What I've learned fromThe Pioneer Woman, Teil drei

This is The Pioneer Woman,
but alas,
I am NOT the Pioneer Woman.

I picked up the cookbook again. I am trying to decide what to make first. Fully expecting that I will fail to get the kind of delightful response from my family that I am sure she gets from hers, I have to choose carefully.

While looking through the many pages of delicious offerings I came across one that had a picture of a young, handsome man next to a horse with a cowboy hat on. The title of the page was:

My Pesky Brother-in Law, Tim

I don't have a brother-in-law named Tim. Mine is named Scott, he is famous (see here) He doesn't wear a cowboy hat or hang out with horses. He wears scrubs and hangs out with women, many of them, all day long. He's an OBGYN. He's not even close to being pesky because he lives too far away. I would like him to be pesky, I would like him to be the peskiest brother-in-law ever because he lived right around the corner. Some would say that I only wanted Scott to live around the corner and be pesky because he'd bring his wife Sandy with him whom I absolutely A.D.O.R.E. 

This is Dr. Scott Farhart
He is famous.

Ok, some might be right but not totally. I wish he lived around the corner and was pesky because he and MJF deserve to live closer to each other. They only lived together for a short time when they were young and lived the majority of their teenage years apart. They would be good for each other. 

This is Joshua Scott.
He is almost as funny as
his uncle.

Having them around here would 

be good for my kids. Son #3 is named for his uncle Scott. He is just like his uncle. It's uncanny. The older Joshua Scott gets the more I see it. Joshua is hilarious. Scott is hilarious too. And Scott can be hilarious in only 1 sentence. My favorite emails are ones sent to me by Scott. I don't get them often and they usually come as a response to something I have said. Most often they have me laughing out loud. Joshua has me laughing out loud every day - really, every stinkin' day. 

Scott's got this incredible daughter named Jordan. She is the example every mom would want to have for her daughter. I feel, in some ways, Kate is missing out not having her older cousin Jordan to watch live out the life of a Godly woman in front of her face. I am missing out not having the example of HOW to guide my daughter into living a life of a Godly woman in front of MY face. 

Then there is Jared, their son, born only 6 weeks after our oldest son Drew. Jared and Drew could not lack similarities more than they do. I think the only thing they would agree on is their love for Jesus Christ. And yet something tells me they could have learned a lot from each other. Like his father Jared is hilarious. He has been gracious enough to let me be his friend on Facebook and it's all I can do to not comment on his status updates... I have been told by #2 son that there is nothing cool about that so I try to refrain. Still I wish we knew those incredible kids better. 

And to have Sandy closer would be more than I can imagine so I will not get myself worked up trying to imagine it. 

I am learning a lot from The Pioneer Woman, just paging through her cookbook has made me think about things that I have never spent even a minute pondering. I am so glad I pondered this though. What I have been reminded of is that we can't always have the people that make us happy nearby. But somehow, just knowing how much I wish they were nearby makes the little time I get with them all the more sweet. And even moreso, because we share Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be together, forever, in eternity.  

So, will we get mansions nearby? If so, will they get sick of US? Wow, I'd not thought about US being the pesky ones.... 

What I have learned from The Pioneer Woman, Pt deux...

No, I am not The Pioneer Woman. She cooks. She CAN cook. I bet everything she cooks is wonderful. I bet everything she cooks LOOKS wonderful. I bet every time her kids walk into her house after working on the ranch all day they smell what she's cooking for dinner and actually jump for joy.

 I am not she...

OK, so I do cook, occasionally, much less than my family would like. I don't like it. No, that's a lie. I DO like to cook. What I don't like is the less than unanimous feeling about what I cook. No, that's a lie, too. What I don't like is the less than unanimous, bowing down and worshiping at my feet because I am such an amazing cook reaction that I get when I do cook for 3 teenage boys and an 8 year old girl. The Gman doesn't have to do those things because he never complains - E.V.E.R.

This is the Pioneer Woman,
Unfortunately, I am not
The Pioneer Woman

I should still cook more. I really should. It's hard to do things that you know you should do even when you know you won't get the reaction that you'd like. Even when you know you won't get the reaction you deserve.

Everything in life is like that. Why we let a select few dictate our direction, our joys, our desires, our endeavors; it's beyond me. There's really only ONE that should dictate those things. He's the one who created us to want after things. Not things we hold in our hands, things we strive after. Adventures, ambitions, occupations, dreams... Only HE should be the one to discourage our pursuits. He's not a discourager. For those who KNOW Him well know what pleases Him and therefore know the directions we are supposed to go.

I really don't think that He tells us right away though. I think he allows us to stew on things. I wonder if He serves a lot of Stew in  Heaven because I find myself having to stew on things, chew on things, pick things apart - move around the carrots, separate the potatoes and the tomatoes - to find the really excellent piece of meat; and it's the meat that I want so much.

I found myself stewing for about two years after reading this. He let me stew. It was good for me. I tossed potatoes and carrots but hung on to the tomatoes. I never found the meat until I went here on Saturday and met Amy Lancaster. For the first time in my life I met someone who could actually see people with Jesus' eyes. I knew that through the power of the Holy Spirit it was possible but I never thought I'd see it in this part of the world. I didn't think it was something an American could actually possess. She is the most amazing woman I have ever met and I've met more than a few amazing women. If I could have coffee (well, I'd drink tea) with her once a week I'd sit and listen and never speak - never - not one moment I was with her. I'd be afraid I'd miss some amazing truth about Christ because she knows Him in a way that I wasn't sure was possible.

He spoke to me through her on Saturday. He not only revealed meat to me, He revealed a whole pile of it that was hiding under the tomatoes I'd kept in the bowl. I tossed those tomatoes because there was so much meat, I'd gotten full and couldn't eat a bite more.  And although there was more meat there I didn't partake. A stomach can only hold so much. It's gotta digest and when it has, I will go back because there's a banquet waiting for me. Right in downtown Jackson. In the roughest part of the city. A banquet available any day of the week, any time of the day. Open for anyone who is willing to show up and say "I need...." And they never have to tell her what they need because she knows, that in reality, they  we, all need the same thing... Jesus. And she's got a stew pot that never empties full of Jesus.

The Lord used Amy to speak clearly to me. He clarified some thoughts I had about ambitions, adventures, occupations, and dreams. After all, He created me. He knows what He wants me to do and He made me to do just that.                                                                                                                                                              

I have decided that being a foot model isn't in my future. After all. He created all of me - my feet included.

My feet

They are fat feet, not pretty, not long and lovely. He did create me to "go and do". These feet, although not lovely will take me where I need to go to please Him. So I will digest the meat He's given me and watch for the growth that comes from feeding my soul.

I bet the Pioneer Woman has pretty feet. She may live on a ranch but I bet she gets mani-pedis once a week. But it doesn't matter that I don't have pretty feet. They still do the job they were created to do. And besides, my feet will be pretty in Heaven and I will live there a whole lot longer than I will live here.

Do you think they carry OPI polish in Heaven cuz I am sure we don't wear shoes there.

What I've learned from The Pioneer Woman, Part Uno

This is the Pioneer Woman,
it's unfortunately not me...

So, I have an unbelievable sister-in-law. There are so many things I could say about her but I haven't the room... Well I do but she wouldn't want me to go on and on about her. I have wanted to be her since the day I met her in July of 1983. She was a week away from marrying MJF's brother and I was about 6 weeks away from marrying MJF. They were having something like 5,000 people at their wedding (I could be exaggerating but is sure seemed that way) and we were having 100. She was (and still is) itty bitty, cute, and bubbly. Me... well, let's just say none of those words describe me. She had everything going for her, I had, well, I just didn't know. What I did know was that I wished I was her.

Twenty-seven years later and many days I still wish I was her. For many of the same reasons I wish I was her but some days, for very different reasons.

Today, because of something she did, something really unbelievably special and totally surprising to me, I have decided that, at almost 50 years old, I was going to have to come to terms with who I am and I was going to have to learn to embrace it. Yes, I said embrace it. Not just be happy with it, not just be satisfied, but I needed to learn to EMBRACE all of me, in just the place God has put me.

What did she do? She sent me the Pioneer Woman Cookbook. Now I know what she was thinking by sending it to me. It was a splurge and she knew I wanted it. She knew I didn't need it but that it would be so much fun. And that's how I felt about it today when I opened it. Little did I know that reading about Ree, The Pioneer Woman, who she was before she hit the ranch, how she has become a ranch-lover, and how she has EMBRACED her life... it was like a brick hit me between the eyes. I really think it was the story of how she met the Marlboro Man and how to this day she still calls him the Marlboro Man and adores him, that really got to me.

This is my Gman. 

I don't have a Marlboro Man. What I do have is a Gman. A Gman is tons better than a Marlboro Man. I have not been enjoying my Gman the way I should. I have not been bragging about my Gman the way I should and reading her talk about her Marlboro Man really convicted me that I have been taking him for granted, a lot. Look at him... he's pretty darn awesome.

There are more things that I want to say about how reading The Pioneer Woman's cookbook impacted me. It will take several blog posts to do it. That's a good thing though because I promised to do a better job feeding my blog. Pioneer Woman reminded me of that as well.

This is me. Obviously I am not the Pioneer Woman.
It is not the best picture of me.
It's actually sort of silly..
I decided to EMBRACE silly.