Rayna's hair

(I know it's weird that this is the 2nd post I've written about HAIR lately, but oh well! That's what's been on my mind.)

The Lord surely knew I needed to learn some patience (an obvious fact to anyone who has ever met me), and so almost 7 years ago he sent me my sweet daughter, whose hair has grown slower than I would ever have imagined hair could!

She was completely bald for the first 2 years of her life, and then we started to see some feeble wisps of hope, but even at that point it was yet to be years before it looked like an actual head of hair! It was a good thing she had such a cute little face to make up for it! :)

1st birthday...

2nd birthday...
Age 2 years and 2 months...

A couple of years later -- 4th birthday...

So, years later, my delight has been great, now that the days I have waited and waited for are finally here! She has real hair. She has even worn braids lately! Never did I think I would be so excited for that day...

Her hair has gotten pretty long, by my new standards, lately and even Pete has been thrilled to see her with her "flowy" hair. But, with the feminine tresses a greater messiness has come, so she often has looked like a ragamuffin. Since I refuse to actually blow-dry and "do" my 6-year old's hair, we have decided the summer has called for a shorter cut once again.

So off we went yesterday to our neighborhood hair salon to get all this long-waited-for hair cut off...

Some "before" shots...

And the "after" shots!

It has been so good to see at last the day of fulfillment of promises. Everyone told us for years, "She'll have hair eventually"... and we're thankful now for hairstyle options, something I would have otherwise taken for granted!

And speaking of RAYNA, we're so thrilled that there is a new Rayna on the scene! We can't wait to meet the new little Hines baby, ETA October!