Dental Advice from the Four-Year-Old…and a Prayer Request

I have a fear of going to the dentist. This is really strange considering I never missed a dental checkup for the first 22 years of my life and wore some kind of tooth/jaw-straightening device from age five to fifteen. I think my fear developed when I had to have a root canal (coincidentally, at age 22). I have been not-so-good about my dental checkups since then and have had an off-and-on toothache since last summer. Last week, it got really unbearable, so I went to the dentist. Apparently, the problem had spread all over one of my nerves and nearly to one of my sinus cavities (umm, gross much?). Ouch. I had to have another root canal on Monday, and let me tell ya…NOT fun. The worst part was the numbing shot, during which I realized tears were silently streaming down my face.

In any case, Maggie has taken a big interest this week in my dental hygiene, making sure that I not only brush and floss when I’m supposed to (I can assure you that I do--for the most part--regardless of the evidence otherwise), but also that I eat and drink only things that are good for my teeth (which generally doesn’t happen). She told me the other day that if I ate the Samoa that was on its way to my mouth, my teeth would fall out and I’d have to get gold ones. Tonight on the way home from church, I took the kids through the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through and ordered myself a Pepsi; Mags said, “You know that Pepsi is NOT good for your teeth.” I’ll tell you, when I held that sweet child as an infant, I never pictured her telling me to step away from the Samoa or put down the Pepsi!

In other news, I need your prayers for my sister Candace. Her new baby, Wilson, was born nearly two weeks ago. He is precious and doing well, but Candace was admitted to the hospital at the beginning of this week for a kidney infection. Her fever has been high, and she has not been responding well to antibiotics. She has to be fever-free for 48 hours before going home, so pray that she will heal quickly so she can go home and be with her family.

Hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying this sunny, warm weather. We’ve been outside from morning until dinner two days this week so far, and we plan to do the same for the next few days! Pictures to come soon…