masking & unveiling

Answers to real questions from real people:

What's a blog?
Let me guess: you still subscribe to the newspaper. Am I right?


Why blogging?
Seemed easier than competitive snowboarding?

Seriously, my mom has been after me for years to write a book. The blog is my way of making her proud of me in bite-size increments. One day, when she's on her death bed, I will print out every post and staple it together for her, pronouncing that my great debt to her is PAID IN FULL.


What is your blog about?
Your guess is as good as mine. So far, I've covered my kids, my husband, my church, my love/hate relationship with Steve Jobs, my purses, my thoughts on spiritual growth, and my general anger at environmentalists, self-righteous Christians and lazy pastors. What should I write about next?


What does "masking and unveiling" mean?
I think the quote from E.B. White means this: when you write something that's personally revealing, there's a fine line between embracing emotional authenticity and pandering to reader voyeurism. Blogging is still dangerous, uncharted water. There's a part of opening the window to your life that will draw people closer; there's a part that will drive people away. In knowing what to mask and what to unveil -- there lies the wisdom of the ages.


What does the "kepiad" in your web address mean?
First two letters of my first, maiden, and last names.


How do you find time to write/do it all/have three kids, help run the church, and not lose your flippin' mind?
I've discovered that you can and will find time for anything you really want to do. Which SO explains the excess dirty laundry and the unused elliptical trainer in my bedroom.

Plus, on the bad days, I stick my head under the couch so you won't see me.


What's it like being a pastor's wife?
It's exciting, humbling, terrifying, motivating, exhausting, a spiritual challenge, a spiritual rush, and the best thing that ever happened to me, since the pastor who owns that "apostrophe s" happens to be Mike.


Why do you say you're a "reluctant pastor's wife," then?
Because my dad was a pastor, and I always swore that marrying one was the last thing I'd ever do. And because whenever someone says "this is the pastor's wife," I look around for my mother.