Celebrity Status

Celebrity: famous person, hero, hotshot, immortal, luminary, notable, personality, star, superstar, VIP, worthy

Who are the celebrities in your life? Miley Cyrus? Donald Trump? Tom Cruise? The cast of LOST or Glee or whatever your favorite show may be? The next American Idol, perhaps? Sure, those are some famous people but, do they challenge you to become a better person? Do they have a positive influence on your life?

The last couple of days, I've been thinking about the celebrities in my life. In writing this post, I really had to wrack my brain to come up w/ those mentioned in the above paragraph. The ones who are most important to me are the inspiring authors & bloggers I've met in the Catholic educational world: Judy from A Thankful Woman's Book of Blessings (& several other great blogs), Elizabeth Foss of In the Heart of My Home, Kimberly from Catholic Family Vignettes, & Danielle Bean (blogger & editor of Faith & Family Magazine), just to name a few.

This weekend, I got to meet two of the wonderful women mentioned above...Kimberly & Danielle Bean. Casinodad & I went to the Dayton Homeschool Conference. On Saturday morning, as we were walking through the vendor hall, I saw Kimberly. I went up to introduce myself to her & she recognized me from my blog. Both of us are in the same homeschool group, but due to various schedules & such, we've never met. She hugged me right away & I felt like I'd known her forever! She is a VERY SWEET person & after years of following her blog, I was so happy to have finally met her.

Danielle Bean was one of the speakers for the weekend. Her talk, "What Happy Mothers Know," was uplifting, fun, & full of her great family tales. When her talk was over, Casinodad & I headed to the vendor hall to her table, where she was meeting people & signing copies of her books. I walked up to her, shook her hand, & said, "Danielle, I love you!" I then told her I'd been following her blog & that I love the Small Successes she hosts every Thursday at Faith & Family Live. We talked a little more & she asked about our family. I bought a copy of her new book, co-authored w/ Elizabeth Foss, Small Steps for Catholic Moms. Of course she signed it for me.

I met two other celebrities who spoke at the conference...Regina Doman & her husband Andrew Schmiedicke. I really didn't know much about them prior to the conference. I knew she had written Angel in the Waters, an excellent pro-life book, & a series of novels for teen which are modern re-tellings of fairy tales. (A special preview copy of her newest book, Alex O'Donnell and the 40 Cyber Thieves, was available at the conference. Of course I purchased a copy & she signed it.)

Both of their talks were very inspiring. Regina's was a very tough one...sharing the loss of their son using an unusual re-telling of the story of Job. She had some great reflections, especially for those who are suffering in any way. Andrew's talk was geared toward fathers, but we mothers got a lot out of it also. When I purchased Regina's book, we thanked Andrew for his talk. Casinodad asked him a question & we had a nice discussion w/ him for several minutes.

There were several other speakers, just as inspiring & uplifting. We came away w/ so much great information & encouragement, not just for homeschooling, but for our family's faith formation too. THESE are the kinds of celebrities I look up to. I hope that, as we continue to educate & raise our munchkins, they too will be encouraged by faith-filled celebrities.