in all things...pray!

sometimes I just forget that God doesn't care if we pray about the 'silly' ...maybe to others but important to us...things in life.  I read a scripture tonight that helped me to remember that He really DOES care about them.

Ephesaians 6:18  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

even the hairs of your head are numbered.....

Okay, perhaps this will seem like an odd post, but it's something that has affected my life and I have seen God work a miracle through it.  The above and below photo are taken in 2005. This is when my hair was healthy, long and had body.  One thing about it is we lived in Great Bend, KS where the humidity is non existent compared to Independence, KS.  I liked my long hair although it sometimes caused me grief and headaches.  I felt like it was a gift from God.  I was amused one day when I heard a young kid say in the store, "Mom, there's the lady with the long hair who plays the piano on the college TV channel." (BCCC was always airing our recitals and concerts.)

I had even thought I would be very sad if anything happened to my long hair.

my hair in 2008...still healthy just straight because we now lived in the land of humidity!

Because of my illness, my hair started breaking off and falling out all over the place.  The medication I was taking was causing most of the problems although I didn't realize it until it was too late.  My hair became really thin...all of it would gather into a hole about the size of a nickel...and it keep falling out.  In the picture above ( fall 2010) you can see some of how thin it is getting.  I was trying to disguise the fact I had no hair and it looked horrible and unhealthy.  The doctor changed the medication and it started to improve.  Below is a picture in January 2011...it had continued to break and fall out, but then it started getting thicker.  Even though most of it was chin length, it became really thick.  I remembered when as a kid, my cousin's hair was short and thick and wouldn't grow.  It was hard to do anything with it.  I had sympathy for her then but much more now!

I can't tell you the amount of tears I have cried over my hair!  I wanted to cut it all off and just let it start over new, but Paul wanted me to try to keep as much of the length as possible.  I honestly didn't want it any shorter.  I just wanted it to comb, and stay back and look healthy and not hurt.  I have been in lots of pain with my hair...each strand sometimes feels like they are being pulled out one by one  even when nothing is in my hair and nothing is touching it.

Chad, who is really gifted in combing hair, would help me.  Even Paul would comb it for me.  I'd cry and cry.  It was a real stress-er for months this year.  I knew hair didn't grow back quickly and that it was almost impossible that it would grow back looking natural and even.  So I started praying.

I wasn't the only one either!  I think all my boys prayed about my hair!!  I would tell God that the Bible says the hairs of my head are numbered and that my hair must be important to Him.  I knew that I wanted to honor Paul's feelings and try to let it grow naturally.  But I also knew that it wouldn't happen without God's help.  I'd ask  Him to help me figure out how to comb it and fix it so it didn't hurt so badly.  It has grown.....a LOT....in less than six months.  It is so thick I can't hold it in a clip etc very much cause it hurts.  But I'm not complaining. ;)  It's growing and evening out...has more body than it has since we moved here....and it's not coming in gray!  I have some gray, but a lot of the time hair under these circumstances will come in gray.  It does have more of an auburn tint than it did...but I'm thankful.

I'm thankful and counting my blessings that God cares about my hair!!!

Pictures below are some of the progress journeys with my hair the last six months.

It's not as long as the picture below taken in 2009 but it's come a LONG ways! Yay!

The picture above was taken the month before I started the medication that caused the hair loss.  Jan. 2009

Smiles Shared

Different times this year, a new day has come and one of our student's are gone. A lot of time, we had no idea they were leaving.  They always leave a hole and an ache in my heart.  It's really hard to not be able to say goodbye....

(Paul told me he was one of those kids growing up.)

I pray for my kiddos and this one I've really missed. I haven't seen her for several months, but last night at Walmart, I looked down the isle and there she was!! It was wonderful to see her and that we could exchange smiles. 

 I really wanted to grab her in my arms and not let her go. Paul was working that night, so I might have gotten out of it had someone thought I was kidnapping her :) But I didn't.  I just smiled at her with my heart in my smile hoping she would know I care.

It's heart breaking what some of our kids face. They are very precious. The last day of school was hard. Little faces, grimy hands...eyes that look very seriously at you and say, "I'm going to miss you. I'm really going to miss you." Sometimes school is the only secure thing in their lives. 

So thankful God allowed me to be at Walmart at that time and let me know that He hasn't forgotten them. They are all HiS children....the apple of His eye!