After my harrowing experience late last week, you might think I’m more cautious about getting hair cuts.

Actually, since it turned out well, I’m now happy to go there.

And today, we decided to have our sons join in on the action and get their first ever salon haircuts.

From the same artist who repaired my nasty cut.

Here are some photos journaling the milestone.

First is a photo of the boys from this morning with their standard look they’ve worn for some time, albeit overgrown.

Last is a photo of the three Ding men posing at a mirror at a Target store this evening to capture our three new hair-dos.

In between are photos I shot during both of their cuts.

Every summer the eligible children participate in Barnes and Noble summer reading program where you get a free book when you read eight books.  Today we went to the store to redeem the boys’ books.

Boys with their free books:

Then they started making faces, which is a natural progression for every picture taking  in our household:

Upon returning home, these two boys cracked open their books and read and read.  I love my two little bookworms!

A good haircut is hard to find.

I found this guy on yelp that was supposed to be good.

So I swung by in the morning yesterday, only to discover he was booked til evening.

Which is good (means he’s probably excellent, since his appointment log is full)… but bad, since I wanted the chop yesterday for various reasons, not the least of which was cuz I knew if I put it off, my shaggy hair would likely not get love for another week or two.

So I decided to fal lback to a hair salon in the vicinity where I’ve gotten humdrum-quality cuts before, though nothing catastrophic.

The thing is, for this cut, I specifically wanted a different look, a bit shorter, etc.

I’d even printed out a picture of this familiar fellow to give the stylist an idea of what I was looking for:

Big mistake.

Not only did she not get the look right, but early on in the cut she asked me, “Is this short enough?”

What can you say to a lady with sharp scissors who’s holding a lock of your hair?

But inside I was thinking, “WHY OH WHY are you asking me?  Don’t you have a sense of what you’re trying to accomplish already?”

Sadly, the answer to that question was clearly no.

She had no idea.

Unless she was trying to accomplish hackish butchery.

As she wound up, I had very little idea of what to say.  It didn’t look terrible (at that point), maybe cuz she’d gelled down some of the more horrendous angles.

But when I came up, the seriously dampened response and lackluster expression on my lovely wife’s face told me that I had not succeeded in my quest to satisfy her request that I get a “younger look.”

Unless “younger” means “lawnmower ran me over.”

Notice the uneven sides and the poofy rounded top.  The kids even commented that I had a “mohawk” cut:

I think it’s more accurate to say I got a chia pet chop.

At this point, what could I do?  I’d paid for a chop, and cheapskate that I am, I wasn’t about to go get another haircut to attempt to fix a bad haircut from a stylist I’d never met (though he had glowing reviews online).

Was I?

Lois even thought it was absurd.  “Just let it grow out,” she said.

So I waited overnight, and asked Lois again this morning, “Is it bad?  Tell me the truth.”

“Yes.”

Ouch.

Then I looked more carefully in the mirror, saw the above coiffure, and thought to myself, you look like a telescoping duster for brushing cobwebs:

I wasn’t going to suffer this for however long it took me to get another cut, which on average, is 1-3 months.

So I decided, in desperation, to go back to plan A.

I immediately called the first stylist (the one who was booked all day yesterday) and asked if he had any openings today.

He said he was open during lunch hour.

So I made the appointment and brought the wife and kids to the salon.  So as to have a 3rd party observer who cared who could openly say, “NO, STOP, I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT MAN.  PLEASE STOP!”

And I was walked into the salon, I told the stylist what had happened.

He looked at me and said, “You got a haircut?” as if it wasn’t obvious from the state of my hair.  Note: he’d never seen me before my hair, so he had no way of knowing that I had.

Then he sat me down and within 3 seconds, I kid you not, said, “This is totally uneven.”

[Note: when a stylist "finishes" cutting your hair and then brings a big mirror around for you to check out his/her work, has anyone other than me ever noticed how hard it is to really tell whether it's actually any good?  It's kinda like knocking on watermelons, you just kinda do it cuz you're copying everyone else.]

Then he got to work.

With clear precision and an artistic touch that was clearly absent from yesterday’s hatchet lady.

And 20 minutes later… my wife was nodding, I was starting to feel better, and all was happy in the world.  I’m no Tom Cruise, but at least I’m not a cobweb duster either.

Here’s the final product.  I’m satisfied.  Scroll up and compare to see the stark contrast.  Yay.

My oldest decided to be creative one morning with his pancakes.  He cut the pancakes in pieces and put them together in Chinese characters that he’s been learning in our homeschool.

Brownie points to those who can decipher these Chinese characters!

Fact:  Red crayon marks on the couch:

Question:  Who did it?

Interrogation:  Everyone denied it.

Now begins the detective work which involves deductive reasoning as well as process of elimination.  The oldest three didn’t do it because by now they value their lives more than anything.  Now we’re left with the younger two; the four-year-old and the 20-month-old.  During the interrogation the four-year-old was insistent that she didn’t do it and readily incriminated the one-year-old.  Hmmmm. . . . the case gets a bit complicated because I can’t exactly interrogate the 20-month-old who isn’t verbal yet.  So, back to the evidence.  I observed the markings and the pattern.  It looked like the work of the 20-month-old because most of the markings are linear which is consistent with her developmental ability.  If it was the four-year-old, it’d involve concentric circles, hearts, and happy faces.

Case solved!

The culprit?  The adorable 20-month-old.

Punishment:  Sit on the bed of evidence as pictured.

I suppose punishment by photography is quite appealing for the culprit’s sisters that they too, want in on it.  So, I obliged.

Then the culprit felt left out so she climbed on to get in on the hall-of-shame.

Apparently, the brothers felt excluded as well, so they jumped on the opportunity to be photographed.

As you can see, life with so many little ones is never boring.

You may wonder why I didn’t completely freak out by the crayon marks on the couch and there’s a secret!  The secret is that all the covers on this couch are removable and washable.  Now, isn’t that a wonderful news for a family with small kids who enjoy practicing their artistic talents on furniture?

As my children grow and increase in comprehension, I’m finding myself talking more and more to them about the gospel and how it relates to their disobedience.  Naturally, our discipline sessions get longer and longer.  Even though it’s quite time consuming and emotionally laborious, I truly believe it’s beneficial that my children know how the gospel relates to them in everyday life.

Recently I had a conversation with one of the kids.  Once again, an act of unkindness towards one of his siblings is manifested in tears and sadness so we sat down to talk.  I probed and asked questions trying to help him understand the reason behind his unkindness.  When such kind of questions are asked, the most favorite and easy answer is “I don’t know.”  Such an answer is not helpful and can be frustrating at times as I’m trying hard to seek to understand.  I’ve now made it a rule that an “I don’t know” answer is not allowed and so far it’s been working out quite well because it forces the child to think deeper.  I also allow time for the child to come up with an answer by communicating that I’m willing to sit and wait.  No matter how bad the answer may be, I want to know it.  There’s no need to sugar coat the answer.  Usually the child is able to come up with an answer.

Once we’ve got an answer, we can begin addressing the issue.  Sometimes I’m a bit taken back by the rawness of the answer (e.g., “I don’t like my sister”), but at the same time I am grateful for it because it tells me that the child is being honest with himself.  I’m learning to identify with my child in acknowledging that I too, struggle with the root issue of his conflict with this siblings.  As much as he is a sinner, so too, I’m a sinner who sins and can identify with him.  However, we don’t just stop here.  I point him to Christ and tell him that his unkind act tells him that he needs a Savior.  The good news is that Christ died for his sins.  We can look to Christ with hope.  Jesus’ magnitude of love and sacrifice for us should compel us to live a righteous life.  After such discussion, I pray for him.

Whenever my children need a disciplinary action, I want to remind them their need of the Savior and the gospel.  I really appreciate Tim Keller’s words about the gospel in The Reason for God, and I hope that you will dwell on it with a deep appreciation for Christ.

The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.  This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time.  It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.