Help! My 6th grader wants to wear makeup.

I am hereby taking it on myself to give a little advice on the subject of young girls and makeup.

And I'm pretty sure it's not going to be what you expect.

First, a little background.  I was not allowed to wear makeup until I was 15.  Granted, I was a sophomore in high school by then.  I had been the one to sneak lipstick on a regular basis in junior high and even got caught at church wearing, wait for it, previously confiscated bright orange lipstick.  Did I think she wouldn't notice??  I still cringe remembering getting caught in the church lobby by my parents.

So, this year, our dear 11 year old begged and begged for makeup.  She already had quite a supply of lip glosses, Chapstick, sparkle powder, etc.  But, the claim was that it was old, run down and not of the right caliber for a blossoming young woman.  Okay - I added the blossoming young woman part, but the presentation of the case for makeup was pretty close to that.  At least the way I heard it.

So, as any conservative, raised the right way, kind of mother would do, I said NO.

No way.

No how.

I don't think so.

I got tears, screams, glares, the whole nine yards.

And I did falter a bit (not in front of her of course).

So, I brought it to Matt.  He's the Dad and should have some input here.  I'm pretty sure it was my Dad that said no makeup or earrings until I was in high school.  So, I thought getting some reinforcements on my side would really help strengthen my case.  Plus, he probably had an even better argument in my defense.  He is a philosopher/thinker/debater/generally smart guy.

He surprised me.  His argument was, well, let her wear some. Not a ton, but some. So, I took her to Walgreens and steered her towards the ever reasonably priced Wet N' Wild brand.  (Hello, makeup is expensive!)  I also made careful suggestions towards lighter colors and shades.  She ended up with a very sparkly light pink eyeshadow pencil, white eye shadow and 4 different shades of lip gloss.

Lesson learned:  By taking the fight out of it, I was able to have a great mother/daughter experience of picking out makeup in the appropriate tones, helping my daughter feel beautiful and just have fun looking at makeup.

Note: she does still have "dress up makeup" to wear just at home.  This was the case in the picture below.  The girls had a "fashion show" and this time they got a hold of the camera.  She's growing in a beautiful young woman, I just want to keep her close (and acting her age) as long as I can without actually pushing her away.

Now, this isn't the right choice for everyone.  But, if it really becomes a huge issue, consider how major you want it to be.  Teaching her to wear makeup correctly and to enhance her natural features is more important than her exact age or grade in school.

A new home, settling into our Colorado life.

Oh I know.  But, I've been moving.  Okay - so it's been nearly a month since we left beautiful Illinois and headed to also beautiful Colorado and I'm sure you are wondering how things all turned out.

Was God faithful?

Were WE faithful?

I'm happy to say that God was truly faithful.  I continue to struggle with trusting him with major life-altering details, but he worked in spite of me.

We were able to get into our house with all our furniture, boxes, etc 2 days before school started.  While it was crazy, things did go smoothly. The girls were able to start school while I worked to get records, birth certificates, shot histories and the like in on time.

Things have calmed down now, nearly 4 weeks later. The girls really love their schools.  Claire and Katherine are at an elementary school and Annabelle is into middle school.

Anna's first day of 6th grade.

Claire & Katherine - ready for 4th and 1st grade!

The hardest part has been adjusting to the Colorado mentality.  I can't hardly describe it.  People seem the same as anywhere else but in small ways it just has a different feel.  I don't want to criticize (but, I'm so good at it!) because I'm still settling and going through my emotional change-is-good roller coaster.  So I won't.  It's enough to say that we are learning to get out and enjoy life and nature with hikes, a new trampoline, a visit to ProspectEats - a fun gathering of food trucks at a local park, and visits to Estes Park.

Bubble Time at the park.

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement.  I'll be back soon with some pictures of the house and my feeble attempts at decoration.

Bring me to my knees

I did pretty much ask for it.

I didn't want to take my life for granted.  I wanted God to be present and for Him to write the story each and every day.  I didn't realize that I would have to be brought to my knees with an invisible force in order for Him to get in and get working.

The last several weeks have been truly hard.  And truly filled with blessings.

We put our house on the market in faith.  I saw a situation that I could not carefully plan out ahead of time, but that I would have to rely on God to coordinate.  I am a total planner, details are essential to my peace of mind.  But, in this case, I could do nothing but wait.  I could do some reasearch and think about what I *might* do but no actual planning can happen when we don't know if or when our house will sell.

So, Matt began his job in Colorado. We continued showing our house about 3 times a day.  Then the showings stopped.  My Mom came to town.  I worried and experienced that face-to-the-ground sensation daily.  God is in control.  He has a better plan than I can even imagine.  He doesn't need to follow our "rules."  I wish it had been more comfortable to rest there.  I was so ashamed of myself and how hard it was to rely on Him 100%.

That weekend, the one of zero showings after our price drop, that was when Matt & I both felt we were just totally drained.  The uncertainty was too much to bear.  That weekend, God showed up to do things his way.

Katherine's sunday school teacher that week was a summer volunteer - only serves a few times over the whole summer.  She heard Katherine talking about moving to Colorado and stopped me after class.  She mentioned that she is an interior designer and wanted to use her gifts as a ministry to me.  To me?  Seriously?  She had never seen my house.  For all she knew, it could already be a gorgeous mansion (not joking, you should come to our area!).  But, God knew.  He knew that my living room has never quite come together.

BEFORE

She came the next day and spent many hours with me. My Mom watched the kids so I could focus on the house.  My new friend transformed my house.  It is beautiful.

AFTER

We got a call for a showing on Monday while we were redecorating. We hurried up and finished just in time. Then after that showing, another showing by the same people.  As I drove my Mom to the airport, I prayed.  I prayed for God's will.  I prayed for my faith to grow.

A few days later, they made an offer.  Someone else also made an offer.  We find ourselves under contract and with a closing date that lines up perfectly with school.

Now, as we work out final details, find a house in Colorado and decide about schooling - I keep coming back to God's faithfulness.  I have no need to worry - no need to try and figure out all the details.  He's already worked it out.  I'm going to rest there.