Scribbles

Susan Why Scribbles?

I came upon this quote not long ago…”People are like stained glass windows; they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness set in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.” (Elizabeth Kubler-Ross) When my kids were young, we’d play a game — they’d scribble on a piece of paper,

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Saving the world and finding my Eko

Susan Just for Fun

“Mom, if your son died saving the entire world, would you be surprised?”

I have to admit – I didn’t expect this sort of depth from my 9 year old. But then again, we’d just been talking about spiritual things during our Bible time in homeschool, so maybe his thoughts were still on divine amazing things.

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Crash and Burn

Susan Thoughts on God

Crash and Burn
Dad is sad. Very Very Sad. He had a bad day. What a day Dad had.

Excerpted from Hop on Pop.

It probably started with the fog. It covered the highway like a something out of a Jane Eyre novel as I drove up the shore toward the big town of Duluth on Tuesday.

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Comfort Food

Susan Thoughts on God

Comfort Food
Okay, it’s a comfort food day. I’d like to say that I’m strong today, that the leftover Easter M & Ms haven’t had their way with me. That the pizza from last night is still in the fridge, that I’ve eaten an apple instead of a bowl of golden grahams just to hear the crunch.

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Men in Trees

Susan Just for Fun

Okay, I know that I’m partial toward stories about Alaska, and cute men, and girls out of their element, making their world work, but as soon as I saw the premier of Men in Trees (Friday nights!) with Anne Hesche (who normally I don’t love, but in this she is so cute!) I know it would be a winner. 

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Nastia in my heart

Susan Life in Russia

Is it already Saturday? Where has this week gone? I spent it, I think, in my comfy chair writing a new book. I joke that this is hermit mode…when my kids eat Ramen noodles and turn their brains to mush on television. But last night, we packed up our sleeping bags and went down to Lake Superior,

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Escape from Alaska

Susan On Writing

Life…it gets in the way of my blogging! So, like I promised, I wanted to give you a glimpse at My Life in Russia. Here’s the thing…unlike Josey from Everything’s Coming up Josey, I never went to Russia SINGLE. I always toted baggage, as in small children and diaper bags. Six months after I arrived in Khabarovsk (look on your map,

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Tea with the KGB

Susan On Writing

I receive a lot of letters from readers asking where I got my ideas and how I did my research…here’s a little glimpse into that answer…

Tea with the KGB

Valentina met us at the door with a bit of a stern look, as if we were late. Andrew seemed oblivious as he pulled off the kids’ valenki (Russian boots).

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The Babushka and the Axe

Susan On Writing

Living in Russia offered me the priviledge of many unique and crazy circumstances to draw from for writing material. This scene is the real event that sparked the premise for my first published story – The Measure of a Man novella in Tyndale’s, Chance Encounters of the Heart Anthology.

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It’s been a brutal fall.

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