “showpiece.” Staying there is truly the experience of living in such a house in days gone by.

And then there is the very most favorite house I’ve ever been in: Blenheim Palace, Oxforshire, England

Need I say more? Of course I didn’t get to tour Buckingham Palace, and Windsor Palace was pretty awesome, too, but they herded us out before we saw the whole thing due to a fire alarm going off! No can ever say I dream too small!

Of course these are just the ones I can remember. There are still so many more—like The Hermitage and Mount Vernon and Oak Alley and Laura Plantation and the numerous local historic homes whose occupants didn’t go one to live in the White House. I have yet to tour the old plantation homes of the deep South. That’s on my list of things to do eventually.

When our kids are grown, we’d really love to live in an old house—or at least a new one made to look old! For now, we’ll be content in our very ordinary home. But whenever we travel, even to some small place, we look for other homes to tour, to add those of our dreams.

So what about you? Do you enjoy looking at houses? Old ones or new ones? Do you live in your dream house or is your dream house one that will remain forever in your dreams?

The Dog I Didn't Want

By D'Ann Mateer

I really don’t know why I wanted that cat. Emma became her name. Midnight black, she was abandoned just before Halloween and the shelter wouldn’t take her. So we did.

Of course we were still newlywedish. I’d just graduated from college; he was in his third year of law school. We had no children and no intention of children for a while. So we took on this kitty.

Fast forward a dozen or so years. I hated that cat. Three kids in three and a half years will make work up to your eyeballs, and the last thing you need is one more creature to care for. So there was no love lost between that cat and me. She came with us on three moves, but shortly after the third one, we went on vacation. When we came home, Emma had vanished.

We think maybe she went somewhere to die.

I’ll admit, I breathed a sigh of relief. Now all I had to care for were the other humans in my house. No more vet visits or cat food or figuring out what to do with her when we were gone for a length of time. Life could settle down a bit.

Then our best friends (we had purposely built our house next door to theirs) got a puppy. An Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix. In fact, my oldest son (nine years old at the time) went with them to pick it up.

Oh it was cute all right. All fat and furry. I saw the gleam rise into my children’s eyes. But I’ve never been a mom who is afraid to say no. I had nothing to fear.

“They were so cute, Mom,” Aaron told me. That’s all he said. No begging. No pleading. No cajoling. Not even an actually request. But what he didn’t say came through loud and clear.

In that moment I saw God—how He sees our desires even when we don’t put them into words. And I saw my own selfishness in denying this thing to my children simply for the reason that it was a hassle I didn’t want to deal with.

We took them the next day and got the last puppy in the litter. Abby is her name. God was gracious and gave us a smart dog. I don’t think I could have handled a stupid one. She’s been a pain on occasion, and yes, a hassle, too. But my kids love her. My husband loves her. I tolerate her. Still, she’s been part of our family for eight years next month. She’s spoiled rotten. She’s mostly scared of her own shadow.

Even with all of that, I’m glad she’s ours.

What was your favorite pet? Did you have one growing up? Do your kids have one?

Death Before Life

by D'Ann Mateer

My favorite Easter hymn growing up was “Up From the Grave He Arose,” although it took me several years to realize he triumphed o’er his foes and not his toes! Easter was (and is) the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, His triumph over death. And that song made me feel like He was rising up right there in front of me. In our evangelical traditions, this tends to be the sole focus of Easter.

But if you think about it, the Scriptures focus more on Jesus’ death than His resurrection. Consider this from the apostle Paul:

“If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:5-7.

It’s all about death first. Death is required in order for resurrection to occur! Several years ago I attended a renewel weekend. In that weekend, we focused on the death of Christ. Why He died. How He died. What it means for me.

It changed my life.

We don’t like to look at Jesus on the cross—the dirty, bloody, seemingly helpless Jesus. He makes us uncomfortable. So we say make excuses like, “He’s not on that cross anymore, so I don’t want to see Him like that.” We like the clean, shining, powerful, risen Jesus. We like to think of Him whitening our scarlet sins, but we don’t like to think about what made that scarlet streak in the first place.

So Easter has become a celebration of life—which it is—but without the necessary focus on death. Not only the death of Christ, but the death in which we lived in consequence our sin nature. We have to understand and grieve those aspects of death before we can truly celebrate life.

God gives us a picture of this in our physical world. We live through the death winter brings to the world around us. Because of those long, dreary days, we can truly rejoice in the new life of springtime, the green blades of grass popping out of the brown, the bright leaves and blossoms appearing on bare branches. We lose something when we so quickly pass over death before embracing the wonder of new life.

If you didn’t have a chance before today, I encourage you to meditate on the death of Christ, the death you lived in when you were a slave to sin. Grieve for where your sin took our Savior. Marvel at His great love to suffer in our place. Then see if His resurrection takes on even greater significance and bring an even greater joy.

I know it has for me.

Photo of Jesus on cross courtesy of photoexpress.com.

Photo of budding tree is from my back yard!