Love is in the little things

Thanksgiving is coming soon but for us it will look quite different this year. Ian and the kids are both going to be in school and life will be in full gear. We are planning to celebrate the holiday on Saturday with our American friends here. We’ve been warned from others that “it just doesn’t feel the same.” Even as we’ve talked to friends from home who are traveling to their families we’re reminded that it’s gonna be tough. We are foreigners.

I really love Thanksgiving, and we’ve been trying to remember it by incorporating intentional thanks throughout this month. In light of that, today I had an idea for the blog, maybe something that will inspire me to write a few days this week and it’s to tell you about 1 thing in the day that I’m thankful for.

Today I’m thankful for black hair care products :-). One of the first things I thought about when we were coming to Germany was where in the world I’d get my hair done. I’ve been relaxing my hair for as long as I can remember and I decided to just keep it up once we arrived. A friend of mine from home researched a place on line and I went in for my first hair appointment a couple months after we arrived. All was going well until I got the bill. It was a big huge hit in the gut and I knew that I’d have to make some changes to maintain my hair. We tried little things like me cutting the boys’ and Ian’s hair to save, but even with that it has just become too much. So, I decided to grow my hair out to it’s natural state and it has been quite the process. One of the major obstacles to this process is finding the right products that are best suited for my hair. I’ve had a few- ahem… moments over my hair lately and I’ve really been so bummed about it. To the point of dreaming of a secret trip to the US just to take care of my hair (record screech here) ummm no. There have been many times when I’ve prayed about it because I believe that as one of His children He cares about the things that I care about. Even my hair.

Last month I saw a lady of African decent in H&M and I struck up a conversation with her. I asked her if she knew of a place where I could buy products for my hair. She gave me a foggy description of where it was located but she didn’t know the name of it. I then tried to Google it and that came up pretty much void. Today, however, I loaded up Asher and headed into downtown Augsburg in search of this shop. Augsburg is not too big and she mentioned the Bahnhof and a bank so…we just went with it.

And…we found it! “Afro Collection Beauty of the World.” Quite the name right? Y’all it was so fun going in there and finding things that I’ve been missing. I was grinning the whole time. The prices are crazy marked up but I am soo thankful to have an option at least.

Tonight I’m sitting under a hair dryer and I did a roller set on my hair. After over a month of a pony tail and a bun I’m so excited to see the results. I tweeted that I found a store with black hair care products today and someone replied with this “woo hoo! The Lord answers prayers. Love is in the little things…” Yes, Love is in the little things. And I am really thankful for setting lotion, leave in conditioner and a silk sleeping bonnet!