The Hair Salon

This was written by my Martha Stewart friend Heidi Jo Keranen. I'm kidding, but they came over for dinner last night and after we ate she got out her sewing. So I felt a little unmotivated just eating pie. Also, she was an english major in college so I added in a few misspelled words and typos so she wouldn't make me look bad! Enjoy!

The Hair Salon
by Heidi Jo

Today has been a rough day. The kind of day where I know people think I’m crazy and I start to wonder if they’re right. You see, I just got back from the hair salon with my four little ones. While I got my hair cut, my three 4 year olds ran back and forth between the glass shelves neatly stacked with shampoos (an accident waiting to happen for sure) and my 16 month old added to the atmosphere by screaming in his stroller. By the very end of my appointment things had improved. The older three were bribed into good behavior by a handful of suckers, and my baby was happily nursing under my salon cape. However, I’m sure everyone breathed a sigh of relief when we left. My hair stylist actually said, “I’m cutting it really short this time, so you don’t have to come back for awhile.”

On top of this, I got “the call” yesterday. The adoption agency we have been working with let us know that we have been chosen by a birth mom for a baby due at the end of October. If all goes according to plan, in three months I will have five little ones to take to the hair salon! I must admit that that prospect fills me with a slight sense of panic, but my excitement overshadows that. Just think, states away, a little baby is growing, wiggling, and sucking its thumb in the womb of a woman I know virtually nothing about. Only God knows if this little stranger will become my child-one whose voice, face, and characteristics will become as familiar to me as my own.

Adoption is hard. It requires every bit of faith I have and a complete yielding to God. I’ve gone through this before. My husband and I adopted our twin girls 3 and a half years ago. This time I’m more prepared for the uncertainty and the waiting, but I still find myself wanting to give God advice. “Lord, do you realize that this October due date is really convenient for us. Make this work ok?” Adoption is also easy. I already know that our next child will bring our family joy. We will laugh at her jokes and feel proud of her accomplishments. We will rejoice in the way God has brought us together as a family.

Sure, life would be hectic with 5 kids five and under. There will certainly be people who will think we are crazy. I may be one of them some of the time, but I know the benefits outweigh the hardships. My children have taught me the need to rely on God daily, to trust Him with my life even when it feels scary, and to let a lot of the little things go. Everyday I spend with them is an opportunity to mirror back those lessons. Before we dig into our peanut butter and jelly at lunchtime, I often thank God for the opportunity to spend the day with these little people whom I love with a depth I didn’t know existed before motherhood.

So today I pray, “Dear God, if 3 months from now I face the prospect of bringing 5 children to the hair salon, help me see it for what it is: a temporary inconvenience in a life filled with the blessing of children. Then help me find a babysitter!"