TBT April 2005

We were young, innocent and life looked great...
What I didn't realize was just how drastically my life would change. April 9 2005, I married my best friend. He was my everything, my world. We were young and in  love.

I had spend the past 7 months, planning a wedding from the chemo room and hospital rooms.

We were excited. This was a new beginning. Surgery was over, the cancer was gone, we were getting married!

We had a blissful wedding day. Perfect in every way.

We had an amazing honeymoon in Hawaii. Romantic, sweet, everything a girl could dream of.

We came crashing back to reality, 3 days after our honeymoon we did another round of chemo. We were still optimistic.

We settled into our little house in the woods. We both worked fulltime. We traveled as we wanted..

And then one fateful day, I still remember that awful day...
Continued next Thursday!



8Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Roller skating fun!

We found this fun place that has homeschool rollerskating for $5 per person, if you rent skates, $2 if you bring your own! 

The place was pretty deserted when we arrived at 1 pm.  There were 2 other families skating, 6 kids plus my 4 kiddoes.

                                                 
David loves roller skating and can skate with just about any kind of skates. He wears a pair of size 12 skates at home. So when you put a regular fitting size on his feet, he flies.

Lee and Elizabeth had some pretty good races too. 

                                   

Big brother offers some advice...

Fayth had never skated before. She wanted to try quads instead of inlines. I tried to help her get started, but honestly all I could do was giggle at the poor child. Her feet would fly in every direction! It was the most hilarious thing. She would put her feet down, hold on to my arm and suddenly those feet where flying every which way. I was supposed to be holding her up, but was in a fit of giggles. It was like watching a cartoon character!  So we got a skate support. This little pvc pipe thingy did not laugh at her and it gave her confidence.

She preserved and did not give up. By the end of the 2 hours, she was skating quite confidently! I was very proud of her!

Two very tired boys.. They had so much fun!

We will def be going back to skate again. We met some wonderful new homeschooling friends too! What a fun way to get P.E! Yes  I skated too! I had not been on skates for a very long time! At one point, as I raced around the rink, challenging Elizabeth to a race, a very concerned big brother warned me to be careful. He didn't want me to break a bone! :)

it takes hours and hours, causes lots of tears but is oh so neccassary in our lives....

We decided its time to do hair on Saturday... With African american girls, hair care is constant and takes lots of time! I enjoy it when I have time. But for the past several months I have only done the easiest possible hairstyles. Short haircuts for the two younger ones and microbraids for Elizabeth




The products. My favorite is my own homemade mix. Nothing works quite as well as that mix.
Olive oil is also important. We were out so I used sunflower oil. I learned this trick from my first foster son's grandmother. It really works well on all hair types.

Nesiah, we had started the front last week already.
The goal for her is dread locs. 

We washed the hair and divided it into little box braids. She really does well with sitting still. Now if we could just keep her from scratching them out!

She likes having pretty hair...

Elizabeth loves having her hair done. It is important to her. I took out hundreds of braids and beads and combed it into this little braid style. Neither one of us liked it.
So we decided to straighten it. 

First we took out all the braids, washed it, combed it and oiled it..
Then, Mrs R had told me some time ago, she wished for a little girl to do hair. I so kindly volunteered my daughter. HAHA. 

She blow dried the hair... 

Then painstakingly straightened each section...  It took over an hour!! But they had fun! 

Despite the look on her face, she is very pleased with her hairstyle!! Beautiful long, straight hair! ;) 

 Now Miss Fayth... oh, the torture that hair is for this child. She just wants long blond hair.
She does not like having her hair done. It is not a pleasant experience for anyone..



Before... cute, short, African princess hair style

the first row of box banded hair. There was lots and lots of tears.

 

The end result... hundreds of tiny puffs in "almost" neat rows.  Our goal is dread locs. Not the messy kind, but the beautiful long kind that do not require combing! Our goal is no more tears! ;)

My 3 beautiful daughters! Gorgeous girls for God!