Wednesday remix - with a pull and a prayer

Your words of encouragement in regards to my swimming victories are spurring me on! Thank you, friends and family! In subsequent posts, I want to share what I'm learning, less about swimming techniques per se, but the greater aspects of my quest for aquatic magnificence.

They have nothing to do with today's post
but seriously, aren't they adorable?

Oh, and love, I want to share glimpses into love between a Soldier and his bonita. But more on that later...


Until then, I came upon something I wrote eight years ago about Aaron and a loose tooth. Still brings a grin to my heart...


Call me a wimp. Call me a baby. Call me the worst mother in the world. I don't care, I just couldn't do it. 


Aaron's loose tooth would have to stay in his mouth until he could pull it. I'm not a good gore person and if you haven't seen a tooth dangling from your kid's mouth lately, one day you'll understand. Strange as it may seem, the Lord used this experience to draw Aaron closer to him in a real and tangible way.


Losing a tooth isn't an easy thing for the W-H's. Some families' teeth casually slip out one day with nary a wiggle. Our OS's teeth are very stubborn. They like where they live and can be freeloading tenants. Aside from myself, I've only assisted one person in losing a tooth.


(Enter 70's time machine...) One day accidentally on purpose I punched my sister Lorri in the mouth during a fight in the station wagon. While our parents were out of the vehicle, I gave her a knuckle sandwich which consequently sent her tooth flying. 

No knuckle sandwich necessary in this pic!

We searched and searched but never located the tooth and thanks to my natural charm and urgent begging, Mom and Dad never found out.


(Return from time machine...) Our middle OS lost his first two teeth at the dentist's office. With a few good yanks, the dentist produced two adorable baby teeth which Aaron happily placed under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy.

I don't recommend Aaron as a dentist
but oh the personality!

Now with budgetary concerns, Aaron's loose tooth would have to leave the old-fashioned way. Each morning, Aaron showed me how loose his tooth was getting. For two days, my OS lingered in the bathroom, the only tools to expel the tooth being his boyishly dirty fingers and toilet paper which he used as a gripping device. Meanwhile I stood in the hallway clutching my stomach afraid I was going to pass out. He might as well have been giving himself an appendectomy, it grossed me out so much!


With utter determination, Aaron pulled and grabbed his central incisor. Possessing all the courage an eight year old can muster, he shut the bathroom door and with amazing bravery, mightily tore at the remaining root. Free at last, free at last, the battle was won, the tooth was out!


However, that wasn't the only time Aaron lost that tooth.

I can't believe we still have this in the house!

At bedtime, he prepared to put it under the pillow. It was the first tooth he had ever personally pulled and suddenly, he could no longer find it. He cried and searched. We combed the house looking for it. Maybe it's in his pants in the washing machine, I wondered so we jetted downstairs only to find soggy jeans with empty pockets. This tooth was originally placed in a special Tooth Fairy container, where was it now?


That night as Aaron lay on his bed, dejected and forlorn, he asked me to join him in prayer. Aaron led the intercession and though I don't remember what he said, Someone did. My OS drifted into sleep hoping that God, in His mercy, would locate the missing tooth in time for the Tooth Fairy to make her delivery.

I was even more surprised to find this assortment of 
dental treasures! Why are we saving these? 

In the wee hours of the night (pun intended), I awoke at 1 am and used the bathroom downstairs. Normally I frequent the potty in the master bedroom but for some reason I didn't and...yep,  

"You found me!"

that's when I spotted it. Aaron's Tooth Fairy container and the pearly white  he had misplaced in the downstairs bathroom!

Aaron woke up in the early morning with a huge smile, astonished that the Tooth Fairy had actually arrived. A crisp one-dollar bill magically was found under his pillow. He was delighted but as for me, observing what was placed in Aaron's heart was more valuable. As I shared in his excitement, my OS told me, "I'm glad I prayed. It actually works. God is real!"

Matthew 18:19 says, "Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." Aaron humbled himself before the Lord and received his heart's desire. If I would have yanked that tooth on my own, perhaps he wouldn't have seen in a very real way how the Lord values all of our supplications.


With a couple of tugs and a simple prayer, Aaron received a true wisdom tooth and a tiny, shiny bright testimony to God's faithfulness. 


Gotta a tooth story? Ever entered a 70's time machine? I'd love to hear!