Day 1: Five Ways to Win Your Heart

My first post for the 30-Day Blog Challenge

Ways to Win My Heart

1) Be in love with the Lord.  Just this morning, I had breakfast with a dear friend.  As she sat down, she was literally gushing about her morning devotional time with God.  She talked about her alone time with Him, her study on faith, and how He gives it to us and grows it in us.  He continues to reveal things to her about Himself, herself, love, people, etc.  She was so enthralled, and I was so touched, I actually had to tell her, "Lady, it sounds like you're in love!"  That blessed me, for real.

2) Have a sense of humor.  This is one of the first things that drew me to the man who is now my husband.  He's got this wonderfully flexible wit -- sometimes he has dry humor, and at other times he's musical (almost rivaling Broadway).  He does impressions.  He makes funny faces.  I don't believe a day has passed since 1998 when we haven't laughed together at something... even during the lowest points of our marriage. I think we should all be able to laugh at ourselves and at the quirks of life sometimes, and not be overly-serious.

3) Compassion.  With so much drama and ill-will in the world, it's beautiful to see compassion in action.  God is gracious and full of compassion (Psalm 145:8).  This type of caring can be as simple as smiling at someone who is obviously having a bad day (because you never know if you're the only person who will smile at them on that day).  I also love it when people go out of their way to show how much they care, and even more so when they know they aren't going to get "credit" for it.

4) Big-Eyed Animals. Ever since Bambi, I've been a sucker for doe-eyed animals.  Think kittens, puppies, bunnies, and My Little Pony.  Horned toads, subway rats, geckos -- hmm, not so much.

Photo Credit
I used to have one just like this!

5) The Truth.  I know very few people in this world who are willing to tell me the truth in love.  When you come across someone who will do this for you consistently, keep them close and respond in kind.  There are so few who love us enough to tell us the truth, even when it hurts, but it's truly a gift.

The 30-Day Blog Challenge

For me, sometimes blogging is kind of like this:

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Enter "The 30-Day Blog Challenge," which I first read about via Tiashauntee's Her Best Hair blog.  Here's the list of topics:

I'll answer one each day in the form of a post.  Some of these topics are a bit outside the norm for me, but it will give me a chance to answer creatively.  Care to join?  Please let me know so I can visit your blog.  I'd love to connect with you.  :)

Dry twist out

I'm due for a wash and deep conditioning treatment this weekend, but in the meantime I'm enjoying playing with my stretched, dirty (eep!) hair.  Last night while watching So You Think You Can Dance online, I twisted my hair using no product.  Since I loaded it up with shea butter the past couple days, I figured I could probably get away with using nothing.  It worked out pretty well when I took it down this morning -- resulting in a chunky, undefined fro, kinda like Maxwell's Now album cover.

Photo credit

One thing I've learned about being natural is that even when the style doesn't turn out quite as planned, you can still own it confidently and enjoy your hair for what it is.  I am *soooo* not the expert on styling, but I do appreciate the flexibility my hair allows for many different looks -- everything from tightly-coiled and shrunken to stretched and completely blown-out.  Defined curls are nice, but I'm not going to fight my hair if the curls explode.

Just have fun with it.  :)