— 4 —
Speaking of Braces, Ranger and Chiquita had braces put on their teeth a couple weeks ago, on April 29th! (This is just phase one of two phases for Chiquita.) I never would have thought we’d find a way to put the first two through braces, let alone four children in less than two years time, but it has all worked out. We signed up for dental insurance the year before last and I was so excited to find out at the consultation for these two that our benefits had increased by an extra $1,000 per child! (We still owed $1000 for Captain’s braces, so that brought his balance down to $0!!) Between the insurance benefits, family discount, and the pre-tax funds we have been putting into a Medical Flexible Spending Account to go right to the orthodontist each year, we haven’t had to come up with any extra monthly payments. Such a blessing!
I am a little nervous about how that front tooth of his is going to hold up through the movement… Praying it stays together!
— 5 —
On April 30th we (I) drove to a small DMV a couple hours away so that my husband could
take his driving test without having to wait for a mid-May appointment at any of the local DMVs.
He passed the test and it turned into a nice day-trip for our family, and the perfect opportunity to see my youngest brother at college. We had fun at the park and took him out to dinner before driving home.
 |
| Mashed Potatoes for the two suffering children on Day 2 of Braces… |
Even though Sean passed the driver’s tests it still took two weeks of us going in circles before he was able to get his license. The problem was he didn’t have a copy of his birth certificate, and Vital Check would not send him a copy until he showed valid photo ID – specifically a Driver’s license or passport, both of which were expired. His government issues work ID was not acceptable. Another option was to have his signature notarized after completing a special form/oath stating you are who you say you are, that is if you can find a notary who will work with you without valid photo idea… We called quite a few before our bank said they’d accept his debit card. THEN, after faxing that in, we had yet another denial since the notary copied his notary seal expiration date down incorrectly as Apr 4, 2014… Once again expired. He scheduled an appointment to try one more time, and in the meantime asked his parents to see if they could get him a copy. Two birth certificates arrived in the mail on Monday and he finally received his new valid driver’s license yesterday!
Moral of the story: Make sure you have a certified copy of your birth certificate and don’t let your driver’s license expire!
— 6 —
The Sunday before last, looking ahead at our schedule for the week with all the planned excavation/tutors/testing/book sale/doctor appointments/company arriving, I realized there was no way I could put off grocery shopping any longer and decided to go to Costco and Trader Joe’s before they closed. As I was trying to hurry and squeeze the last couple bags in the van around 8:30pm, before I was soaked from the rain, I shut the sliding door and was about to open the front door when it beeped. Somehow the van had decided to re-lock itself and I was stuck outside. My purse and phone were sitting inside. A nice older man overheard me saying “Nonononononono!!!!” and asked if I was okay. He kindly let me borrow his phone so I could call home and ask my husband to drive down to town (40 minutes each way) with his temporary license and the spare key! He asked if I was kidding… If only! I’m sure God is trying to teach us something through all of this… Patience, perhaps?
— 7 —
Last Friday night my friend Juliana came for a short overnight visit with her three boys! Many of the best memories from my teenage years include her, MI camps, and my frequent trips to the coast to visit. She lives a few hours away and we don’t see her very often. It was so nice to stay up late visiting, and to see our children have so much fun together!
On Saturday they left to attend a First Holy Communion, and I spent the day with my girls! First we met up with many of the women that live on our road for the monthly luncheon, then we headed to the Church for a double baby shower for our Pastor’s Assistant and TT’s godmother’s new sister-in-law who just moved to the area when her husband moved back for a job at the parish. It was nice to meet her and the baby shower was lovely!
The girls helped me pick out a darling outfit and blanket for one of the mamas (which we thought she might like having just moved from Florida) to pair with some
white booties from Sew Many Booties.
Sean and I wanted to give the other new couple, who we’ve enjoyed getting to know this past year, one of our own favorite
(and defintiely the most used over the past 14 years) baby gear items, along with some
soft green booties for this green lovin’ mama!
It has been such a busy month! On Sunday we had our
Latin Mass/Potluck (following a 7 mile bike ride in the morning with my older boys on my new Mother’s Day gift!) and Monday our company arrived. Somewhere in there
(thanks to staying up 36 hours straight – I’m really getting too old for this! lol) I did manage to
host the Spring book sale, and then mail out everyone’s book orders!
(THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!) As fun as it has been I am looking forward to
at least a few quiet days before our summer activities begin, and maybe I’ll have a chance to share our Easter/Birthday photos… I’m starting to wonder if that is just wishful thinking! 😉
For additional Quick Takes visit
Conversion Diary, author of the newly released book
Something Other than God! I have my pre-ordered copy sitting on my nightstand along with
The Little Oratory and I’m hoping to find the time to read them soon… If not, at least I’ll still have something to read when our first session of swimming lessons begin on May 27th!
Oh my, you have been more busy that we have! How nice to get to visit with friends for the week. We have had a lot of visitors these past two months, every other weekend, and that's just gearing us up for the summer visits, as well! We miss your family; my kids see your kids on the blog and ask "when are we going to see them again?" Hopefully, soon! You should still make that trip over here to the coast soon, the weather is unbelievably nice (mostly) lately. Hubby goes on vacation for the next two weeks, and we are so ready, yet already feel like two weeks is NOT long enough!
2014-05-17 18:50:54
Is there a certain dental insurance you recommend? I thought your comment about the insurance interesting. We are in a similar situation, but so far haven't done the braces because of the costs.
2014-05-18 01:50:43
My copy of The Little Oratory arrived Friday, but soccer all day Saturday has kept me from it. Hopefully Sunday after Mass I'll have some time. We have one out of braces, one almost out and one starting with some spacers in a week, ay yi yi!
2014-05-18 03:45:11
Whew! Sounds like you have a lot on your plate, but at least some of it is fun! Sending prayers for enough energy to make it through. 🙂 Hoping you can find time to share some photos from Easter and Chiquita's birthday, but maybe without written commentary to save you time?
2014-05-18 06:51:57
Jessica, I enjoyed reading about your days — what a ride — I can only say that I get it! It seems the same sort of craziness has been our lot these past few weeks. With the end of school here, the amount of school related activities increases each year….making it harder for me to keep up. It seems I always forget and lose track of something!!!! Most recently, losing track of a confirmation meeting. oops! At least she knows her catechism.
2014-05-19 06:17:32
My husband has always had the option of signing up for dental insurance though his employer, but we put of adding it for the longest time, opting to put the money we would be paying for the monthly premiums towards paying for cleanings, etc, ourself. For the longest time that was the most cost effective way for us to go. It wasn't until a couple years ago, when our son had his tooth injury, another son needed four fillings do to unpreventable cavities, the quantity of cleanings we now need for our family, and the orthodontist, that we were really wishing we had the insurance and that it made sense to sign up. We looked at all the plans available and ended up choosing GEHA Connection Dental. It has a 12 month wait for orthodontia, so we didn't qualify for any of the benefits for our oldest daughter (she'll be able to use them for her second phase in a couple years), but as long as the child is still receiving active treatment it will cover the costs (pro-rated) of the remaining treatment. It was such a blessing to be able to use the maximum $2500 (per person – which just increased from $1500 per person!) in benefits towards our oldest son's bill, as well as on these next two sets of braces. The dental benefits will only cover about 1/2 of the overall costs, so that is why we have also been putting the maximum allowed ($2500 per year – or $96.15 per pay period) into the Flex Medical Savings Account. Each pay period, the specified amount is deducted from my husband's gross pay before federal income, state income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes are calculated! So that ends up being another nice discount, being able to pay with pre-tax funds! It is still definitely a challenge, but we've managed to make it work so far. I hope you are able to find dental coverage that will help your situation!
2014-05-19 20:42:36
We have that exact same playground at a park near us here in Arkansas, lol. So it was a surprise to see your boys on it, my first thought was, "What? Why would she be in ARKANSAS?!" lol
2014-05-20 19:08:35
Thank you so much! That was very helpful. I will look into the insurance and hope that it will be beneficial for us as well. By the way, I am sorry about your ear infection. When I turned 40 I had my first ear infection and was so surprised about how much they can hurt. Ever since I periodically get them again (or a sinus infection). What has helped me is to cut down on sugar and grains. Have a wonderful Sunday.
2014-05-25 01:18:03