It's True....

I am LOVED!

I was the recipient of an amazing gift today. I got my hair cut and highlighted! I feel more beautiful today than I have felt for months now. For one, I have not had my hair cut in 9 months. "My roots" have definitely grown out and I had lots of split ends. In addition to that, I just haven't fully returned to myself after having had my 2nd baby. I still have some weight to lose from having my sweet Faith. And all the clothes I have are literally falling apart (from not buying much of anything while being over here), my suitcase is going to be pretty empty upon our return back to the US. As I type this, I'm actually wearing one of two pairs of jeans that fit me (hopefully this is just temporary), and they have a hole in the knee! I wish I were exaggerating, I sincerely do, but its true. Its often hard being the "wife of a poor graduate student", but the rewards are even richer, and today I experienced that.

Both my friend Kristin and Brad made so many sacrifices for me today and it all was voluntary! I didn't ask them to do any of what they did for me. Background to this story is, it is extremely expensive to get your hair done in Cambridge. The only American woman I know whose husband is a graduate student here and has two children only gets her hair cut once a year. She chops it as a short as she possibly can (right below her ear) and then lets it grow for the whole year, before doing it again. The city of Cambridge is especially expensive, it is notoriously as expensive as London, whereas some of the towns in the outskirts of Cambridge are more reasonably priced. But of course, we don't have a car, nor do we have any money. So I have tried to convince Brad to cut my hair, but he was scared to death to do it! And I didn't feel qualified to do it on MYSELF! I even went into a barber shop and tried to convince the lady who was there to cut my hair. They have a student's special for 11 GBP ($22) during the week to have your hair cut and it is the best deal you can find in town. The lady very kindly refused to do it and said I would need to go to a salon. :( It was quite an embarrassing moment for me, but I admittedly was a little scared to have Brad do it, and I just couldn't justify paying $50 to have a hair cut (nothing more) at a salon. So I was a little stuck! :(

Kristin knew that I had been "a bit annoyed" with my hair/ hair situation (LOL-- that's an understatement)! So Kristin surprised me and made me an appt for me to have my hair done (a month in advance) at really nice salon close to her house (in the outskirts of Cambridge). She told me about it advance and said she wanted to pay for me to have my hair hair-lighted, as well as babysit the girls for me while I had it done. I told her that was incredibly nice of her, and I told her I would definitely take her up on babysitting the girls, but that was plenty of a gift in itself! So we dropped the issue (or I thought we had), but today when we arrived I discovered she had pre-paid for it. What a surprise that was for me!

My sweet hubby paid for the hair cut! And guess how much it was??? 11.50 GBP! (Don't worry, I gave her a tip too). And this was at a real salon (not a barber-shop), where I was offered tea! And the lady who cut my hair was super nice too. I really prayed that God would use me as a witness of Christ's love. She was amazed by the gift of friendship I had in Kristin. She asked me where we had met and I told her church, which was an awesome opportunity for me to share about our Christ-centered church and the love that the Body of Believers have for one another. :)

There was also another surprise for me, Brad baby sat Jillian for me! I always get concerned about Jillian in the car, she throws up nearly every time we get into a moving vehicle. And I tell you, it is not very "relaxing" to hold up a barf bag up to your daughter's mouth as she vomits and then clean it up with wet wipes! I find it very stressful and I don't like that Jillian is so uncomfortable. So I wasn't exactly looking forward to that part of the day. So Brad volunteered to come home and spend the afternoon with Jillian. Yesterday, he worked from 5:45 AM to 8 PM at night, so he could be at home in the afternoon. I am SO LOVED!!! Thank you Kristin and Brad.

Oh one more thing...I had the BEST chicken salad tonight for dinner! Yum Yum!!! And I am so thankful that Faith had such a good time with Kristin, Eli, and Soraya today! Thank you Kristin! :)

Pictures are to come...