The beginning of September

 Whenever I sign in on here it shows a post or two at the bottom under the heading "popular posts."  It usually stays the same but today it showed two different posts so I clicked on them to see what I had written and all I can say is that I'm so grateful for the chance to mature and soften.  I had such firm ideas and responses to things that I actually didn't know a lot about yet.  I would hate for someone to judge who I am by my younger self.  That self was a good person but kinda naive and very black and white in many cases.  

Anyway, moving on.

We survived last month.  Piper had her wisdom teeth removed on the 28th of August.  She also had to have an exposure and bonding procedure done at the same time.  That fifth tooth was the main reason we ended up at the oral surgeon's office.  She lost her baby tooth over a year ago and the permanent tooth wouldn't come down on it's own.  She also hasn't gotten her 12 year old molars but I wasn't worried because her brothers didn't get theirs until they were 15 but the x-rays showed the wisdom teeth trying to come in sideways and on top of her molars, making it impossible for molars to come in, so they decided to take them out while she was have the exposure and bonding procedure done.  

We confirmed, once again, that the red head gene does, in fact, make gingers act differently with anesthesia than others.  She was given the medication and immediately her eyes glazed and she started acting funny, saying the walls were sliding upwards, that she couldn't identify anyone if she was thrown in a room with people she knew, that she wanted to have a conversation but then would start staring at the walls.  She kept saying, "I can't talk.  Let me lock in." Lots of slurring and lots of confusion about the oxygen tube on her face. The doctor told me that Piper actually never went to sleep fully.  They continued to give her more and more medication until they felt it wasn't safe to give her more and she was still awake.  Thankfully, she was out of it enough that all she remembers is the music playing in the background, the nurse typing on the computer and saying, "Just a second Honey!", and that she kept waving her hand to let them know she was awake.  

She recovered really well.  The doctor predicted that because she was so young, her recovery would go smoother and easier than many people and that seems to be the case.  I'm grateful because I really needed her to recover quickly.  

Carol, Mike's mom, came into town the day before.  She was a great help and I was able to leave Piper at the oral surgeon's office with Carol there so I could run and grab Felicity from school early (she had testing at the school so she only had a half day).  Carol also helped clean and do laundry and helped to get ready for Mike's promotion/party.

Steve and Andy (Mike's mom and brother) flew in on Sunday.  We spent Sunday evening and Monday morning finishing up getting ready for the party.  The girls had to go to school in the morning and then I picked them up from school, had them change into nice clothes, and we all packed into the car to go get the cupcakes for the promotion ceremony before heading up to base to meet Mike.  He had to take us in two trips because you can't get into the student's area without clearance.  He had the promotion ceremony held in the lab so we couldn't get there on our own.  It was a really nice ceremony and I felt so proud of Mike and the choices he's made to get that promotion.  He made choices along the way that he was sure would hinder him from becoming a colonel but I think God blessed him for making those decisions and I am grateful we always tried to follow promptings.  Mike had the girls pin his new rank on and I just supervised them.  It was special for them, I think.  He also got his mom, the girls, and me flowers.  Felicity hasn't ever gotten a bouquet of flowers for herself before so she felt really special.  After the ceremony we quickly cleaned everything and headed home to set up.  Thankfully, my friend and her husband came early to help us.  We had a really good turn out and I was so happy for so many people to come and celebrate with Mike.  

Now everyone is gone and we have rolled into September and I couldn't be happier.  There were a lot of really wonderful things that happened for us this month and many that were emotionally draining.  So, here we are with a new month.  Both girls are getting tested for learning disabilities this month and Isaac comes home--in 4 days!