ann kiemel

have i ever told you that there is
a beautiful mother of four...expecting a
fifth...that washes and blows out my
hair every week for FREE? just because
she loves me. just because she is
beyond herself and her business and
her struggles, and chooses to bless me.

i rent my little house from her parents.
live right behind her mom and dad's big
house in the country.

so much is going on that roseanna
and i don't get very much one-to-one
time, so this has become it. i love this
young woman. REALLY love her. and
i don't know what God is going to do to
bless her for this, but it is going to be
BIG. God ALWAYS rewards every gift
of love we bestow, in His name, on
someone. anyone.

roseanna's sister is natalia.
and she is an anesthetician.
a very GOOD one. at the
same shop. i love her so much,
too. she waxes my brows. a luxury
i've never had before.

i told you about my toes.
well, every week, i just want them
painted. i like white polish during the
summer. it has been two years since
i've done it because i have to watch every
penny, and i've been too shy to ask linda,
a beautiful, asian girl at the salon how
much it costs and could she?

"roseanna, here you do my hair for free,
but if linda could just paint my toes..for $8..
would you feel badly if i gave in and let her?
she had an opening and i'm so down over
these 'running' feet."

"ann, of COURSE, DO it!!"

roseanna and natalia and linda.
they made my day today....plus
ALL your comments. last night,
i didn't see any hope for the future.
it was my 12-step night, and i could
barely say one word i was so broken
and close to uncontrollable sobs.
and hopeless.

i'm to be in this 12-step group because
the two leaders and the other broken and
growing and healing women and i are
cementing our wounds and pasts to the
heart of God. nailing, and re-nailing, all
our hurts and resentments and lost places to
the ONLY One who can make us well.

"a bruised reed He will not break
and a dimly burning wick He will not
extinguish." isaiah 42:3

beautiful. beautiful. beautiful.

.....we just finished our first bk. in the
meeting last night and vi and adella gave
us magnets for the refrigerator. i drew the
one that said "hope". God's reminder of His
vast and on-going love for me. and you.
and the lady next door and the teenager down
the street. and the guy sitting at the curb with
a sack of booze under his arm. love and grace
for anyone and all.

feel the breeze in your hair.
listen to the clean water running
out of the tap in your kitchen. smell
the scent of kindness and love.
and know...always...that God is God.