Face painting, ocean adventures, rescued miners

The past few days have been have been very interesting.  I think my emotions have been all over the map.  On Tuesday morning I woke up with a heavy heart because I knew my son was at that moment on a jet plane headed to Florida.  I've been a mom for over 36 years and it is the first time one of my children has moved so far away.  Seriously, I don't know how my mom does it with two of her girls living back east.

Since Monday was a holiday, I was able to take Tuesday off as my flex day.  Feeling as down in the dumps as I did, I felt the first thing I needed to do was head to the beauty salon and get a cut and color.  I was sick of the gray and it was getting to a point that I had to use the curling iron every morning to straighten in and curl it the way I wanted it to go.  It would take me about 15-20 minutes each morning to do my hair.  So I told the girl to cut it in a way that would take me no time to get ready.  I also told her I'd like her to color it brown with some red highlights. This first picture is what my hair looked like last time I got it done in January.  The second picture is what we ended up with this time...

I was a bid shocked, to say the least.  The gal (very young gal, I might add), told me to give it a chance.  She tried to style it, but my natural curl wasn't going to have any of what she tried to do.  So when I got home, I sprayed it with water and let it do it's own thing. 

I've had a lot of compliments on it, but it definitely wasn't what I was going for.  HOWEVER, being that it took me all of one minute to do my hair this morning....I think I can live with it.

Anyway...at the time, after leaving the hair salon, I was pretty upset.  Instead of cheering me up, it made me feel worse. 

I had told my daughter the day before, that I would pick Lilly up from school and bring her home.  Since I was feeling so down in the dumps though, I decided to bring her home to my house for a while.  She is a funny kid and knows how to make her Nana laugh.  I am so glad I did! 

Her first words were "OH Nana, I LOVE your hair!  It's so Be-u-ti-ful!"  After we got back to my house we snugggled for a little bit while watching "Hello Kitty."  It was putting her to sleep so she asked me if I would paint her face.  We got on my computer and looked at face paintings to see what she'd like. 

Of course she wanted a butterfly.  She loves butterflies!  But she also wanted something else.  After looking at several pictures, she finally decided on a strawberry.

It was my first attempt at a strawberry, but I was pretty happy with the results.  (So was she!)  Then she and I went through the butterfly pictures on my computer.  She picked out some really awesome ones.  She especially liked the ones where the wings were on both sides of the face.   I'm glad she thinks I'm so talented, but I'm really not.  So we finally decided on one to just go over her cheek.

I think with some practice, I may get the hang of it.  However, it would have been a whole lot easier if she hadn't been yawning the whole time.  Having a cousin spend the night on a school night probably wasn't the best idea as she was very tired the next day!

After the face painting, Lilly helped me get dinner ready.  Since the weather was a little cooler, we decided to have dinner out on the patio.  I convinced her to try peas (something she said she hates), and after a bit of coaxing, she took a bite.  It was a hoot to watch the expression on her face when she realized they tasted pretty good!  "Oh Nana, peas are as good as corn!"  Her mom will never make them though...she hates peas.

After dinner I took her home.  I was feeling a whole lot better.  Still missing my boy, but at least not as sad.  That is, until he started posting pictures...

I'm not sure which is worse...the fact that I miss my boy and hate that he is gone...or that I am jealous that he is there!  Oh how I do envy him.  He is able to pack up his life and start all over again.  Wouldn't we all love to do that!  However, for whatever reason, this is where God has me, and I need to learn to be content in whatever situation God places me in.

  But I sure hope he doesn't fall in love with Florida and stay there for good!  Having one son on the east coast, and another one the west coast...well, what can I say.  A mama needs her boys!  Whose gonna take care of me when I'm old and feeble? ;-)

Yesterday I had MSNBC on my computer.  I watched the live stream of the miners being rescued.  I think the sweetest sound I heard yesterday was the sound of the siren that went off right before each miner would come through the earth.  Can you imagine spending 10 weeks trapped like that?  And they still came out all smiles and jubilant!  The tears of joy and happiness on their families faces were a sight to behold.  It sure changes one's perspective on their own little problems.  (Although I am guessing there is one miner who has another hole he is going to have to dig himself out of now that he's home!)  But to see all those people work together from all around the world (the drill was made right here in the USA), was so heartwarming.  And I am so glad the Chilean government agreed to film it live.  It was a blessing to be able to share in their joy.

This morning I woke up feeling a little better about life.  I know God is still sitting on the throne and He still has His hand on me.  He is indeed good!

Be blessed,

Sue