He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,
And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.
…
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:7-8, 10

These words just really grabbed me as I was reading the other day.  It was an “Oh my gosh! Why have I never noticed this before?” kind of thing.

I think, as a Christian who feels compelled to live a certain way, it is sometimes easier to preach our moral ideas to unbelievers, than to just share the love of Jesus.  But in these verses we are warned so clearly not to do this.  “Do not correct a scoffer lest he hate you.” 

If someone is not living with the knowledge of the Holy One, then they are without understanding, and all of our rambling about what moral choices they should be making are useless. 

Convincing someone to live a “moral” life without Jesus is good for nothing.  We are justified by Jesus, not our “good” life.  Of course our lives will change once we choose to follow Him, but the choice for Him has to come first.

Reading these verses was just such a huge encouragement to me: quit worrying about fixing people, and just share the love of Jesus.  He will fix them, in His perfect time, and my only job is to point them to Him.

I know you’ve all be waiting to here about my most fabulous adventure.

I met The Pioneer Woman.

In case you’re unaware, her blog was named one of the top 25 blogs of 2009.

So, yes.  She’s famous. And I got to meet her.

Me and a few others of course…

My mom and I decided to brave the crowd.  All I can say is, if you are going to pack hundreds of people into a small confined space, please keep the AC going.  I’m generally not a hot person, and I felt completely smothered by the stagnent air.  And I thought the poor middle aged woman sitting next me was going to have an injury from fanning herself so intensely.  (not my mom. we couldn’t get seats together, so I sat next a different middle aged woman)

One sidenote: I was really amazed how many men were there.  Maybe it was all just supportive husbands.  Who knows?

Anyway, while I was sitting in the crowd waiting for her to make her grand appearance I was thinking: celebrity-ish bloggers are SO much better than Hollywood celebrities.  I know there are a lot of you out there that feel like you know your favorite celebrity (ahem, Alisha…) but really all you know is what People magazine wants you to think about your favorite celebrity.

But with a blogger, you really, truly know them.  Every single thing you know about them came straight from their lips.  Of course there are some things they probably don’t tell you, but still… You have a way more intimate look into their life than a normal celebrity.

And that is why meeting Ree was the biggest deal ever.  Because I know her.

Don’t laugh, but I almost teared up when she walked out.  Crazy, I know.

So, she did this little Q & A time, which was fun. 

She shared very openly about how she gained ten pounds while writing the cookbook.

And about how Marlboro Man is real comfortable with all of her readers being obsessed with him.

And that she has never used a slow-cooker.  (this one really shocked me)

AND, that she is in the process of writing a new book… Black Heels to Tractor Wheels!!!

It was great.  She was great.  But we still needed to meet her.

After the Q & A, the wait began.

The line was long and extremely slow moving.

Then they announced that people with small children get priority because it was getting late.

We quickly called my sister who was entertaining my small children at the Baskin Robbins a couple of doors down and told her we needed them back.

With Miss I planted firmly on my hip we joined the line.

That’s when we got to meet Missy.

She was really sweet and fun to talk to.  She was going around taking pictures while Ree signed a million copies of her cookbook.

And that would be how my mom and I ended up on Confessions of a Pioneer Woman!!! (scroll down to the picture of the cute little blonde girl.  Yes that’s us waiting patiently in line behind her.) Can you believe it??? I know you’re jealous!

But now, the tragedy.

What Missy really wanted was to take a picture of Miss I.  Because she is really beautiful.  I was conjuring up visions of the most adorable girl in the world making her debut across the Pioneer Woman’s pages.

Missy walked up sweetly with the camera and said “can I take your picture?”

And Miss I…went off like a siren, screaming like there was no tomorrow.

All my dreams, shattered.

Of course five minutes later when mine was the only camera in sight, the crying stopped…

Of course she decided to be all cute and sweet then, when it was too late for stardom.

I kind of wanted to shake her and tell her “Do you know that you just missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime!?!!?”

But I didn’t. Because she’s two, and she really doesn’t give a rip about PW.

As you can see, when our turn finally came.

As my mom and I fell all over Ree (somewhat literally thanks to the speed with which they were moving us all along), Miss I was completely unimpressed.

Oh well.

Ree told me “hi”.  And I said “hi”.  And that was it. 

Don’t you wish you were there?

For Today… November 9,2009

Outside my window… wispy clouds that dull the sunshine and definitely add to the “fall feel”.  From my window I can see the tops of huge trees that grow in a creekbed a few miles from our house.  They’ve all turned yellow, an earthy yellow that reminds me of the yarrow my mom used to grow.

I am thinking… will these girls ever choose to behave??? How do I teach them that?  What am I doing wrong?

From the learning rooms…   Daniel Boone and Johnny Appleseed.  And lots of one on one instruction in how to clean up after yourself.  (the most important lesson of all! ) 

I’m thankful for… sweet promises….

The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
~Isaiah 58:11 

From the kitchen… much to Hombre’s dismay, I purchased some agave nectar yesterday to experiment with.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

I am wearing… pants that I tried to shrink in the dryer, but instead of getting smaller, they only got shorter.  Dumb. I know.  Oh, and I am wearing a shirt too.

I am reading…  waiting for this to arrive from the library.  I’m so excited!

I am creating…  dollhouses, tutus, personalized towels, chore cards and about a dozen other things…each thing is about halfway done.  I never realized I could be so A.D.D.

I am hearing… Miss I…”Mommy, we no slam the door, RIGHT! Dat’s nauny! (naughty)”

Around the house… trying to maintain the clean house…and getting anxious to get back in the yard and work, now that I might be able to get something done without the weeds doubling in size every thirty seconds.  

A few plans for the rest of the week… plans are overrated.  I’m learning to really enjoy spontaneous. 

For more daybooks, or if you’d like to participate, click here.

Or leave me a note in the comments… I’d love to hear about your day

I disappeared…I know.  Sorry.  We’ll catch up next week.  In the meantime….

City Camping
(I’m thinking there must be some way to make use of this idea during the winter)

Homemade Hot Chocolate

Wise Words

Moving Mount Everest
(It’s good to think about how much we exercise faith every day)

There is A Season
(good stuff)

Interrupted
(I think we can all relate)

Priorities
(I really like her list, but what I love most is the idea of allowing God to show us what our priorities should be.  And recognizing that they will be different for everybody and that’s OK)