Toothless twosome

A Tale of Two Teeth

What a champ! Wednesday was the big day for Eliannah's oral procedure. We had many errands to run before going to the dentist and she kept asking, "Are we going to the doctor now?" (O.K. so she was a little confused) She woke up early and got dressed hours and hours before it was time for her appointment. She was really excited, and how could she not be? The people at the dentists office made such a huge fuss over her and she figured out pretty quick that she would get a toy after every visit (she even got to pick a toy out for Zak and Eliot). I dreaded what was to come, she couldn't wait.

Once we finally got there the dentist explained to me that they were going to try the procedure with only a general anesthetic. It was hard to watch them do about 20 (not kidding) numbing injections around the site but mercifully the dentist blocked my view when he actually did the procedure. Eliannah didn't complain, didn't cry, did fuss. The only way I knew she was uncomfortable was because I could see her little chest rise and fall faster and faster and then ... out it came and she was chomping down on some gauze delighted to be picking out yet another toy. I was so proud of her!! Praise the Lord it went so well!!

Once the boys heard about her bravery (they were at my mom's down south) they were very impressed and as Zak had a loose tooth he asked me to extract it once I got there. Normally he has a panic attack and whines and moans about it but this time he patiently allowed me to yank that little sucker out and went off to bed with little more than a tissue for the blood. Guess he couldn't be shown up by little sis.

Eliannah and the Dentist

Yesterday Phillip took the boys down south to spend the week at my mom's. This means Eliannah had time for some important things like ... a long bubble bath and a mani-pedi. She loved picking out her favorite pink nail polish and watching me paint each fingernail. So much fun!

This morning Eliannah went in for a dental cleaning before her tooth gets pulled tomorrow. The Dentist just wanted to make sure that she responded well to having hands in her mouth and she did great. The oral Hygienist was so sweet. She let Eliannah pick out her favorite tooth polish (bubble gum) and explained everything along the way about how she was going to make Eliannah's teeth nice and pretty for the dentist. When she was finished she handed Eliannah a mirror and asked her, "Now don't your teeth look pretty?"

"No" Eliannah replied.

The Hygienist looked at her and then me confused. Eliannah looked upset.

It took me a couple of seconds to find out why Eliannah was so disappointed. Coming on the heals of her recent manicure she thought that she was picking a color of tooth polish and that she was going to wind up with pink teeth!! Poor girl!!

Kisses

Mommy's kiss is short and sweet
slipped in between her chores
She brings me right along with her
both in and out of doors.
So when she sees my eyes half closed
she carries me to bed.
And just before I go to sleep
- a kiss right on my head!

But daddy's kisses
come when he gets home
late at night when I should be asleep.
I get 5 -or -6 all in a rush
- - though it's kind of like being kissed by a brush
I think I like best his technique.

Poor Eliannah!

Well, we went to see the Dentist about her gum boil today. He referred me to another dentist and is recommending a root canal of her two front teeth which are infected due to an injury to her front teeth that happened when she was 1. She will have to be put out to get it taken care of. She has no idea what is coming but I feel awful.

Once

Once
There was ever only one silence
that cracked the sky
There was ever only one so wretched cry
one cosmic shout
with no reply

Why forsaken?
Why alone?

God turned his back that day
the echoing dark in his wake
- as The Light slipped away.

To anyone who has ever asked "Why me?", "Where are you Lord?" Know this - God turned away from his own Son so that he wouldn't ever have to turn his back on you.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
John 3:16 - 21

Read the rest of the story here

I can't believe this was us last year ... celebrating the 4th in Philadelphia ... watching the parade down Benjamin Franklin Parkway ... how time flies! This year - no Mummers (the crazy people in the picture are Mummers and apparently they show up for any parade, not just the New Years parade)- no parade, just a quiet 4th with a church picnic, friends, fireworks and a deeper understanding of what July 4, 1776 really meant.

Oh, and about that : after studying early American history this year it seems to me that the Declaration of Independence was written after numerous attempts by the general public to get the attention of politicians that thought they could pile on taxes and laws without listening to the will of the people ... hmmm. What would our grievances be today were we to list them?

I think it is worth reviewing at least the first part of the D of I. It emphasized a few things that made me really think about this whole idea of convening a constitutional convention in California to re-write the state's Constitution.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. ...

you can read the rest of it here and learn more about a Californian Consitutional Convention here and here. *update* and the cost to the signers of the Declaration was significant. You can read about it here.

On my mind today ...

Days are filled with sorrow and care,
Hearts are lonely and drear;
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.
Chorus
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary,
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.

Cast your care on Jesus today,
Leave your worry and fear;
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.

Chorus
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary,
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.

Troubled soul, the Saviour can see,
Ev'ry heartache and tear;
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near.

Chorus
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary,
Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near.

How wonderful is it to be able fall upon God's grace. He has lifted my burden! A blog I follow reminded me of this verse that is totally applying to me today:

"A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones." Proverbs 14:30 (Amplified Bible)

Praise God that we can have peace because of Calvary!