Thank You Lord for your Grace and Mercy in 2010

Psalm 111

1 Great Are the Lord's Works
1 [a]Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
2 Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.
3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the Lord is gracious and merciful.
5 He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;
8 they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9 He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!

The Story Behind My Glory.

But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for [her] hair is given her for a covering.
1 Corinthians 11:15 (KJV)

Because I just made two years being natural in November, and because I have so many friends now going natural I have decided to share my journey.
My story starts out very similar to so many naturals. I had natural hair up until the 6th grade when my mom decided that it was just to much to deal with so she put a relaxer on it. I didn’t have any problems with the relaxer ,in fact I loved it. I could wear my hair DOWN…something I wasn’t able to do a lot when my hair was natural. As a natural, my mom pressed my hair…ugh…I hated getting my hair pressed, I never escaped without a burn on my scalp or my ear…PURE TORTURE, my head would be sore for days after getting my hair pressed. Can you imagine and many of you can because you went through this same process, but imagine putting Blue Magic grease on your hair then taking a hot pressing comb to your roots therefore melting the grease, and the grease running down to your scalp, causing you have third degree burns all over your head..LOL. And please don’t forget about the smell of burnt hair that stayed in your head until the next wash day, which meant you were heading for torture all over again. So again, getting a relaxer was a welcomed change. Over the years, my mom got somewhat lazy and didn’t do a great job on maintaining my new found freedom, so by the time I got to highschool I had all kind of breakage. Then by the grace of God, my aunt who is a beautician moved into town and I was able to get my hair back to a healthy state, but not without a price. I had to cut off a lot of my damaged ends but it didn’t really matter, I kept my hair , as my mother would say, “balled up” any way so no one would notice. I spent most of my teenage years walking around looking like Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez…I loved her bangs and “balled up hair..

Fast forward a few years, and I am now on my own to take care of my hair. This required me a tomboy to learn how to apply her own relaxer. This was not fun! I hated doing my own hair and at the time we couldn’t afford to send me to the shop every other week or so to keep it up so I like so many before me resorted to the old stand by..relaxer in a box. My husband and I for years applied the creamy crack to my head to give me that oh so sleek and straight look. This would continue for awhile until I finally decided enough is enough..I hated relaxers and I just wanted to get back to my roots, literally. So in October of 07 I got my last relaxer! Last relaxer

I grew my hair out or transitioned for a year. During this time, I flat ironed my hair straight until I started getting a lot of new growth, then I started wearing braids , I only did the braid thing once, I hated taking out the micros..ugh. So instead of weaves and braids, I just went to the beauty shop every two weeks and got my hair roller set, and once a month I would get a few inches of the straight hair cut off. I did this so it wouldn’t be a such a shock to my husband..LOL..going from long to short hair in one day would have messed him up Lol. I did this for a whole year and then in November 08 I cut off all the straight ends. By the way. A lot of people experience breakage during transitioning but because I went to the shop every other week and keep my hair nice and conditioned I didn’t experience a lot.




roller set

micros

Now it has been two years since I have been completely natural. I don’t count the transitioning period as being natural, I start from the day I did the big chop. My hair has grown a lot. It is longer than it was before I transitioned. I have maintained growth due to a lot protective styling. I don’t wear my hair out a whole lot. During the week, I don’t mess with my hair a lot. I keep it twisted up and pinned up to protect my ends. I usually wear it out or in a cut style on Sundays to church or on special occasions. I will talk about my regimens and the products I use in another post.

Favorite Things (Part 1)

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things"

Here are a few of my favorite things from this year. I am listing them in no particular order:



Library- books, books, and more books. Shhhh. The quiet , the smell, the comfortable chairs, the kids section the books, books and more books..LOL. Yea, its weird and I know it, there is only one other person I know who likes books and libraries other than me (shout out to kish). I love to read , I mean I love the whole reading experience! Here are few pics of a couple of home libraries that I would love to have in my home.

Favorite Blog- The Pioneer Woman. Just take a look around this blog and you will soon see why i loove this blog. Netflix - ahhhh what a wonderful invention, I know this has been around for a long time but we have been overseas for a loooong time and didnt have access to this wonderful ammenity. PS3 finally has a purpose besides taking husband and sons hostage for hours at at time. Now I can watch old and new movies at the punch of a button. I have found my self vegged out on more than one occasion watching old 80s movies and hosting my own individual marathons with the names like , The Best of Molly Ringwald, Steel Magnolia Mondays..LOL...anyway , You get my drift...I heart Netflix!


Le Creuset Dutch Oven (Kiwi) - For as long as I have been able to cook, I have had a love affair with dishes. Pots, pans, plates, servers, you name it. I have sooo many dishes but next to my Pampered Chef Cookware this pot is on my "cant cook without" list. I have made wonderful soups, stews, neckbones, ox tails, LOL.. peas, beans, and even fried and smothered some chicken in it...oh..and I have even did a roast in it in the oven. This is such a versatile pot and I highly recommend you make this part of your kitchen collection.

Favorite Drama - For Colored Girls.I saw it twice and it was just as compelling. I didn’t know what to expect when going to see this movie, I had heard that it was a play but I had never read or saw anything about this until this movie came out. I loved it.

Favorite Comedy- Date Night...Hillarious!! This was sooooooo funny. I love both Steve Carell and Tina Fey. For all of us parents out there who look forward to date nights can certainly appreciate the spirit of this movie. The funny thing is , we went on a date night last week to Olive Garden and it was soooooo packed that we had to get a number and give the hostess our name so I said, "Tripplehorns" and she died laughing...LOL..so for the rest of the night we were known as the Tripplehorns.

What are a few of your favorite things????

Traditions

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

Tra•di•tion
Webster defines tradition as the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction. Christmas and Thanksgiving in many families are filled with traditions, but in our family we don’t really have any, we just sort of “wing it”. We have had brunch with friends, we have watched Christmas movies, we have gone to the movies, and we have even tried the opening one gift on Christmas eve, usually pajamas or something. I guess the one thing that we have done consistently is to cook the traditional Christmas food, which just happens to be the same thing we eat for Thanksgiving and quite frankly I get burned out on dressing, turkey, ham etc and not really looking forward to eating it all again on Christmas.
Well, this year my family and I have been discussing new traditions to start in our family that can be passed down to my grands and great grands and so on. Right now we are sort of thinking about getting a new pair of pajamas on Christmas eve and then watch movies and eat cookies ,milk, eggnog, or hot chocolate, and instead of the traditional dinner we are going to have a BIG breakfast, waffles with different toppings, eggs, bacon, sausage, orange juice etc. Then we will go to a movie on that night.
What are your families traditions, are sticking with the old or are you coming up with new ones for you and your family?

Small Beginnings

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin… (Zechariah 4: 10a)

I know this is a late post but because I was so bogged down with school and other things I just haven’t had time to blog or do much of anything else for that matter. I am taking advantage of this time off to catch up! But anywho.
On the weekend after Veterans Day our family took a trip up to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to visit the African American Military Museum. This museum is really an old USO building that was built back in 1942 in the segregated army of World War II. The USO much like the ones today was like a home away from home for many African American soldiers that were stationed at the nearby Camp Shelby. This building is the only remaining USO constructed for African American soldiers in public use in the United States. It is now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and is a Mississippi Landmark!
The African American presence in the military over the years had a small beginning but the early “volunteers” didn’t let anything deter them. Their sacrifices made it possible for ALL to serve and be treated equally in the Armed Forces.