Heather of Angelweave has been one of my long-time on-again, off-again reads. The “off” part hasn’t really been her fault: she did, after all, pause blogging to give birth. Hopefully, that hasn’t cut in to her DDR skills too much, because she’s going to need plenty of stamina to endure those nights of teething ahead, now that Jimmy’s got five — yes, five — teeth coming in.

1. You named your blog “Angelweave.” Explain.

The name’s from a poem I wrote in 1994 just after graduating from college in December – in that “wow everything is so deep and interesting phase” many young people go through. It’s a montage of experiences from a bar called Culley’s in Springfield, MO. It’s on the site, and reading it should help explain the spider motif.

2. Congratulations on your son’s first birthday! What’s changed most in your life since you became a mommy?

Everything — what life? I’ve certainly never been so busy before. And I used to be somewhat of a selfish person. As a parent, you really can’t be. Previously, I felt this big need for “down time” in order to recharge. I seem to have found a way to stave off that need, because there’s not a lot of down time to be found in this lifestyle we’ve chosen for ourselves.

And I also know now how to change a diaper and that boys need to point down.

3. Name three things that make a blog suck.

a) Bad grammar, lazy writing style, misspellings.
b) Too much cursing. Cursing should be for shock effect — like once a year.
c) Too much personal information. Blogs become personal web pages or journals with too much personal information. I think personal information can be doled out over time as the sense of community with readers grows. That being said, my real name is out there and known — my connection to my husband, who also blogs. Occasional anecdotes. But I offload my son’s picture collection to another website. There’s something about a blog that makes it not a journal, and that’s a good thing.

4. Tell us about a book that changed your life, and how it did so.

Oh, that’d have to be The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I read it at about age 23. It changed my life in a roundabout way, though. After The Fountainhead, I read Atlas Shrugged (which I would not have otherwise tackled), and from reading Atlas Shrugged, I named my first cat John Galt. There’s just too much fun involved when your veterinarian asks, “Who is John Galt,” and you answer “Exactly!”

I actually got to know my husband after meeting him accidentally online because I mentioned in an e-mail that I had a cat named John Galt. So that’s how it changed my life. So much in life is one thing leading to another.

5. What Campbell’s Soup would you be, and why?

Vegetable Vegetarian. It’s really the only one I know. Not a big soup eater, but I had to choose something.

6. If you could sit down with God and ask one question, what would it be?

This question is what’s taken me so long to answer. Why does God harden and soften our hearts, and how does this reconcile with free will? I’m pretty sure I know the answer to part one, but part two has me completely in the fuzzy zone.

Isaiah 63:17 asks the first part of the question quite well:

“Why, O Lord, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?”

The Book of Exodus is all about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart and horrible things happening to Egypt due to the consequences of Pharaoh’s decisions which may or may not have come about if God hadn’t hardened his heart.

The explanation given is Romans 9:18, “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”

The bible talks a lot about choice, much of it God’s. The bible does state pretty explicitly that God chooses us, but it also says that the goal is for all to be saved, so he must choose all of us. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 – “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Still, I admit to being confused, even with full knowledge of my church’s doctrine. We don’t believe in double predestination (God choosing before a person’s birth that he or she will go to heaven or hell). At the same time, we do believe that God KNOWS what will happen (that omniscience and transcendence of time and space thing). And the bible explicitly states times when God nudged a heart in this direction or that.

7. Does it really take a village to raise a child, or is that what’s causing our kids to be so messed up these days?

Our kids are so messed up these days because they lack clear moral direction, discipline, and parental leadership. Television and the movies don’t help in any of these areas, and parents are often absent working and pursuing their own interests, relegating their progeny to something other than their primary focus.

We put our kids on this earth, and we owe them our guidance and best efforts. I think having a “village” as a support is a wonderful thing, but I think the parents need to select their village, and in my life, that village is my church.

I think everyone needs community and exposure to “the world.” But the world-view taught should be consistent with the parents’ morals and goals for their children. Anything else is secondary.

This is getting preachy. So here’s the summary. Community’s great. If you find one you can trust, involve them with your children. If not, go it alone.

8. What’s the strangest thing you ever did?

At the age of 32, I bought a road bike at the prodding of friends and proceeded to ride it everywhere…like thousands of miles that summer. I hadn’t been on a bike since the age of 17, and this bike is special because your shoes clip in and become “part of the bike” — very scary for the balance challenged folk, of which I am one. It was a good exercise (pun intended) in conquering fear and adding discipline to my life. I’m about to pick it up again after a two-year baby-induced hiatus.

9. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head, and why do you think it got stuck there?

I don’t think I had one I could cull out until I read this question. So the first song that popped into my head after reading the questions was “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” by REM. I have this occasional fondness for songs that cram a lot of meaning/words/thoughts in their allocated three to four minutes. This one’s good for that and has a catchy chorus. Also-rans in this category are “Semi-Charmed Kind of Life” by Third Eye Blind (dark, so dark), “One Week” by the Barenaked Ladies, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel, and “American Pie” by Don McLean (ok, so he cheated and doubled the song length).

Why did it get stuck there? Dunno. I’m a stream-of-consciousness kinda girl. I’d never get anything written if I didn’t type so fast — brain’s already on to the next sentence or six.

10. Complete this sentence: “What VK doesn’t know about me is…”.

I write international business software for a living.