flat iron...

This past Wednesday we did a first.

As we started to head out to the pool the clouds rolled in, and it began to thunder. The kids were in complete disappointment! With pouty lips, all the kids grabbed their towels and slowly walked back into the house. 

Normally I would make this a stay home movie day, but instead, I did the unthinkable! 

"Hey guys, let's go to the mall!" 

This truly is the unthinkable because I really do not like the mall! Really, I do not like shopping of any kind and going to the mall just gets me all tense and stressed feeling!! However, trying to not think only of my sanity, the kids climbed into the car and we headed off down the highway. We live about 20 minutes away and it was raining cats and dogs so it took us a little longer. 

On our way there, I hear a low small voice say, "mom, what is the mall?" 

Oh My Goodness, this just turned a mall trip into a FIRST for our China loves!! Whooo! All of a sudden I got so excited and pumped to go to MALL...

As the siblings chimed in and started telling their brothers about the mall, I started mentally preparing for the pre-mall pep talk. 

"No crying, No whining, No begging for crap, and No moody faces"

As we park, I verbalize the game plan: We are here to buy a build-a-bear for "J" (our Filipino love who will be here July 2nd) and we will walk the mall and if you see something you like, you can use your money to buy it... within reason! 

So off we went into the double doors. We walked through every store imaginable. Small purchases were made here and there of keychains, toy planes, hand sanitizer, mall pretzels and cookies. We headed to Build-a-bear to make "J" a bear.

 As we are right in front of the entry to the store, a young man working at the "Hair Flat iron kiosk" starts chatting away with his smooth sales talk, starts brushing my hair as I am in mid walk, and he is talking about "ion-ceramic-100%-no friz-smooth and silky....." all the while some how starts flat ironing my hair... I mean the skills the man has AND for crying out loud how long is the cord on this thing?!?! I am still trying to walk away but he has a comb and flat iron going at the same time on my hair! This guy is amazing because, man!/ my hair was looking good! As I made my way actually up to the kiosk to check my hair out in the mirror, he is still talking away and I start hearing numbers at this point... Only $289.00, and before I could even say anything he had already dropped the price $100.00 and complimented me on how cute my kids were! Seriously??? This young (24 y/o) man with some kind of accent was fantastic!! Lol!  I am just sort of looking at him like, who is this and how in the world have you straighten and curled my hair and then re-straightened it in this short amount of time and yet I have not said anything and He already gave me the, "I'll tell you what I am going to do for you today ma'am.." speech and dropped the price yet another $100.00! 

So, in case you're not great at math, the price now is $89.00 for this "best in the world flat iron...

I politely cut him off as he is still giving me his sales pitch and tell him, 

"thank you for making my hair look great on this rainy day, but no thank you."

He looks around at my kids again and actually says, " are all these yours?" Used to this question as we are a pretty obvious adoption family, I said "yes they are, and actually we are headed (pointing at the build a bear) to go make a build a bear for our host child coming from the Philippines July 2nd."

The guy actually stops talking, gets a little teary... Starts telling me he and his wife are planning on adopting after they finish school. He then goes on to DROP the price of the flat iron to $69.00! 

What happens next, was completely unexpected and caught me so off guard I could not speak for the remainder of our time in front of the kiosk...

At the time the sales guy had said $69.00 (and btw, I had no intention of purchasing a flat iron, I don't use one and just simply had no interest in it) Aaron, our thirteen year old son, already had his wallet opened and handed this man $60.00 dollars cash and said, "mom, I want you to have this. Your hair looks so nice and I want to buy it for you." (Do you understand why I could not talk???) I was taken so off guard, I started sobbing! The sales guy was caught so off guard that he took Aaron's money then took out HIS OWN wallet and swiped his debit card to pay for the rest of the purchase!!! He then takes a SELFIE with me and the kids and sends it to his wife!!!

I CAN NOT make this stuff up!!!! 

I finally pull myself together and thank the man and then just hugged all over Aaron, still crying, and telling him that, that was the most selfless thing EVER!!!

Willy and Gary are misty eyed, Becca is excited to use this flat iron and JJ asked, "mom can I touch your hair?"

W-O-W!!! My kids blow my mind!! 

And it doesn't stop there....

We make it to build a bear, make the bear, name it, fluff it, give it a heart, and make the birth certificate. 

We go to pay. As I get my wallet out of my purse, an arm comes flying over my shoulder and a card is swiped in the little swipe machine! WILLY, used his own debit card and paid for the bear for "J"!!!!!!!!!! 

What is going on here??? 

I of course give him love and thank him for his generosity! 

THEN Becca wants to get her ears double pierced. I say sure so we headed to Clair's. 

Rebecca got all ready. I filled out the paperwork and she picks out her sparkly earrings and then 1-2-3, she was done. She looks beautiful, btw!! 

We walked to the counter to pay and like before the arm comes flying over my shoulder and pays for Rebecca's earrings and the cost of piercing!!!  ($54.00) 

I turned to Willy and say, "why are you doing this... It's awesome but why?" His reply, "love is bigger than money."

Gary also had purchased his little sister some hair bows!

And again I was crying so many "happy tears" that the lady at Clair's gave me a box of tissues! 

The kids were laughing at me and said, "mom, you said no crying at the mall!"

"Happiness is caused by things that happen around me, and circumstances will 

mar it; but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; 

joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through 

persecution and opposition.

It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the 

heart; a secret spring the world can't see and doesn't know anything about.

The Lord gives his people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him."

-D.L. Moody

Oh!  That our joy would be perpetual and not merely a fleeting moment!  

Father, flow through our children so that only your Son is seen, and love immensely overflows.

lightning and rainbows

Yesterday late afternoon/early evening time the heavens opened up and down poured huge rain and a spectacular lightning show.  It was loud and like all good thunderstorms came forth fast and made its appearance and force known.  The thunder it brought was booming and you could feel it in your soul. 
None of our children like thunderstorms.  They all run when they hear the lightning crack and scream when the thunder hits. Even the older boys, there is no shame... they find the nearest blankets and cover themselves up as if being wrapped up in grandma's quilt will protect them, and in its own way it does... it brings comfort.

There was another storm yesterday.  It began around four PM. This storm came up with vengeance and unleashed a world of hurt.  This storm started in the heart of one of our loves.  You could tell it had been brewing for some time and it decided to show it's face yesterday evening.  It was loud, it was furious, it was wicked.  The words that were spoken were adorn with knives to tear and make the heart bleed... On the receiving end of those well aimed words came the defense attack.  First the defense was soft spoken and calm and it eventually escalated to loud booming rolls of thunder. Then there was hurt that hurts so bad that penetrates your entire being and you become paralyzed. Paralyzed to the point that you have exhausted all options and ways you know of parenting.  You have pulled every tool out of every book and you simply don't know what to do!
"Hurt people, hurt people" but why does it have to hurt so bad????

As the evening went on and it was well past normal dinner time hours, we somehow were capable of getting all children in the car... the storm was still raging on in our home and it was still raging on outside.  We needed to change scenery, we needed to get out of our home, we all needed some fresh air, even if it was in the van, driving in the down pouring rain, on our way to "chicken nugget" aka Chick-fil-a.  

As we road along, the wrath of battling words had hushed... it was like we were entering the eye of the storm. (hey, at least that is a midway point and this mess can come to an end soon, right?? just tryin' to stay positive)
And in the midst of the silence was a plea,  "God, just crash me with lightning."
There was a giving up, there was a letting go.  It was not a suicidal threat but a letting go of trying to hold on to a defiant, stubborn self...

Do you want to know what is so AMAZING?? Ok, here it is:  Up until that moment in time, it was all fury outside.  Lighting crashing, thunder rolling, and down pouring of rain, until that moment our son was battling inside and out... then came his plea to God.... AND GOD ANSWERED.... BELOW IS THE PICTURE OF HIS ANSWER!!!

How amazing is our GOD!!  When we ask for destruction (God, just crash me with lightning.) He brings the beauty of HIS promise!!!

Genesis 9:8-17

⁸ Then God told Noah and his sons, ^9-11 “I solemnly promise you and your children^[a] and the animals you brought with you—all these birds and cattle and wild animals—that I will never again send another flood to destroy the earth. ¹² And I seal this promise with this sign: ¹³ I have placed my rainbow in the clouds as a sign of my promise until the end of time, to you and to all the earth. ¹⁴ When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will remember my promise to you and to every being, that never again will the floods come and destroy all life. ^16-17 For I will see the rainbow in the cloud and remember my eternal promise to every living being on the earth.”

 

This rainbow was seen by all who live in our surrounding town. On Facebook last night the newsfeed was swamped with pictures of this magnificent sight. The beauty of its vibrant colors and it shown in an incredible red/pink sky. It was for all to see but it was the answer to our son's plea. The timing was perfect as God's timing always is. Not only was this rainbow flooding our son with hope of healing and no more destruction it was also the first rainbow his eyes had ever seen in his 14 years of life. 

I am done, but God is not, and that is exactaly where He wants us.