HAPPY SWEET 16, BRITT!

(and)

HAPPY BIRTH DAY TO LEVI!

As I was sitting at my usual table at church yesterday morning listening to Pastor Randy speak momentarily on how people get distracted during the holidays and focus on material things rather than the truth, I quickly let it in my brain, then pushed it back out and thought, "I focus on God, I focus on the truth, I never get distracted by gifts or money or any of that." Little did I know that later that day, I would be tested.

After church, a friend asked if I would like to accompany her, her brother, and her mom to Duluth for some Christmas shopping. I said yes, knowing I had a fairly large amount of money (for someone of my age group--it was the same amount that Jenni won at WR05) in my wallet at that exact moment, I asked permission and we were off. When we first got there, we went directly to the food court for lunch, and I went to Taco John's, and as I went to pay for my meal, I opened up my purse to discover an EMPTY wallet. I nervously dug through my purse to find nothing. "Oh, I guess I've been robbed..," I said to the girl behind the counter, she mumbled something to a worker behind her, and gave me my order number and receipt, saying that she would take care of it (that was really nice of her, I felt so stupid, though). I called my mom asking her if she took it, and a few other people as well, and they all replied with the same answer. But, the question is, where could this money have gone? On Saturday night as I was walking through Wal-Mart, I held on to my purse knowing of the money and being afraid of pick-pockets, and I bought juice with it, and this was around 10:30 PM, and I had my belongings with me for the rest of the night. I came home, went to bed, got up and went to church. I had it with me throughout the whole first service and coffee groups, then put it on my normal spot on one of the pews near the nursery, then proceeded to the toddler room. So, I'm assuming that it happened at church (whoever it was had a good chance, my stupidity of leaving it in the middle of the open with a large sum of money). Yes, church, of ALL places. I assumed it wouldn't get stolen because it's the House of God and most things don't get stolen at church. And I was really upset about losing it. I was mad that I was no longer able to buy the things that I wanted with it (the money was a Christmas gift from my male parental unit so we could pick out our own gifts), and I was mad. But then I remembered that this season isn't about the gifts, or the money, or anything else except for the Prince of Peace, Alpha and Omega, the Holy One--Jesus, and that made me feel less upset about losing the money. It would be nice to get it back, though.

dental phobia

Dental phobia is the phobia--or fear--of dentists. Why are most people afraid of dentists and/or their aids? Perhaps people are afraid that they're breath may have a hideous odor to it, only instead to find that the hygenist has it (that happened to me yesterday) instead. Or maybe when they're rinsing out your mouth, they won't put the sucky thing in your mouth and you'll drown. I know that as a child, I was afraid of the dentist, until I was about the age of 6 or 7. I had ginormous cavities on my back molars, and the pain was excruciating. When I went in to have them filled, the cavities themselves hurt less than the shot. So, because he took the pain of my cavity away by filling it, I liked him and wasn't afraid of him, he was my friend. In August of this year, I had 4 teeth extractions and wasn't too afraid. They had to give me 8 shots in the mouth, but to make it less painful they put the numbing gel on, but it honestly didn't feel like he put any on, he even said so. "Whoops, didn't put enough".. AFTER he gave the shots. All 8 of 'em.
Yesterday as I went to the dentist for the routine cleaning, they needed to take some X-Rays. As the nurse was sticking the cardboard in my mouth and told me to bite down, I did as she did, and I wasn't nice about it either, soon to discover that I bit down so violently that I bit her finger instead, not only did that happen ONCE, but TWICE. I felt bad. Oh well, she deserved it for not whitening my teeth... just brushing them and flossing, which I do everyday. (Half of it, anyways :) The dentist came in and told me I have TWO cavities. TWO! I didn't even notice them, they're that small. I've never gotten any prevention stuff to prevent this kind of stuff from happening.. Are they doing this to torture me?
Luckily, she calmly explained that the two cavities I have are on the chewing surfaces of my teeth (isn't that where they all are?) and won't even be noticeable, and since they are in the groove of the chewing surfaces of my teeth, they are "easy" cavities. I hope that by the time I get them filled, they will not have increased in size so there may be the possibility of no novacaine, which is a good thing! I don't like cavities, I already have a million from my childhood. They could've at least attempted to prevent these (or any) from happening. Or they could've given me fluoride to lighten the moment (and my teeth), that at least would've made my day a little brighter (no pun intended).