A hairy situation! ;)

My hair has been driving me crazy.

I have thick brown hair that used to be "naturally wavy," but with each pregnancy it got curlier and curlier, such that now I am "naturally curly." TOO naturally curly for me (I've always wished for perfectly straight, long hair.) I haven't paid too much attention to my hair lately - just pull the front up into a barrette, let it dry, and go. But, it keeps growing...and growing...so that lately I can barely brush through it, there's so darn much.

I've been wanting to get it shorter, but with as much as I'd like to cut off, it seemed like such a waste to just throw it away. So, I decided to wait until I had enough extra hair to donate to Locks of Love. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the US and Canada with long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. Often these children have lost their hair from alopecia areata or from cancer treatment. Having a high-quality hair prosthesis made from real hair helps boost the self-esteem of these children and lets them feel less self-conscious. A great cause, I think - and many friends of mine have donated their hair to it. To donate to Locks of Love, you need to have a ponytail (or ponytails) of hair with the longest parts at least 10 inches in length.

So...I did it! Tonight, I went to the hair salon and got my hair measured - I had enough to take 10 inches, and leave my hair about chin length. For those of you who know me, you know that's shorter than I've had in a LONG time - probably since I about 32 years ago!!! (For those of you who haven't met me, you can look at our photo album slide show below to see how long my hair USED to be...)

My head feels so light now - it's nice to feel a little bounce when I turn my head. I'm not much for getting in front of the camera, but I took this picture to show you my hair donation:

I told my husband and kids that with my short hair, I fell like I look like a real adult now. My daughter replied cheerily, "Yeah, Mom! You look like you're a grandma!" She meant it in the nicest way (I think...)

I read on the Locks of Love website that 80% of their donations are from kids who want to help other kids. Isn't that fantastic? But, I checked just in case, and yes they ARE willing to weed out my gray hairs for me so they can use the rest. LOL

I hope all of you have a great week!

Hugs,

Jeanie

God at the end of the checkout lane

OK, this post is quite strange, but the end message is one I thought worth sharing.

I had a dream...

A few nights ago, I had a very complicated dream, with lots of skyscrapers supported by chicken wire, street signs 20 stories above the ground, and an incredible flower garden/boarding school for little girls. But, I'll leave out the details of those parts and tell you about God at the end of the checkout lane.

In the dream, somehow I had been entrusted with responsibility for a little boy named Joseph - he was about 6 years old, with very dark wavy hair, and was a sweet, bright child. He was proud of the fact that he knew his name and how to spell it, and was happy to spell his name for anyone who would listen. Joseph was a child of God, and in this dream he was not the only one - there were many of God's children out there, who knew they would meet their Father someday, but did not know where or when. I was asked to take care of Joseph and raise him until the day came when he would meet God, his Father. I think only a year or so passed, but during that time it became clear that Joseph thought quite highly of himself for being God's child. He talked about it to nearly everyone we met, and eventually started introducing himself as God's son rather than as Joseph. One day, we were in a grocery store, and had just finished checking out. At the end of the checkout lane stood a man, and I knew it was God. He was about 10 feet tall, such that my field of vision only included up to his eyebrows - I didn't see his hair. He was unclothed (but not in an X-rated sort of way - there were no "private parts" or anything, just a vague sense of being in a natural state), and...he was an aqua blue color. He smiled gently at Joseph and touched his cheek, then he asked his name. Joseph stammered and realized he couldn't speak his name - he couldn't remember it. Then, God asked him to spell his name (he knew that had always been easy for Joseph) - Joseph couldn't even begin to spell it. But, God smiled and put his arm around the boy, thanked me for taking care of him, and the dream ended.

So, this may sound crazy - I did tell you that it was going to be a strange post! But here's what I thought about it when I woke up. I think there was a moral to the story, and that it was a beautiful reminder about an important aspect of good character. To me, the dream illustrated the importance of humility, and said that if one loses humility and gets an inflated ego, they can lose track of who they really are in the process.

So, the message I have been thinking about today -

Remain humble, lest your true self be lost.

Hugs,

Jeanie

Surprising and exciting news

Hi, everyone! Well, we had some interesting things happen in the past few days. Here's the surprising news first: On Wednesday, I brought Kente, our new little kitten to the vet for her first shots. As it was April Fool's Day, I hesitated to believe he was serious when the vet told me Kente was a "he" not a "she." But, he wasn't kidding - it's a boy! So, now Kente Claudia is now Kente Claudius! LOL

And now for the exciting news - on Thursday, our adoption agency told us that we could go ahead and submit our dossier before receiving our I171-H form (since it is a form our government will need, but that it is not actually recognized by the government of Ghana, to whom the dossier goes.) So, in the middle of trying to prepare for our trip (for which we were supposed to leave at 5 pm), I spent a LONG time at the UPS store, where we brought all of our documents, had them notarized, made copies and got certificates of true copy notarized, made full copies of the entire shebang for our agency and for ourselves, and overnighted all of it to North Carolina. About 7 weeks' worth of paperwork all culminated in this little package. It felt SO good to see it leave - it means we can begin the sit back and wait phase. We'll get to do more of the preparing for our child and less of the paperwork (at least for now...) I don't know how long it has typically taken couples to receive their travel dates after submitting their dossiers, so who knows when I'll go to Ghana, but at least we're on BIG step closer.

Hugs,

Jeanie

USCIS and Kente

Well, we finally received our final, notarized homestudy this afternoon. I picked it up, and then headed directly to the USCIS (immigration) office to file our I-600A. The people at our USCIS office were SO nice! Since our child is already identified, they are expediting the processing of our application, and expect to have it ready by early next week! They fingerprinted me immediately, which was an unexpected bonus, and are fingerprinting my husband tomorrow. Our dossier is ready except for that I-171H form, so as soon as receive it, everything will finally go off to Ghana!

More family news - I have been wanting a kitten ever since my beloved Shaundy died (he was 17, and had a good, long life). I have never owned a kitten - all my cats came to me as adults. But, when he died, we got 2 puppies instead. That was 2 1/2 years ago. This weekend, Lydia stayed over at a friend's house, and when I picked her up, we got to see 3 brand-new, 9-hour-old kittens! Though those particular kittens are not ready to leave their mommy, it gave the girls kitten cravings, too. My husband said, "No more cats!"

Then...the next morning I found him searching on Craigslist for a long time. When I asked what he was doing, he said that since he has been taking our girls fishing recently, he wanted to look for a used little boat. Hmmmm......I smiled and said that if he was going to get a boat, I should at least be able to have a little kitten! I caught him at the right time - he said yes! So, the girls and I went to the Humane Society while he went to look at the boat he wanted to buy. He got the boat. We got a kitten. (The kitten is cuter than his boat!)

So, I am glad to announce the arrival our our new, 8-week-old orange tabby. She is sweet and cuddly, smart and already well-trained to use the litterbox! After much deliberation, we named her Kente Claudia Hertz. Her first name is the name of the beautiful handwoven cloth for which Ghana is famous. Her middle name is to honor one my all-time favorite cats - a darling little orange tabby named Claudia that one of my best friends used to have.

Kente looks just like Claudia, except she does not have Claudia's little white tip on her tail.Kente likes to cuddle - she nestles between my shoulder and neck and purrs so sweetly. We've been keeping her in a dog crate when we're gone, to protect her from our other animals and from any other dangers. But, today, we found out that she has learned how to squeeze through the bars and escape! Those bars are only about an inch apart - it was unbelievable to watch her squish her little head and body right through!

So, without further adieu, I present Kente (and Kente cloth for those of you who haven't seen it):

Hugs,

Jeanie