Rolling with the tide

For quite some time, Little E has needed a haircut. He had gorgeous light brown hair with natural blond highlights. It was long on top and bowl cut style, the only style a home haircut would allow. It was so long that it covered his eyebrows and skimmed the tops of his eyes. I only trimmed it when I could get him to sit still long enough for me to comb it and grab the scissors for a snip. This last weekend my sister in law took some Christmas photos of the kids for me. I had tried my best to keep his hair out of his face, but the hairspray wasn't holding in the wind.





Sunday evening I decided that I was going to cut his hair. I wanted to get a good trim on it and get it out of his eyes. So I got out the hair trimmer and using the #2 guard I cut the back and underneath of his hair. I changed guards and put on the #8 and holding the long parts of his hair I tried trimming the ends of it without laying the cutter against his head. My husband was watching me from the kitchen table while I was attempting this. He tells me "you're wasting your time trying it like that, just do it." I look over at him and ask him "how short do you think it would be?" He holds up his fingers about 2 1/2 inches apart and I should have questioned it further but I took his word for it. That was my BIG mistake. I started cutting and heard this mmmmmrrrddd noise as my son's hair was being forced into the cutter's blades. Now mind you, I was standing from behind him and cutting from the forehead back so I couldn't see what it looked like. The only thing I did see was a four inch lock of blond hair on the kitchen floor. I was speechless. Hubby says to me" you're going to have to finish it now. It's all chunked up in the front".
What?! What!!! What are you saying. The thoughts running in my mind. What was I thinking?? I looked down at his forehead and pulled his hair back and you could see the hair missing from different spots. There was no turning back now. I took the cutter and continued through his hair, watching it fall to the floor. I was near the end, when looked at my sweet boy's face and nearly lost it. I was in complete shock as to how much this "new" haircut changed his appearance. I gasped and welled up with tears. My husband knew I was in shock and he reassured me, telling me it was ok.
I finished trimming the sides and put the cutter down and brushed the hair from Little E's face. He was beaming with delight and could not wait to see his hair. It was a bit reassuring. I'm still very sad about his hair. It's only hair, right? It'll grow back. Right?


Here's the after picture taken on Thanksgiving Day at my brother's house.

Cherished moments

As a full-time working mom (FTWM) I've found a balance between work, family and church. Our scheduled after work , after school activities and meetings are always the same. This week is out of the norm, or maybe not? With the holidays approaching there will be more outings I'm sure. I usually only have two evenings a week that I'm out of the house and one for Little Miss. This week we have everyday booked with something going on every night. I was exhausted before it even started.
Last night I was required to attend a meeting at church. The 7pm start of the meeting didn't allow much time for me to get the kids picked up. Then go home to eat dinner before I had to leave. I planned on grabbing a quick fast food meal at McDonald's. A choice that I thought the kids would enjoy since they would get a prize in their Happy Meals.
I picked up Little Miss first and gave her the option to choose where she would like to eat. I wouldn't normally ask her but she has been doing better in school and I thought that would be a good reward. She picked the local buffet restaurant. I wasn't prepared to pay for a sit down dinner and was a bit trepidatious about taking both kids to a buffet by myself. By MYSELF. I wasn't sure if I could handle getting a plate for a two year old and a six year old and leave them unattended while I get myself a plate.
I attempted to change Little Miss' mind but she wasn't budging. With some thought on how I would handle it, I complied. After picking up Little E, we were on our way. Little Miss excitedly told the good news to her little brother. He kept repeating the restaurants name in his lispy vocabulary. She couldn't even contain herself after we pulled in and parked. She jumped out while I was unbuckling Little E and waited at the door to the restaurant.
I scanned out a good table close enough to the buffet and left our ticket there. The kids followed me as I grabbed a plate for each and gave Little Miss hers to carry. The little guy wanted to carry his too but I knew that would have resulted in a mess. He happily agreed to mommy serving the portions of mashed potatoes, mini corn dogs and mac/cheese on his plate. Once I got them situated at the table and we blessed their food ( I am so proud of my little girl for remembering to do this, even out in public.) I navigated my way through the buffet while keeping an eye on them.
The kids ate like champs. Little Miss ate all of her dinner and even tried some cantaloupe and honey dew melon. Little E ate most of what was on his plate along with a yeast roll and pat of butter. I enjoyed sitting down with them in the restaurant. They ate their dinners so well, I gave them permission to get some ice cream from the dessert section. Little E proudly announced his "ice cone" to the other kids eating dinner. I expected a stressed out, rush-rush dinner with my children and was rewarded with wonderful behavior. I know God blessed me last night with the evening. We missed having daddy at our meal, but God gave me the time to enjoy my children without the chaos.
Thank you Lord for showing me.

Living for God

I love how God leads us where we need to go. If we follow him and continue in the direction that he wants it makes sense. You see the signs and feel loved. He loves us so much that he wants what is best for us. With that thought, I read an article on a blog I follow. It was definitely what I was looking for.

Here's from Like a Warm Cup Of Coffee

Under the Microscope-Using Parables Today

A few months ago I subscribed to a couple of different Christian websites that send daily or weekly faith updates. You could choose articles on family, love, marriage or just the daily which has many different items in it. At first I wasn't getting any emails from them and thought that I messed up and typed it wrong. To my surprise, I was getting them but they were going into my spam mail. I usually just glance in that folder and don't pay much attention past the first page since there are usually 3-4 pages of spam. But for some reason on Tuesday I went through all of them looking for something and now I couldn't tell you what email it was, but I found my daily updates from Crosswalk. I was so excited and immediately moved them to my inbox and added them to my address book. I skimmed through them but none of the articles interested me.

The title for yesterday's email caught my eye, "Is Truth Really Plural? Postmodernism in Full Flower". I didn't and still don't know what postmodernism is but I was curious. The article was pretty deep for me and I scrolled through the page and stopped at "Why We Need Parables". The article goes on to explain why parables are important in sermons and how they help get across a message and why Jesus used them. Halfway through it, the author suggests taking one of Jesus' parables and reading it and rereading, then praying about it and then go about your day. Then he gives you 5 key points/questions about the parable. At the end of the article he suggests a few parables to start with. I focused on Matthew 18:21-35 The Unmerciful Servant. I did as the author suggested and read the scripture a couple of times. I read in a couple of different Bible versions so I could get every detail of it. This morning, I checked my email and from my weekly Crosswalk women email, the title was "The Power of Forgiveness".

WHOA. God is definitely trying to get a point across to me. This article talks about how it's usually easy to say I'm sorry and the wronged person accepts it. But it's challenging when deep wounds cause that person to no accept or harbor ill feelings and lash out in malice. That is truly me. I was recently wronged and was able to accept the words of apology but am still wounded.
I quote" It's pretty ridiculous when you stop and think about it-to let some mean or thoughtless person who has hurt you continue to rob you of your joy. When we live in resentment and anger we miss the beauty and opportunity of today."

I am so thankful that our Lord God led me to his Word. I'm trying everyday to be a better person, wife, parent, friend and Christian. Not in any particular order. I will not let wrong doings rob me of my joy! Keep the faith.