Hair Conundrum

I had a few stressful moments this week totally related to hair. Sounds ridiculous, right? I have an entirely new respect for African American women who wear their hair natural. As a foster mom, it is important to me that our kiddo knows that she is well cared for and that others can tell this as well. For a preteen girl, this includes having cute hair, so I am determined to learn and get this right!

For the first few months, we had microbraids- recommended to us by an African American woman. The braids were pretty, but expensive ($220!! and another $50 to get taken out) and also a little rough on her hair. Upon taking them out, I got nervous. So I dutifully signed up for the "ethnic hair care class" offered by Children's Division. The teacher of the class was very informative. I took copious notes while casting my fear of looking stupid to the wind and asking lots of questions much to the entertainment of the others in the class. Jimmy's comment was "I learned one thing. This is really complicated." The class focused on natural hair care and not getting hair relaxed to avoid chemicals and to help hair be healthier and grow more. So my initial plan went out the window and we decided to give natural a try. All was well until the first shower when I realized what kind of curly hair we are dealing with. Yikes. So I jumped into action... and we watched the entire movie Slumdog Millionaire while I combed out hair and tried to help her tame her locks.

Thanks to the class and a friend's recommendation of the website Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care I have purchased all of the right products, but I'm still nervous. We are not good at styling and I have to say that the two trips we've made to salons have been a bit intimidating. I'm the only white girl in the room and I'm asking lots of questions. I understand the stylists I'm interacting with may not be used to this dynamic, but I'm trying to communicate "I care about this girl and I want to learn to do this right!" It's just a little annoying when I get the vibe that they don't care to help much! I am not deterred and have been asking for advice from African American women I know and even some I don't know!

Just another learning experience in this foster parenting adventure!

Geography Project HELP

To my friends/family who live out of state... want to make this cute boy's day??

Samuel LOVES getting mail. If you live out of state, this is my plea for you to help us by sending us some! This fall I'm attempting to dabble a bit in some homeschooling stuff with Samuel. I know, I know- I'm a proponent and employee of the public school system. My private school educated husband has heard me defend public school for ten years. However, as it gets closer to Sammy entering school, I have a new perspective. I know class sizes are up in the public schools and that standardized testing is driving curriculum choices like never before. As a teacher/mom, I'm torn. SO, since this is his last year before kindergarten, we're going to give it a try and maybe do it a year or two. Or maybe I'll be frustrated by October and he'll be happily enrolled in public school next fall... we shall see!

All of this to say that I'm working on a little USA geography project for Samuel. If anyone in another state would be willing to send me a postcard or two showcasing famous things from your state (and maybe with a note telling a little bit about where you live), I would be super grateful! If you want us to send you Missouri postcards, we would gladly do so. Contrary to popular belief, Missouri is an interesting place, I promise!

If you are interested and need my address, leave your email in the comments and I'll send it your way. Muchas gracias.

Friday Fun

Two things that made me smile this week....

1) A card from my mom

On the outside the card read "Motherhood. It's not rocket science." and inside said "It's brain surgery on astronauts during a lunar launch while reciting the Declaration of Independence backwards-only with less logic." It made me laugh out loud. Some days, it feels just like that!

2) American Idol concert!

Our whole family (minus Andy) went to the concert last night. This was Samuel's first concert experience. We had watched the whole American Idol season this spring. Samuel and our foster daughter enjoyed the show so it became a weekly family bonding event. The concert ended up being great- lots of talented musicians. Afterwards we heard the contestants were signing autographs so we braved the line and met all of them except for Phillip Phillips (who apparently wasn't feeling well). Our foster daughter was squealing and about passed out (her words!) when she met Joshua Ledet. Samuel liked Colton (he was really intrigued by his spiked hair) and wanted to meet him. I respect Colton for being open about his faith. Samuel was a hit with the contestants- probably because he was the youngest fan and we were the parents who let our four year old stay up until 11 gathering autographs. It was worth it- even Sammy's crankiness today from sleep deprivation! The contestants were all really personable. Such a fabulous night!