thanks!

after listening to a message yesterday about being thankful in all circumstances… it brought back memories of a november twelve years ago i'd rather forget.

and strangely, i'm thankful.

second grade

four months before the accident

so thanks, josh, you burly twelve-year-old child with possible tourette's and ADD…for smashing my eight-year-old's face into a brick wall. thanks for taking his big {new} pearly whites and introducing them to the cinder blocks. with such force that two were found in the recesses of his sinus cavity. the other was dental confetti, found in his socks and scattered on the gym floor.

thank you, Lord, for giving me the peace that surpasses all understanding. because there is no way that i could have remembered to turn off the stove before rushing out the door and driving calmly to the rec center that day. and praying all the way there. that was all you… because frankly, this relationship thing we had going on was a pretty new thing at this point.

thank you to the lady from the rec center who called me and gave me just enough information to get me there quickly… thanks for skipping all the bloody details and the fact that my kids mouth was a train wreck.
thanks, Lord for keeping my eyeballs in my sockets upon first glance, and thanks for giving me academy-award-acting-skills as i reassured my in-shock-child that we were just going to pop in and see dr. henson {whom my children still called dr. "handsome" as they still thought this was his name} for a quick look at {for} his teeth.
thanks, bamagirl, for dragging my nice leather purse down the sidewalk as you wailed all the way to the car. seeing all this drama was just a little bit much for your newly seven-year-old self. i'll never forget your wide-eyed shock as you stood by silently taking it all in… silent until you started bawling. thankful that you cried for the both of us… because i died a little bit inside that day.
thanks lady who was in dr. handsome's chair. thanks for going to sit in the lobby with your little bib thing still strapped around your neck. i'll never forget you grabbing a seat while still holding your partial in your hand. you made a place for my boy…you rock lady!
thanks Lord for bringing me to the dentist instead of heading right to the emergency room. that decision saved a lot of time and would have cost us the chance to have boywonder seen by an maxillofacial specialist within minutes of the "accident."
thanks dr. w. for not having closed yet for the day. we squealed in there minutes before closing and that in itself is a miracle. and thanks too, dr. handsome for personally carrying boywonder down the stairs to dr. w's office that "just happened" to be right downstairs. Lord… you rock!

the summer after the accident… his front tooth is above the gumline where the orthodontist tried to "coax" it back into place. it ended up dying… and having to be excavated in a three hour, super invasive surgery

thanks dr. w. for having boywonder in surgery within minutes of seeing the films. while your quick action got him put {sorta} back together again, it didn't exactly save the teeth… but at least he had something there for two years.
thanks, insurance company, for denying the claim. apparently you cover "accidents," not "purposes." and by thanks i'm being kinda sarcastic. i'm thankful that the system "works" and by "working" i mean the third of the settlement that boywonder really needed that ended up in the lawyer's bank account. thankful that we could provide another fountain for the front of his estate. yay.

 his soccer coach gave him the nickname "smiley" because no matter how hot, how awful, how hard, how bad… boywonder was always smiling. 

thankful especially, Lord, for you and how you showed up in such tangible ways that day. the way you gathered your people at our side at the surgeon's office. we had never encountered that kind of Love that day… waiting alongside us and praying without ceasing. that was huge. thanks for providing the support on our doorstep as we came home later that night. having friends… and our pastor… waiting for us made me weep. we've never been provided for like that in so many ways.
thanks for your peace, Lord. we saw you show up HUGE that day. and for new kids in your family, Lord, you showered us beyond our wildest dreams with yourself. and thanks, Lord, for the opportunity to extend mercy and grace to Josh and his family. even though his apology was inadequate and not from the heart, it was so awesome to see boywonder offer forgiveness through his busted up lips and swollen face.
thank you Lord, for the Christian radio station that called and told us we'd won tickets to see UT play football. that was an unexpected surprise and boywonder was THRILLED. what perfect timing!

less than excited to have braces put on {again} just before his junior year. 

thankfully, they were removed just in time for senior pictures.

senior prom. never missed a chance to yuk it up.

thanks for a crackerjack medical/dental team that worked painstakingly over the past 12 years to reconstruct boywonder's mouth. twelve root canals, orthodontics for six years, and more oral surgeries than i can count {seriously… i've lost count}.

kinda goofy look… but this is the swollen face not from wisdom teeth extraction but from a huge bone graft.

thanks, Lord for what we hope is the last major surgery for boywonder. thanks for the healing and for the gentle, nimble hands of dr. h. and her team. she is the bomb!

thanks for your amazing resiliance, boywonder. for your ability to laugh through this entire ordeal. from the day after the incident… upon your first glance of the carnage… how you shrugged your shoulders and sighed. then said through a swollen mouth… too late for halloween! how you flip out your teeth on your retainer to shock people with a toothless smile. your "magic teeth" are legendary. your ability to smile… despite a messed up grill… never ceases to amaze me. thank you Lord, for a sunshiney disposition. you have given us such joy in the midst of so much pain.

thanks Lord. you continue to teach us so much through this process. mercy. grace. patience. perseverance. humor. love.
i can't imagine weathering this storm… this incredibly long journey… without you, Lord. thank you for inviting us in to your family. thank you for leading by example… for loving us well. three weeks later, we'd be reeling again from my dad's unexpected passing… we seriously could not have survived november without you, Lord!

it's a work in progress… and we're super thankful for photoshop!

we are better for having traveled this path.