Melinda Mattson - The Blog

When asked recently what she was most thankful for, Ainsley, age four answered: "My hair and my sister." Now this may not have been a postable moment for most moms. I mean, she didn't say, "My eternal salvation and my out-of-this-world-amazing mother." But she did say she was thankful for two things for which she has held mixed emotions in her short little tenure on earth. I was pleased indeed.

Her hair can be a bit of a family project. Her curls are a splendid cascade around her darling face. But they spend most of their time in a state of entanglement. Like a big wad of matted dreadlock entanglement. But I just cannot bear to see them go. I truly think even after a substantial haircut (as her father has insisted suggested) she'd still have tangles. She likes to wrap her little fingers in it and would likely do so no matter the length. So I work it out. With wide toothed combs and leave-conditioner, and chamois towels, and a touch of magic. It's amazing that hair of hers. But I just so very much want her to know that. To not feel it is this big messy part of her that is a bother. And so indeed it was a day of gladness when she gave first fruits of praise to those spectacular tresses.

And as for her gratitude for her sister, well color me happy. I have been praying since this girl was in my belly for her to love her sister well. For the two of them to be each other's greatest source of encouragement. Some days it looks nothing at all like that. It looks like too many cooks in the kitchen. Like too many engines and no caboose. Like two leaders who are desperately looking for a follower in one another. It doesn't always work so well. But at the end of the day they are there for one another and are united through and through.