My Best Friend & Warrior in the Faith

Greetings All,

I finally got some pictures of my best friend, Karen. She is a wonderful person, friend, mother & daughter. A loving and considerate person with her mind made up for Jesus Christ. We have been and gone thru a lot these 7 years. I thank GOD for her and am honored that she is my friend. We started locking her hair I guess 5 years ago. I really do not like that I did not journalize her journey properly. We started it on a Mother's day weekend let's say 5 years ago. We were chilling at my place and she asked if I would start her locs. She had recently went from a perm to a TWA. Her hair was growing and she asked me to start them. I told her all I knew how to do is a braid or plait and since we had never talked about it before, her locking, I did not think she was serious. She assured me she was and I started her locks that day. I do have a very small amounts of pics when we were fooling around with my mini cam. Let's see what I can find.

These were taken looks like Nov 2007. We were resting after a weekend of ministry & church service on a Sunday evening.

I know I have a picture of her after inital install but I can not find it. She probably does not want me to. :-) Ok, I found one of them. It took me a couple of days but here it is. Not as in focus as I would like, but here it is. The date of this photo is 25 Jun 05. Her locs may only be 4 years old.


I say we when talking about Karen's journey because she is/was a licensed beautician for over 20 years. What happened is I installed and then any she felt were too large she resized. ;-) It was perfect, she resized and I fussed at her and left her work alone.

In the meantime, I shared all that I know/knew with her and she shared what she knows with me. I think we did a great job. When I started interlocking my own locs about the time I started Karen's I was so new to it that I did not want to mess her's up, but given her hair type I probably should have interlocked her's from the start. Her hair type is more like the s curly shape, some thin and all soft. To me, she is one of those people who should have never started perming but with my mind set now, none of us ever should have. Sorry digressed again. I banded her hair the first few months when I shampooed it. Once she started locking I stopped the band braiding. She wanted to see her scalp and never wanted that wild and wooly look that I like so I did as she asked and I did my version of the palm roll on her locs. I call it my version because I never could get my mind to cooperate with my hands to palm roll. So I used a lock gel applied to the unlocked root and twisted all the hair into the loc. Simple and it worked. I am thinking that the pics above she was two years into her loc journey.

Today she is still happy and locked, we have gone thru some hair issues but she has intro some hair vitamins & other things into her diet and the locks are healthy again.

Karen helped me restart my second set of locs, as stated before. Instead of me restarting her set I have taken her though a lot of clarifying shampoos & I have even used dawn dish detergent on her hair. ACV rinses everything I know. I even tried the Olgin soap on Karen's locs it does absolutely nothing but on mine it works, not sure why but different stroks for different folks. I am sincere about get all the dirt out of our locs, her's & mine. The two pics above are Karen just yesterday 16 Oct 09, I shampooed her hair with clarifying shampoo and reintroduced a lot of oil on her scalp because the clarifying is very drying on her scalp. I interlocked only a few because I could not go a full 4 point turn on most. I knoted a few locs with thin spots and then she went to the mirror in the bathroom for her usual inspection and said Ro we need to trim the ends. She said we cut some of her locs I guess last year, my shifting memory again. Her locs had a rounded look to them kind of like a smile ) it was cute. She said trim I asked what shape she said straight I pointed to a particular spot and lined it with me finger she said yes. I picked up the scissors and started trimming. I think I missed two that I did not see until we saw this picture. In either case we were both satisfied with the trim. We figured we trimed about 2 inches. Her locs are lovely aren't they!

Well I am out for now.

Many blessings & much Agape!

Army Days

I served in the military, the US Army back in the 1970's. I was recently contacted by one of my old Army buddies. I could not believe it. I am still smiling and it is over a week ago when he contacted me.


I have decided to share when things touch me, ie the name of the blog. The thoughts that have gone thru my mind are many. My first thought was one of nastalgia. I know there are a lot of gray hairs on this head. :-) But you know, I do not feel old; older maybe but not old. My Dad & I had a conversation about this when I was still in my 40's about how it is just perspective. When I was in my 20's I thought and considered anyone in their 60's as old. The conversation made me realized 60 was not too far down the pike and I still did not feel old. Now that 60 is becoming fewer steps away than when I was 40 I really do not think of myself as old. Seasoned yes, experienced yes, many more years past me than GOD may grant me to stay, yes. I know that GOD has ordered my steps and HE continues to do just that. I am learning that HE guides and leads me in the way that I am to go in HIM. So yes the years have come and gone but one beautiful thing is constant, GOD rules & reigns in our lives if we let HIM. I pray you will let HIM reign in you today. I know that when we trust HIM and put our whole life in HIS hands HE will get the glory out of our lives. Oh, I hope you know we are not on this earth for ourselves. We are here to bring GOD glory.


Well, once I got over my surprise at being contacted by my old Army buddy, I started pulling out the photo book. Oh yeah! I looked at those old photos, wow, we were really young. Beside our section Sargents I have to check on this, I think I was older than many of my friends. I joined when I was 20 and the rest of my friends were 18 and up. I repeat we were really young. I see it in the faces of all those pictures, I did not have enough sense to add names to. Beside the gray hair I have shifting memory. I will be so glad when the LORD helps me out with this one. I am cool with the gray, the shifting memory not sure yet.

Well until next time!

Be Bless in GOD. Jesus is the way, the truth & the light!
Much Agape!

My Activities

It was my privilege to speak to the women at the prision that we visit twice monthly here in TX. My scripture came from John 1:1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The Word HE is JESUS HE is GOD, HE was in the beginning. So many times we rightly say and know that JESUS is our saviour, HE is our elder brother, HE is our friend. Maybe because we say these familiar terms we get easy with HIM and we forget that HE is GOD. HE is GOD as the scripture above says all things were made through HIM and without HIM nothing was made that was made. Nothing. HE is the Creator GOD that should do something in us. That should move us to a position of reverential respect, fear and awe at the mention of HIS name. HE is GOD. When I think of that, GOD came and dwelt among us for a season. GOD is acquainted with our sorrows and understands and knows us. GOD who loved us so much that HE lived a perfect life and then suffered the death of the cross to die for our sins. Yes HE died for us but on the third day HE arose from the dead. What a happy day! JESUS is GOD how that makes my heart tremble at the thought and joyful hope of seeing HIM one day soon.

Many Blessings & Much Agape.