PETTICOAT RANCH

Day 6 Friday

Mary's Profile on her blog reads: “Mary Connealy has three books in bookstores now or coming soon from Barbour Publishing. Mary, is married to Ivan a farmer, and she is the mother of four beautiful daughters, Joslyn, Wendy, Shelly and Katy. You can find Mary on the internet like a middle-aged, female Where's Waldo at www.maryconnealy.com! Mary is a GED Instructor by day and an author by night. And so she can remember what she's doing, she likes to wear a little crown and a Wonder Woman cape while she types.”

From contacts with her as one of CFRB's members I can tell you that while she has an amazing ability to laugh at hardships, she takes her writing very seriously. She writes, what I guess you could call, “serious humor”. That's humor that gets her through the rough places. And as Clay McClellan would say, “She's a God-fearin' woman.' In fact, I wonder just how much like Sophie she is herself. I strongly suspect she is very much like that strong woman who took to raising four daughters by herself after her husband was murdered (that's Sophie, her girls and her husband. Mary's husband and girls are doing just fine from what I understand).

English teachers and others are always telling us to write about what we know, so I'm fairly certain that her daughters also played a role in patterning Sophie's daughters after. The fact that she happens to have the same number of girls as her heroine tells me something about that. I don't know about Mary's husband, but I think Ivan must have added some wit and wisdom by his very presence. To say that he is Clay may be overstating things, but I think Mary was able to more clearly depict some of the problems a man and a woman have, especially when they are falling in love because of some of the experiences she's had with her own husband. I'm just guessing, but I'll tell you this, PETTICOAT RANCH is chock full of characters that come to life.

Don't miss tomorrow's post. I saved the best for last. Tomorrow we'll be having an interview with Mary Connealy. I think you'll enjoy it. I think I'm getting better at this. I hope you guys are too. See, there are times when we'll need to pull together, times when I'll need someone to fill in for me. I'm sure they're times when Jackie, Cynthia, Karina and the rest could use a break. Think about ministering to Christ by being able to say, “Hey, brother, (or sister), why don't you let me do that for you this week so you can get some writing done. I know how busy you've been and really appreciate all that you've done for us.” Jesus teaches us that when we do things like that we're actually doing it for Him. It's like Jesus was standing there and you had the privilege of helping Him. See you all tomorrow. God bless.

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Don't miss her site at Real Life Petticoat Ranch