Letting your beauty shine through

I dreamed big as a young girl.  My best friend and I had our sites set on being fashion designers in New York City.  We sewed some killer skirts for 4-H projects (think pillow case with an elastic band on one end), and I’m pretty sure the judge at the fair convinced me to pursue other alternatives. 


As hard as I tried (and still try today), I can only ever get my look 80% right.  Curly hair and thick eyebrows were my nemesis as a teenager, not to mention that JC Penney’s was the best shopping in my small Iowa town.  Now I can’t justify dolling out the dollars that my fashion taste demands.  J.Crew is bargain shopping for our First Lady, but unfortunately not for me.  And then there’s the time factor.  I used to stop off at the mall every week after work, trolling for sales and keeping tabs on fashion trends. 


Now I have to be feeling especially desperate or dumb to take my brood of three boys under five to the mall.  If I can manage to gather items and make it to the dressing room, the fun barrage of questions surely finishes me off.  “Mommy, why is your tummy all squishy?”  “Mommy, do you have a penis?”  If only Gap had soundproof walls in their dressing rooms!

 

Neither being a big name designer, nor having a closet full of designer clothes were part of God’s plan for me.  But God made me in His image (curly hair, thick eyebrows and all), so I take pride in how I dress and care for myself.  We should each feel good about how we look every day. 


This statement has meant different things during different seasons of my life.  Post twins, my goal was to shower, do my five-minute make-up routine, and throw on a fun scarf to draw attention away from my deformed mid-section.  Somehow life seems busier now than in the baby stage, but keeping my eyebrows plucked and applying a tinted moisturizer with SPF and some serious under eye concealer must happen…seriously, I would not leave my burning house without having first completed these steps!  No matter how busy or how not into fashion you are, take the time to do one extra thing as you get ready today.  Something that will make you feel special and shine from the inside out.  Apply that lipgloss, or put on a pair of earrings.  Take pride in the woman God made you to be!

Lessons from a County Fair

We’re back in Iowa for our annual summer visit.  Given that Kenny is going to Kindergarten and our school district sees fit to start classes on the ridiculously early date of August 11 (insert adult tantrum here), we had to move the summer visit up by two weeks.  I was so disappointed to miss the world renown Iowa State Fair (it really should be on EVERYONE’S bucket list:-).  BUT, my consolation prize was being back for the county fair.  I was raised in farm country in the smack-dab middle of Iowa. 

 Growing up, the closest Target was 20 minutes away (driving at highway speeds), and the closest Gap was one-hour’s drive (guess who grew up thinking JC Penney’s was the cat’s meow!?).  Needless to say, the county fair was a big deal during my formative years.  My best friends and I were members of the Luther Livewires 4-H club, and county fair was not only a place to showcase our hard work and talents, but it also gave us a place to socialize all day every day for five days in a row!  This probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to kids who grew up in town.  You were either a walk or bike ride away from the hottest social gathering…..not so for us country kids.  We had to BEG our parents to drive us miles on gravel roads to our friends’ houses.  A horrible little bi-product of this was that the friends and activities had to be parental approved.  Ugh--the horror!  The five days of fair were unsupervised bliss.  We could watch livestock shows to our heart’s content, stroll through the livestock barns, and pick apart the decorating theme of rival 4-H clubs’ display booths.  (Yes, I’m starting to see why our usually overprotective parents gave us free reign!).  The summer after my junior year of high school, I was crowned fair queen and had the privilege of reigning over this glorious kingdom. 

 So Saturday was the big day…prodigal fair queen returns home.  There was excitement in my voice as I asked the boys what they wanted to do first.  And then there was annoyance when I realized my husband and sons were bored after just one hour!  Thanks to the ice cream stand and a magic show we clocked a whopping three hours at the fair.  (And I’ll be the first to admit that I was ready to leave too!) 

 What happened to my magical little kingdom of fun and freedom?  The fair was actually better now than it was twenty years ago, so why wasn’t I begging to stay for the long haul?  My world has certainly changed since then.  If only life was so simple and straight forward.  The worst I could do then was a red ribbon, given out ever-so sparingly by the judges.  Now there are doctor’s appointments, mortgage payments, and a Facebook feed that I just can’t seem to keep up with!  Seriously though, it was a reminder to stop and smell the roses.  Just a simple flower I encounter on a walk should bring me joy.  But our society has become so over-stimulated, that we expect a Disney-type experience every day.  The county fair was my reminder for the day that we can find joy in any circumstance God places us.  So I’m going to find joy in my everyday flowers (or livestock barns). 

The Universal Language of Bubbles

We’re a go-go family, hiking, playing at parks, swimming.  By the end of summer (who am I kidding, by two weeks into summer), I’m feeling like a cruise director…planning one fun activity after another.  Of course all of these fun activities revolve around bringing glee to my children.  After all, we live in one of the richest counties in the nation.  The biggest problem faced by me and my peers is not getting into a premiere vacation bible school program (not really, but you get the idea).  So it should come as no surprise that reading the book Seven by Jen Hatmaker has rocked my happy little boat a bit.  It’s hard to be horrified by someone accidentally taking my son’s navy blue Crocs at the splash pad (picture navy blue Crocs everywhere!) when I have two more pairs his size at home and a Burmese refugee child in Denver is wearing his one pair of holey shoes (and not the kind you wear to church).  

Over the last two weeks a group of women and I have completed the Clothing and Possessions chapters of the book together.  We purged enough stuff to outfit multiple families.  Our fearless leader found an organization who worked directly with refugees and so I found myself hauling an SUV full of excess along with my mother-in-law and three boys to the other side of the tracks so to speak.  

We arrived at the church that served as the organization’s meeting place a bit early.  The building had yet to be unlocked, and our liaison had yet to arrive, but a group of Burmese children stood around the building waiting and beyond excited by our arrival.  We gingerly exited our caravan of goodwill.  A few introductions were made by the bravest of our group, but there was a general feeling of awkwardness…..until one smart mama who goes nowhere without bubbles took action (we Highlands Ranch moms know how to rollJ).  Suddenly, the language barrier was broken as bubbles started to float through the air.  Children of different native tongues found a common language as they popped bubbles with glee, unaware of how different their lives were.  We worked together as one big team to unload the cars and organize all the excess in the church basement.  Then my family loaded up in our shiny white car and drove off….to the science museum of course (How could I deprive them of their daily glee?).  

I think the experience left a bigger imprint on me than my boys.  I’m left with the realization of how important it is to cross barriers and serve those in need as part of our everyday life.  I want my boys to feel comfortable around all people, not just those that have a similar lifestyle.  Adjusting my cruise schedule and stocking up on bubbles might be the key to making this realization a reality.  (And being shown up by a more prepared-for-fun mama is only a small part of my motivation;-).