Locks of Love...

For the first time in my 23.5 year life, I have kept a New Year's resolution... After growing my hair out since last June, I finally had enough hair to donate to Locks of Love...

Although my hair was much longer than I prefer (shoulder length-ish is optimal) I had some reservations about chopping my hair so short... some of you may remember the fiasco that was my hair freshman year of high school... I have no desire to be continually mistaken for a boy again... BUT my hair was too the point that it was getting hard to manage and I wasn't going to go through another long, hot, humid summer of blow-drying such long hair, so like ripping off a Band-Aid... I chopped my hair... Well, not me personally... I had it chopped by Kyla at Salon West (I highly recommend her.)

Kara helped straighten my hair and take the photographs for our station website... and gave me constant reassurances, so "Vielen dank, meine besten Schwester!"

I still feel a little like a page boy (where are my knickers and knee socks?) and I feel like my short hair makes me look even younger than I already get mistaken for, but nothing can top the feeling of actually keeping my New Year's resolution and representing the red headed minority!

...It's you're turn next, Alyssa...

Visit: Locks of Love to find out how you can donate... They will actually take hair as short as 6 inches and sell it at fair market value to offset their own wig-making costs...

You Are Not an Accident...

I have just started re-reading (sort of) "The Purpose-Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For" by Rick Warren. We were supposed to read it for RA training back in 2004, but I think I only went through the first 5 mandatory chapters... I find it is hard for me to get into reading something I may ordinarily have enjoyed, just because I know I have to read it... Well, I am at a different place in my life now and I've decided to give the book another try... I am on my second day (there is one reading a day for 40 days) and the Point to Ponder was: "I am not an Accident." Part of the reading included this untitled poem that I want to share, written by Russell Kelfer:

"You are who you are for a reason.
You're part of an intricate plan.
You're a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God's special woman or man.

"You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
You're just what he wanted to make.

"The parents you had were the ones he chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They are custom-designed with God's plan in mind,
And they bear the Master's seal.

"No, that trauma you faced was not easy,
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into his likeness you'd grow.

"You are who you are for a reason,
You've been formed by the Master's rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!"

Anyone who knows about my broken and patched together family, or about the loss of my best friend, or about losing my aunt and uncle, will be able to see why this poem touched me, but I hope it will touch others too. It makes me think of the songs "Praise You In This Storm" by Casting Crowns, and "Bless The Broken Road" by Selah or Rascal Flatts (take your pick) and just how even tough stuff can be worked into something good. I may sometimes think that I would be better off if I hadn't had to go through some pretty rough times, but if I hadn't gone through those rough times, I wouldn't be who I am today, or where I am today, so I have to remember to be thankful, even when I am sad or upset...

New Year's Resolution...

So I don't really believe in making New Year's resolutions because I think if there is something you want to change about yourself you should just do it and not wait for the new year or make it a resolution so if you fail you will feel you've broken some kind of promise to yourself... BUT this year I decided to make one...

I have always wanted to donate hair to "Locks of Love" because, well, not to be vain, but I think I have really nice hair, color-wise. I have seen other natural redheads with some pretty funky shades. Only 4% of the world population even carries the recessive gene for red hair, and that's not to say they will pass it along to their offspring at the same moment the other parent, who must also carry the recessive gene, passes it along. So there are even less people who actually have red hair and even less of those who donate their hair to a cause like "Locks of Love." And, if I had cancer or another condition resulting in baldness, I cannot imagine having a wig any color other than red... plus, as I just mentioned, there are some funky shades of natural red floating around out there...

You need to have a minimum of 10 inches to donate to "Locks of Love" and I have about 7 inches past the length I will be eventually chopping my hair to. I have decided to continue growing my hair until I go home for Memorial Day weekend because I really trust Kyla, my stylist in Stevens Point, and if I am going to be making such a drastic length change, I want someone I trust to be operating the scissors!The reason for writing my resolution here is because I seriously lack patience (especially when blow drying my hair) and my hair is already getting longer than I care for. I figure that if I write my resolution somewhere other people will see it, I will be less likely to back out, so look for photos of my new, shorter hair after Memorial Day!

Thankfulness...

Stuff I'm thankful for:

1) My family. I know that sounds generic and is a cop-out answer for a lot of people who can't think of something else to be thankful for, but my family was not always so happy, so I really am thankful that God took two broken homes and brought us together to be happier than we ever were before. I was never this happy when my parents were together, and even though I was happier when they split up and it was just Mom, Kara and me, I was never this happy. Our family is so tight now, it is hard to believe we weren't always together and happy and I love all my step-siblings like they were flesh and blood. So I'm really thankful for my family!

2) I'm thankful for surprises. Even though I hate being surprised and not knowing what the future holds, I know that some surprises are good ones. I don't know what this next year holds. I'm sure there will be some times where I will be beyond frustrated, but there will also be some awesome times, and I know it will all work out in the end. This time last year I never could have imagined I'd be where I am now. Working in radio and earning an MBA were not even at the bottom of my list of things to do, but now I can't imagine being anywhere else. I'll never understand that, so I'm not even going to try. I'll just trust that God will take care of me and my family for another year, so that at Thanksgiving next year I'll be giving thanks for blessings I never expected!

3) I'm thankful for friends. Not just friendly aquaintences, but real friends. The kind where it doesn't matter if the last time you talked to them was yesterday or a year ago, you can still pick up where you left off and chat like nothing's changed. The kind you know you can always count on to listen when you need to spill your guts, to offer sound advice when you're stressing out, to be empathetic when you're bummed, and to never judge you when you make mistakes. Everyone deserves at least one of these friends. I have been blessed with several.

4) I know it sounds cheesy, but I'm thankful for Culver's. In a world where everyone wants everything right away and customer service is waning and bosses are only interested in making a buck, I'm truly thankful for a food service establishment that doesn't bend to follow the trends of food service, but maintains its integrity and puts quality and customer service first, and is truly concerned with the wellbeing of its employees! I'm not joking about this. If every business owner had the values and mindset of the Culvers, America would be much less corrupt.

Mimicry is the Sincerest Form of Flattery...

My boss at Brew Crew hooked me up with 4 sweet field level tickets right behind the home dugout for the Brewer game on September 22. However, my entire family was coming to the game on the 23rd to celebrate the twins' birthday, so no one wanted to come with me on Friday. Then my roommate and I decided it would be fun to give them to our two pastors and their wives, and offer to baby-sit their children (6 total and all 5 and under...)

We had a super-fun time watching my stash of VeggieTales, Cinderella, Winnie The Pooh, making a Bob & Larry cake, coloring, reading, and playing "zoo animals"... The oldest girl, Kaylee, even made us cute rings out of beads she'd gotten for her birthday (which I lost two days later :(

Anyways, the next week at church one of the pastor's wives came up to me and told me the kids still talk about how much fun they had and, "Kate did this," or "Kate said that," and when Kaylee and Chloe are playing they even pretend they are "Kate" and "Jackie!" Now if that is not the cutest thing you've ever heard, you must be heartless...