The Kids: Grace

Within one 24 hour period last week, I had two different people ask me for an update on each of the kids.  I had another person ask me this week.  Life gets crazy and I haven't posted here as much as I would have liked.  So here goes--an update on the kids--kid by kid--from the eldest, down to the youngest.  I'll give each kid his or her own post.

Grace turned twenty at the beginning of September.  She graduated from cosmetology school in the middle of September and passed the state tests, both the written and the practical.  We had to travel to the big town in order for Grace to take her practical exam.  After the three hour exam, Matt and I picked Grace up from the testing site.  She turned on her phone and found a text from the co-owner of the beauty salon where I get my hair cut.  This woman wanted to talk to Grace.  Previously, she had told Grace that although she would love to hire her upon her graduation, she didn't have room for her. Turns out, one of the cosmetologists at the shop decided to move back to her home town.  There was now room for Grace.

Grace would first have to pass a test given to her by the owners. (I talked about that here.)  At the end of that day, Grace was offered a job. We can now see how God was working through the terrible situation of Grace's cosmetology school closing.  Near the end of her time at that school, Grace had A LOT of clients since no new students were enrolling there.  She got a ton of experience that she would not have gotten otherwise.  This ended up serving her well and I believe it's one of the major reasons why she was offered the job at the salon were she now works.

One of the gals who works at the salon told Grace that she is very blessed to be working there.  She told Grace that people frequently come to the salon asking for a job, but are turned down. So the fact that Grace was asked to work there is a great honor. Again, all the credit goes to God here.  The salon is not far from our house, which is another bonus.  All the woman who work there are very nice and Grace is enjoying the experience as she works to build her clientele.  She works at that salon four days per week.

Now, for another God thing.  Before Grace even started cosmetology school, she told me that it was her dream to work exclusively with curly-haired women.  I'll be honest, when she told me this, I had to keep myself from laughing.  Outside of those cosmetologists who specialize in working with African American hair, I was sure that no such thing existed.  How could one make a living doing just curly hair?  Mid-way through Grace's year of cosmetology school, my friend Cathy texted me about the great hair cut she had just gotten from a woman who specializes in curly hair. As in, she has international clients and charges bookoo bucks for her curly hair haircuts.  Who knew there was such a thing?  She wanted to meet Grace.  Grace did meet her, and this woman offered Grace the chance to help her by shampooing clients.  Before Grace even graduated, this woman wanted Grace to work for her.  So Grace is working at least one day a week for the woman who specializes in curly hair. Grace has learned a ton from this woman and she loves getting to work with curly hair!

The entire year that Grace was in cosmetology school, people kept telling her that she would have to work at a place like Great Clips her first year out of school.  No one would even consider hiring her until after that, they said.  Don't get me wrong, Matt and the kids have frequented Great Clips for years and we like them.  However, we didn't want Grace to have to work there if it could be avoided. I kept telling Grace, "Listen, we just do things differently in our family.  We break the mold and we're not about to stop doing that now.  God will work something out."  And boy did He.    

Besides working, Grace is also trying to keep her little photography business going, she is attending Bible Study Fellowship and a book club, gardening, baking,  playing piano occasionally at church and helping around the house when her schedule allows.  She's one busy girl.  Matt and I are blessed to have her as our daughter.