While Moping About No Pumpkin Pie, I Found This:

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Lord, you are the Creator and abundant Giver of all good things. You have outstretched your hand to me, the lowliest of sinners.

I will never merit your grace and mercy. Your favor towards me is undeserved. You are altogether holy, and lovely. If it not for Christ's sacrifice on my behalf, I could never stand in your presence.

Thank you Father for your provision. Thank you Jesus for your friendship. Thank you Spirit for your fellowship. I praise You and am humbled by your graciousness to me this day and all others.

Amen.

Can I get an Amen?

Opera Buffa = Perfect Way to Start Your Break

Figaro was amazing! It was so funny and so well done - I loved it! For all the studying of Mozart I've done, I never really knew how funny this opera was until I read the libretto. Then on stage, they did such a good job! We went the last night, so unfortunately, I can't encourage you to go see it now, but if you like classical music in the slightest, I highly recommend this opera if you ever get the chance. Don't worry, they have the English above the stage for the non-Italian speaking among us. What a great birthday present!

So it was nice to get a little dressed up and have a quiet dinner together and sit at the opera (for 4+ hours!) and just relax. No house, no school, just some good entertainment from my favorite composer. Next on the list....Don Giovanni. Maybe in the new opera house....

Thankful...

1. That I'm out of school for a week.
2. That I have a husband working so hard to build me a house.
3. That I get to go to the opera tomorrow and enjoy some culture for a change.
4. For good friends that check up on me...even if it's early in the morning and I haven't had my coffee. Brave.
5. For coffee.
6. For parents who let us stay with them even though the cats puke on the carpet.
7. For DVR - no other way to watch t.v. when you're this busy.
8. For hobbies so I can keep my sanity.
9. For Jesus so I can keep my sanity.
10. For keeping up with old friends on the Internet.
11. For blankets and warm socks on cold nights.
12. For a brother who can cook up a mean chicken.
13. For the opportunity to go to dental school so I can serve others and the Lord. Even though I complain about it all the time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Semester Wind-down

Believe it or not, as the semester winds down, we just found out our grades for our first practical in our fixed prosth class. Crazy, right? Yeah, I thought you'd agree. So here's the story. We prepped a bridge in late Sept or early Oct. I thought I did ok minus some damage to an adjacent tooth - something that will improve over time and with REAL teeth. A month passes. This Monday they show ppt slides of practicals that were good/decent and practicals that were, well, failures to be exact. Remember that tooth damage thing? Well, one of those failures had pretty much the exact same damage as mine. And the preps showed signs that their maker struggled with similar issues that I struggled with. Torture! Plain torture! So I spent the week preparing my mind and heart for a possible disappointment come 5pm today. They told us Monday, that if you fail, you will have to redo the preps and they will give you 2 teeth in your box to do so. So a lot of us said we were just hoping to open our boxes and find no extra teeth inside and all would be good.

So today was a long day. I worked really hard all during fixed this afternoon and I'm slowly getting caught up (post the removable drama). When 4:00 rolled around, I started getting knots in my stomach. I kept working right up until 5:00 and went to get my box - the death march. I walked past numerous people pouring over the comments made on their projects, dreading what I would find. I got my key, opened my project locker, pulled out my box and walked back in the lab. I opened the lid, pulled back the flaps, and there was a tooth sitting at the bottom of my box. No, there were 2 teeth. Wait! Four teeth? What? Are you kidding me? My heart sank. Why would I have to do the preps twice? Were they that bad? I didn't even want to look at the paper. I pulled out my typodonts and looked at my preps. They really weren't that bad. What is going on here? Utter disappointment. But a bit of a peace because I spent so much time preparing myself with Truth so I wouldn't let it get to me.

So I pulled out the paper and looked for the grades at the bottom. 87 and 86? Why are there teeth in my box? Oh. The teeth would be taped to my paper if I had to redo them. Not just floating around in the bottom of the box. Oh! Huh. So the picture in the slides wasn't a picture of my teeth. Oh. Ok.

I never really got excited about it, just relieved. I shall not want. Just ready to put all this behind me. Never mind that we just turned in waxing practicals that we won't get back until mid-Decemberish.

Clinging to the Last Verse

I saw the last verse posted on another blog and realized I'd never seen the other verses to our National Anthem. So here's the whole thing. I voted, but I've been generally put out by this entire election, all the hype, all the discord - I've really just stuck my fingers in my ears and tried to survive dental school. God is still God, still the ultimate One in Charge no matter what happens. I just hope I can pay back my loans one day : )

The Star Spangled Banner

(The Defense of Fort McHenry)September 20, 1814 By Francis Scott Key

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!