I was sitting in choir class in 6th grade, bored. Really bored. So, I started playing with my hair. For some reason I decided right then and there to take out my ponytail and figure out how to french braid my own hair. I'm not real sure what it looked like in the back when I put a twisty on the bottom of it, but I remember feeling quite proud of myself at the end of class.
And that's pretty much how it started...a love of braiding hair. My mom had been braiding my hair before this tender age of 11, but from then on pretty much, I took over. As you can see in the photos above, I even decided to teach others how to braid hair by writing a paper on it for English class. This was one of the treasures I found while searching through all of my old papers and scrapbooks. I'm not sure what the fascination is with braiding, but I really do enjoy it. Seeing strands of hair being developed into a beautiful pattern and tied off at the end feels like a nice accomplishment.
When Lily was born I was so excited to have a girl who had hair I could braid. Her hair as a toddler was so thin and fine that braiding rarely worked, but I knew a day would come since Micah and my hair are both thick, thick, thick. This is the first french braid I tried to put into her hair...it didn't stay for long because her hair was still so thin.
Over the years, however, it has thickened up just as I suspected, and now we can really have fun with her braids.
Little did I know at age 11, this learned trait in 6th grade choir class would one day be extremely beneficial...not completely for my daughter, Lily's hair, but for another little daughter I had no idea God would bless us with.
Nora's hair will undoubtedly give me plenty of times to perfect my love of braiding! In fact, I'm a bit nervous about how much braiding I will have to do with her sweet little head. 4 hour braiding sessions will become a norm...I still can't even wrap my brain around sitting for 4 hours working on her hair. I have been reading up on products, styles, how-to's, and don't- do's ever since we found our beautiful Haitian gem, but I still don't feel like I have a clue how to create those beautiful braids on her head. Perhaps if I could actually get my hands on her beautiful black curls that would help. : )
Until then, I will continue to practice braiding on Lily, I guess. She doesn't see to mind...
Who knew a love of braiding could become so valuable later in life! Who knew my strange desire to have my hair corn-row braided as a high school student would actually be a precursor to a life-time of corn-row braids on my very own child. Well, I guess I do know...God knew and He uses everything for good, doesn't He?!?
You'll do just fine on Nora's hair. You've obviously already had lots of practice... it is different, but braiding is braiding. I like how God used even this to confirm His hand is in Nora's adoption.
ReplyDelete