Saturday, January 1, 2011

So many things...not enough time



It's been a whirlwind of excitement around here...Camden's birthday, Christmas break, Christmas, family time, working at the salon.  It's been a BUSY great couple of weeks!



Our Christmas program at MDO was held on December 16th.  Our sweet Camden was chosen to play the  special part of Joseph.  This was especially meaningful to us because just three short years ago, our Channing was chosen to play Mary.  I cried my eyes out, well as much as I could without wailing, seeing my only son up on the stage in his little costume and then coming back out on stage to sing one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Here With Us".  You could tell he was a bit embarassed because his little eyes kept blinking, like he was trying to distract himself due to all the parents and relatives in the audience.  It was just precious, he performed the whole time!



We had a small family party for Camden's birthday, some snacks, family over and gifts.  I didn't do a 'special' cake this year.  Normally I try to do a really fancy cake but Camden is a simple boy who loves strawberry ANYTHING.  His simple request this year was a strawberry cake so that's what I did.  It was a small and stress-free party...just how I like them.



Chayce auditioned to perform for the Black Eyed Peas...they are the half-time entertainment for the Super Bowl this year and since it's being held in Dallas, they are looking for local hip hop dancers.  Chayce's dance teacher offered to film the girls and send in the audition tapes.  We are waiting to hear back but regardless of the outcome, Chayce and I talked about what an amazing opportunity she was blessed with at just being able to audition.  We are trying not to get our hopes up but we remain optimistic until we hear otherwise.




Christmas was nice.  Its always fun to see the kids' faces when they open our gifts, but mostly when the see what Santa brings.  This year we decided to do only three gifts under the tree for each of them, to remind them that Christmas is really about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  When He was born, He only received three gifts, each one brought by the three wise men.  I can only hope that this will help my kids focus on the true meaning of Christmas and that it will be something that they will consider doing with their own children.



Things are picking up for me at the salon, Praise God!  I am about to hit my one year mark as a professional and I can honestly say that this has been one of the most exciting years of my entire life!  I love my job and I wake up every day joyful and excited to go to the salon.  It makes my day when I make someone feel good about themselves.  My best week yet, financially, was the week of Christmas.  I have some amazing clients and was extremely thankful that they chose to bless me during the holidays. 

I was extremely blessed by one client in particular this past Monday.  Her name is Melisa and she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.  She is from Waco and was here in town visiting her sister for Christmas.  She had to go through both radiation and chemo, two things I had to watch my mother go through as well.  Her hair was probably about 2 inches long all over and she had colored it herself with a box color to cover her gray.  She was so sweet and soft-spoken and I wanted to do the best I possibly could for her because this was her first trip to the salon with her 'new' hair.  We talked about our families and about the David Crowder Band (David Crowder is from Waco as well).  We talked about her cancer and my mom's cancer.  We talked about what color she wanted to be and what we could do with her short hair to give it some sort of style.  I gave her an all-over color, she also wanted highlights as well as a cut.  I spent a good two and half hours with her and when I got done, she was so giddy and beyond excited.  Her niece was at the salon with her as well and as I finished with Melisa, her niece started taking pictures of her so they could send them to family members.  She mentioned sending one to her husband so he could see her new hair.  Melisa was so happy, I almost cried.  She apologized and said that I probably thought she was being silly.  At no point did I think she was being silly.  All that was happening brought back the memories of sadness when my mom lost her hair, when I was innocently pulling it back in a ponytail for her and it began to fall out in my hands.  When I had to be the one to break the news to her that her beautiful, long hair was coming out, it was part of the reality of the cancer that had stolen our hope of having a long life with our mother.  Melisa's happiness brought back how thrilled and thankful we were when my mother's hair began growing back in big, thick ringlets that sat on top of her head.  A sign of joy and new growth of healthy cells, a sign of hope that maybe the cancer was gone and she would have her hair back and be healthy and cancer-free again.  Melisa, you made my day.  You blessed me in a way that I can not describe.  Seeing you and all your joy and how beautiful you felt...and how I got to be a small part of that, all I can say is thank you.  Thank you for trusting me with your new hair and for having faith that I could give you what you were looking for.  Thank you for your smile...it said more than one hundred words could ever have expressed coming from you.  

I am so looking forward to see what 2011 has in store for us! 

1 comment:

  1. I'm so happy for you! I can't believe it has been 1 year already. Wow, time flies!
    Love you~
    S

    ReplyDelete