Healing or Heaven, its a win win!

The thoughts of my dear Uncle Dave who, at this time last year, passed away after struggling with ALS for 5 years. My sisters and I wrote this poem after he died and read it together at his memorial.

Say Hi to Jesus for Me...

You changed the world

One piece of grace at a time

In humility you lived

And all who came into your life felt peace

Giving God the Glory

You shone incandescently into the dark corners

Of the souls around you

You continually gave of yourself

You listened, ever accepting

and loving us unconditionally

He called your name and brought you home

Running into His waiting arms

You can rest peacefully in His embrace,

Completely free from all pain and torment

Your eyes shining with the love of the Savior

grinning from ear to ear with endless Joy

I'm imagining what it’s like in heaven

The Son pouring out light in the eternal world

Colours like never before fill your eyes

Brilliant cascades of golden light, crystal blues

and tender green grass beneath your toes

You are filled with strength, brand new

so childlike as you dance in His everlasting love

I bet you never sleep

'cause your too busy singing hallelujah,

Worshipping with the angels around the throne

I bet your doing the things you love,

Like skiing out on a pristine lake

or riding that snowmobile for all its worth

laughing out loud at nothing in particular

I'll hold onto the memory of the way

your smile lit up your eyes

the way your laugh was so contagious

and the way you loved God and your family

was special beyond words

You changed my world

Thank you for being you

Oh, and say hi to Jesus for me

I never really got to tell you all the things

you meant to me

Every gesture, every word that spoke of your character

You were such an example

Your grace and forgiveness and joy

Were not of this world

and I know God blessed you with those gifts

I miss your laughter but I know your laughing now

I miss your smiles

but I know they never leave your face

I miss your awesome cooking

but I know now you're at God's table

I miss your birthday phone calls

but I know I will hear your voice again someday. 

Thank you for never giving up

Thank you for your strength

Thank you for accepting me in my weakness

For loving me across the distances

I'm sorry I wasn't there

I wish I could have hugged you one last time

I can't wait to see you again

I love you

oh, and say hi to Jesus for me.

There is a verse is the Bible

It commands us to live like the one who sent us

To live like Jesus

I knew it meant to love my neighbour

I knew it meant to hold my tongue

And I knew it meant to have an honest heart

But I didn't know the humility it demanded

Until I saw it in your eyes.

I didn't know the patience it taught

Until I watched you live everyday.

And I didn't know the strength it gave

Until I saw Him carrying you.

And now even more than living like him

You've seen his face, and beheld his glory.

You've seen the hands that crafted the mountains,

and painted the sunsets.

And I'm pretty sure this was worth the wait.

So thank you for living a life well lived,

When even the strongest would have given up

And thanks for your love and your smile

And thanks most of all for showing me Jesus

oh, and say hi to Him for me

   Love,

     Janelle, Analea and Danae

I'm over it...

Month 4. Week 16. Day 78....Semester 2: Done and done.

Today was my written exam and practical assessment all rolled into one anxiety hairball. Not to worry, I passed both...woop, woop! Got 93% on the exam and 96% on the assessment. No big deal lol.
Ugh, but I am in torment! Because I am me (a perfectionist to a fault) I'm kicking myself that I didn't do better, especially since others got a higher mark on the assessment, oy...anyways, its over and I succeeded very well indeed.

So the verdict of the day is that, I like doing color because you can do really fun things with it, but it FREAKS me out!! Seriously, I am sure that I stopped breathing today when I had to figure out what I had to put on my models hair! There are so many things to consider, natural level, what tone to put on, highlights or lowlights, Shades or Mask, decolorizing or color ....never mind making sure you give the client exactly what they want and don't even get me started on formulating!! Its enough to give one a nervous break down, sheesh....my brain threatens to implode in protest! So the jury is still out on the whole color issue I guess.

Well, got to go...my company is here so I must entertain.

Simple Satisfaction...

This pretty much sums it up.

I never thought I could love a little human so much but this little man has completely captured my heart. Tonight we got to play trains together, read Little Cars and Farm Words about 10 times.....each, giggled and laughed, then cuddled before I tucked his little body into bed. Pretty much the best way to finish my week!

I dont mind if you've got something nice to say about me...

I win! I win!

One of the incentives our teachers use to get us to learn, is giving out Free Hair Days. Normally we have to complete 2 Criteria (which basically means practising stuffs on our manican heads) or 1 criteria and 1 client before we can get our own hair done(cut, color, styled, etc). So, I won my FIRST Free Hair Day last week!!!

Here's the how. The challenge was presented to those that wanted to take it. Complete the below 2 hairstyles from the 1940s (the second two pics are the same hairstyle).

As a casual observer you may not realise how hard this is, but this stretched and pulled our brains every which way, and only 4 of ended up even completeing the task. I spent the better part of the day on it. I used a technique that is called Wet Setting.  It works how it sounds; style the hair when wet, using setting creams then put under a dryer. I used finger waves, rollers and skip waves to replicate the above. It was painstaking work, with many breaks to ease the frustration. But my hard work payed off!! I was finally ready to show my instructor. Well, she was instantly impressed! So much so that she grabs both mannequin heads and strutes off to show the other teachers!! I was so happy to know that I am doing something right, sometimes one just isn't sure.  So here is the finished product! Ta Da!

By personal request...

This ones for you Bananas!

I am told that I have been remiss in my blogger duties. I shall endeavor to improve,  since I have such a vast and loyal following.

It has been a diverting week; what with Mother being away, fashion shows and the endless drama between friends. Lets start with the fashion show, which was actually a Bridal Show so, you guessed it, the majority of the audience were blushing brides-to-be. What a total whirl wind of hyper activity, mass chaos and confusion that somehow, in the end, worked its self into a top notch production. It was prom dress shopping all over again but with wedding gowns! hehe....It was a total riot prancing up and down those runways looking gorgeous! How it happened (for those who are curious) is through a friend from school, Alexys (that's us together below). Her step mom knows the owner of a shop called Silk and White Satin,

who has been in these fashion shows for years....they needed more models so of course we had to help them out right? lol So anyways it was loads of excitement and hopefully we'll get to be a part of the spring show as well.

Now on to the mother being gone. For eleven days. Makes for many opportunities...for one...to expand ones...skills?...responsibilities. Yes, it has been up to little ol me and little sissy Danae to make sure our papa is well cared for during the absence of our vastly gifted homemaker. We done laundry, made many suppers, well not so hard as it sounds on account that mum made a nice meal plan, plus we invited ourselves to be fed by Vanessa once, and Don Johnson another time. All in all we've survived pretty well I think. That's not even the biggest amazement! I come back from school on Saturday to find that my excellent Father has not only lent  a hand with the vacuuming but also had made a grocery run as well! Nothing will  shock me again.

....now being that it is a late-ish hour, my eye lids are feeling a mite droopy plus my fingers have run out of words.

To all a good night.



Procrastinating...

Wikipedia: "Procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time. Some psychologists cite such behaviour as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision."

Such is my current occupation. My Semester 1 exam is on Friday and I ask myself "Self? How much studying is too much? How long does one study until the information is simply lost in cranium cyberspace??" Google says that you are supposed to spread it out over a week or so...oops. The test is 200 questions....all multiple choice so I really should be fine simply using the logical brain that God gave me. Thing is, unlike high school, I actually want to do better than fine. I want to ace it! So, here I sit. Books and notes sprawled out in front of me (blast, I forgot my cue cards at school). And I'm writing a blog about procrastinating because I don't want to study anymore, the dog next door won't shut up; effectively cutting short all brain signals and my sister keeps pestering me to go for a walk with her...somebody is asking for a smack in the face.

Wanna know what I have to study? Of course you do....Starts with Life Skills and Professional Image, then we move on the glorious topic of Infection Control: Principles and Practise. Next is the Properties of Hair and Scalp (which includes scalp diseases, yum), then we get to review Shampooing, Rinsing and Conditioning followed by Principles of Hair Design and Hair Styling. Now I'm at the part I always forget about, Braiding & Braid Extensions, and Wigs & Hair Enhancements. Finishing off with Hair Cutting and Communication for Success! Doesn't that sound fun.

Enough of that boring nonsense....Guess what?? On my Cutting/ Styling assessment last Saturday I got 95%!! Go me. Did a mighty fine job if I do say so myself. Next week I am out on the clinic floor taking real live clients, (not fake ones) yipee!

Oh boy, there goes that dog again. Makes me think such violent nasty thoughts and go twitchy all over...shudder.

Weelllll...now I'm looking to procrastinate from this post so I think I'm gunna shut 'er down for the night. Until next time...

Vomiting through the nose is a decidedly unpleasant experience...

That was me, last night at 12:30am. I suddenly woke up feeling extremely nauseous, with my room tilting around me. After waiting a short while to see if it would go away, I decided to take some gravel and melatonin to help me relax. Before they even reached my stomach I was over the toilette puking my guts out (it literally felt like it). I know, ew. Anyways once that episode was over I felt much revived and slept like a baby the rest of the night. I'm thinking it was food poisoning. Danae and I went out to Pizza Hut for wings last night before our movie and she felt ill during the night as well. Problem solved.
Speaking of Danae, she has very willingly become my practise model in my adventures with hair. This time I put my new skills with the round brush blow dry to work and voila! Instant celebrity hairstyle!!

To make the curls stronger I 'set' them using pin curls.

Finished product. Ain't she a hottie?

This was only one of the styling techniques I learned. You can do the same style using a medium to large curling iron as well (I will be trying this style on myself tomorrow hehe). I also learned to do finger waves and skip waves. The story is that most people cry when trying this since its so difficult. I determined to not be one of those people. I succeeded in not getting frustrated, letting myself try to do it perfectly the first time was a key factor in this success. So that behind me we start cutting again this week. My assessment (first cut on a real human) is in two weeks!!! Ahhhm, must. not. think about it.

Well that's all folks! Stay tuned :)

Jade Beat, Over and Out.