New Callings!

Yep, you guessed it! We have new callings. James has been the Young Men's president for the last year. The thing that makes this calling hard (for him, his counselor and the young men) is that with his job he has not been able to be to church more than twice since February. No meetings, no lessons, nothing! And a lot of the time he was not able to go to the Wednesday night activities. They ended up giving him a second counselor about a month ago and he didn't even know it! So, they have asked him to be the second counselor in the young men's presidency. This will work out well. He will not be required to be at the 7:00 a.m. meetings and right now his shift allows him to be to church and when we switch hours in January his schedule will shift shortly afterwards to mid's and he will be able to go to church then! He loves being with the young men and he is the only 'man's man' i.e. likes camping, knows about scouting stuff (and actually likes it) in the y.m. and they really like that about him. haha

Now, I have LOVED my calling! I teach in Relief Society on the 4th Sunday of each month. I am really going to miss that calling. However, I am so excited about my new calling. I am the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society! So, I will still be able to teach every three months. Plus, I LOVE being in there with the sisters. This way I can stay there! They ended up reorganizing all the programs except High Priest's and Elder's Quorum, but seeing as how our Elder's Quorum president is moving this week that will be done as well.

I am really excited for both of us. I have been stressing about his other calling since he got it. I didn't want people to think he was just a slacker! He had the old Young Women's president yell at him and chew him out once (he didn't tell me, she did), and when I told her what his schedule was she was so embarrassed. I was just worried that other people would think the same thing about him without knowing what the situation was. I have learned in the past few years that you never know what is going on in someone's life and you have no idea why they make the choices they do, so you should not judge at all. Hard to remember sometimes, but extremely important!

Parker and the dentist...part two! (one more to come)

Yesterday James took Parker in to the dentist to hopefully have his tooth pulled. We figured it would go better with James than with me. James had decided that part of the problem last time was that Parker didn't trust the dentist. He caught her lying to him and then didn't believe anything she said. We talked to him about the shot and how it would make everything go numb so he wouldn't feel the rest. Dr. Billings (the new one) told him what she was going to do with the needle. She then pinched his hand and told him that is what it would feel like if he didn't move and then she pinched him a little harder and told him that is what it would feel like if he did move! He wiggled and she told him if he didn't hold still she would have to send him to San Diego to be completely put out to have it done. She told James she sends about one patient a month there. So he settled down, well at least for Parker. The dentist said to James 'he is still wiggling a bit' and James told her that was normal so she started to proceed. Now, as a side note, when Parker is excited, nervous etc. he moves all over the place. He is quite the wiggler. The first dentist said that she was going to drain the abscess and then pull the tooth. Dr. Billings said that she didn't want to make more holes in his mouth than she had to so she was going to pull it and then drain it from the hole where he tooth was. She gave him a shot (that didn't hurt...I don't get it. Why do mine aways hurt?!) and proceeded to pull the tooth and drain the 'twin'. She gave him a plastic tooth to put his real tooth in. He was so excited! He wore it as a necklace until it came time to put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy. Kylee was quite adamant that the tooth fair didn't exist and so she was shocked with Parker had money under his pillow this morning! haha When they got home from the dentist Parker showed me the hole and I almost threw up! I was thinking about going to school for nursing, but if I can't handle a little hole like that I don't think I could cut it as a nurse! He will go back in in a month to have the spacers put in. I didn't know this, but those teeth don't usually come in until the kids are 12 or 13 years old! He has to be careful for the next few days not to suck or swish things around in his mouth. He has a blood clot that need to set and doing those things could pull it out and then he would get 'dry socket' which I guess really hurts and could get infected. The joys of teeth! One good thing about it is that Parker had a good experience with her so he is not afraid of the dentist. James was also impressed with her, so now we have a dentist for the kids. Now all I have to do is find a doctor for them! I have only been here 14 months!

Here he is eating his lunch right before his appointment. I wanted to make sure he had some food because who knew when he would be able to eat again! James didn't think it was a good idea right before the dentist, but I told him she could clean it out if he needed too!

Do you think she is cleaning out his Doritos?

Lets help keep that mouth open!

Getting ready. This was the last picture James was allowed to take before the procedure. She said it was because of the flash. I think she wanted to cover her behind if something happened that shouldn't. She wouldn't want it on film!

Here we are, minus a tooth. Don't ask me why the pictures have moved to the middle of the screen. I don't know!

The gauze in the mouth to stop the bleeding. There doesn't seem to be any lasting damage judging by the grin on his face!

YUCK!!!!!

Here is the tooth. After looking at it I don't know how the dentist in Mexico didn't know it was bad. You can see it from the side and back!!! Poor Parker! Now, this is his first tooth that has come out...hopefully some will come out on their own!

Parker and the Dentist. Part one

When we first moved to California we decided that we would go to Mexico for our dental work. Now, before you all come undone about that decision you should know that people come from all over the U.S. and Canada to Algadones to have their dental work done. It is TONS cheaper and quicker. My grandparents have been going to a particular office for years and James and I have gone there before. So, in August we took Parker and Kylee in for their checkup for school. Parker had been have some pain in his lower right gum/tooth molar. The dentist looked at it and said that he had gotten some food stuck in it and then when he picked at it with his fingernail it caused the gum to hurt. She told us to keep his hands out of his mouth...ummmm he is 7 years old. Trying to keep his hands out of mouth is like trying to not eat a pan of warm brownies that is sitting right in front of you! So, for the next two months we kept saying 'Get your hands out of your mouth. That is why it is hurting.' Now, it was not hurting all of the time, so we were not overly concerned about it. A week and a half ago Parker came up to me and said 'Mom, look at my tooth'. AHHHHH!!!!! He had a HUGE growth on the side of his gum! I thought I was going to throw up! I told James I was going to get him in the next morning. He said 'are you taking him to Mexico?'. Nope, it was to far for me. I wanted to get him in right away, plus I did not want to take Kylee out of school. So, I found a dentist here (remember, we don't have dental insurance) and took him in. He has an abscess and a huge cavity that has been growing for at least a year. It has exposed his nerve and all they can do is pull the tooth and put in some spacers for the incoming adult tooth! My poor boy! She said that they could try to do a root canal but it usually does not work on baby teeth. Now, because of his twin growing in his mouth they couldn't do it right then. He had to be put on antibiotics for a week. He loved taking the medicine, in fact he kept trying to get me to give it to him early. So, we went in yesterday (the growth had gone down some but was still there) and the dentist looked at it and said that she would have to drain it (YUCK!!!) and then she would pull the tooth. She put the pre-numbing medicine in his mouth and then tried to cover his eyes so he could not see the ginormous needle coming his way. Well, he saw it and then he was having nothing to do with that! He would not open his mouth, keep his hands away from his face or stop moving all over the seat! She tried being firm with him and he just laughed (his mechanism for dealing with his fear) and that annoyed her! After 15 minutes of trying to poke him she pretty much kicked us out. She told us she had other people to work on and we would need to go to another dentist. I was NOT happy with Parker. This is now 2 full days of school missed and nothing has been done yet! I called the other dentist and she said that she would get Parker in that day. James took him in and all she did (besides make them sit in the waiting room for almost an hour) was meet Parker so that he would be comfortable with her on Thursday when he would go back.....thus the part one of this story! I am keeping my fingers crossed that there is only one more part and not more! Now, I should also mention that while I am sure the dentists in that part of Mexico are great, we are NEVER going back there again! James will be signing us up for dental insurance and we will get it taken care of stateside!

This is the 'twin' on the morning of the 1st appointment!

Here it is a week after taking the medicine. It has gone down some, bu see the nasty white bumps? ewww!!!

He is waiting for the second appointment. Notice the smile? He has no idea about the needle yet!

This was right before he saw the needle and he still trusted the dentist!

This is the waiting room of the second dentist. James is on the phone with me while I am giving him instructions! lol

This is the second dentist making 'contact' with the patient! Hopefully she has some gas for him tomorrow!

Is it cold?

I am freezing! I can't believe it! One year ago I was making fun of people (yes, truly making fun of people) for thinking that low 70's high 60's was cold. Well, right now it is 67 degrees and I am freezing cold! I am going to get a big blanket and a cup of hot chocolate as soon as I am done with this post. I did not drink one cup of hot chocolate last year because it was not cold enough. So, I have come to the sad conclusion that I have acclimatized to the El Centro weather. I can't believe it! I feel like a huge wimp and I know in my mind that it is not cold, but my body is FREEZING!!!! Hot chocolate, here I come!

Friendships

Isn't is wonderful how friendships work? We can be friends with someone, not see them or talk to them or years, then one day we are able to meet up and it seems like old times! I just got done talking on facebook for 30 minutes and then on the phone for an hour with my first missionary companion. I haven't talked to her since I served with her in the fall of 1993! It was so wonderful to catch up with her on what is going on in our lives and to reminisce on the mission times. The moment I heard her voice it was like I went back in time. I could see her face and remembered all of the wonderful (and not so wonderful) things that we experienced. It was also so nice to hear a New Zealand accent!

I then started thinking about all of the other friends that I have connected with via blogs and facebook that I have known even longer. When I told James that in a year and a half it will be 20 years since I graduated from high school he was shocked by how old I suddenly was! Anyway, I have friends from farther back than that! It is wonderful to be able to talk by computer with them, see pictures of their families and read about things that they are doing, and to feel an interest in them and a desire for their happiness. What a wonderful blessing that is for us. I bet that is what it will be like in the next life. We will see people that we haven't seen for so long, but have all of those same wonderful feelings for them that we had before. So, to all of my friends, old and new, I am happy to have you in my life (in whatever capacity it happens to be). I love the memories that I have and the ones to come in the future. Thank you all for everything, and keep in touch!

Help!

Okay, I am not sure what in the world happened to my blog. I tried to change my background (and didn't even get the full picture) and when I went to view my blog ALL of my stuff was gone! The blogs I follow, the books I love, my information, EVERYTHING!!!!! How in the world did that happen? I know that I am so computer illiterate, but jeez! So, any of the wonderful people who come across my blog 'HELP!!!!'. I think that I seriously need it! (Katie, where are you when I need you?!) I want to change my backgrounds whenever I want, but still keep my stuff. I have seen other people do it, so I know that there is a way.