Highlights from Semester 1, Year 2

Another semester down! Robbie is in the other room in his post-finals coma but, being the morning person I am, I couldn't sleep past 6:30 so the first thing I wanted to do was get a blog post written.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Robbie's semester just ended yesterday. It feels like he just started his second year maybe a month ago (though the -4 degrees F outside confirms to me it's not September). I have heard from numerous sources that the first semester of second year is supposed to be the hardest mostly because of the volume of classes. (Seriously. 27. Credit. Hours. When I told my best friend that she asked, "Isn't that illegal or something!?" haha)

Honestly, it went by so quickly that I didn't have much time to mope. It's sort of like that feeling of ripping off a band-aid, only this semester was a GIANT band-aid and now I'm just feeling a little dazed and thinking, "What just happened?" Not only did I go from staying at home to working 40+ hours a week, but it seems like there was something planned with friends or family almost every weekend. I made the hour drive up to Fort Collins more times than I can count.

Here are the highlights of what happened this semester.

1) BABETOBERFEST
We threw a fall-themed baby shower for my oldest sister, Altair. I really owe a lot to Pinterest for inspiring the food, decor, and activities. We served a baked-potato bar, bratwurst, and lots of little finger foods.

That is a red-velvet cream cheese ball. Thank you Pinterest. You have opened my eyes.

My sister, Deborah, being silly with the mommy-to-be, Altair.

You can't go wrong with mini pumpkin pies. They were fantastic!! Thanks again Pinterest!

I made pre-printed pages of the whole alphabet and each guest drew a picture with crayon.

Here is one that I made. You know you're a 90's kid if you know who this is.

2) RODIZIO GRILL DATE
Rodizio Grill is an amazing Brazilian restaurant where the servers walk around with huge skewers of all different kinds of meats and if you want some then they will carve chunks off onto your plate. I loved all the food but my favorite part was the fried plantains. It's normally way too expensive for us to go, but I snagged a deal on groupon that gave us half off.

Robbie loved the little thing used to signify to the waiters if you wanted more food. When it was on red, they knew to leave you alone. When it was on green, they knew to bring more food. I think he just liked the concept of having unlimited access to more food any time he wanted.

Enjoying some really nice wine.

3) CHAUNCEY CAME HOME
I seriously love squirrels but one squirrel in particular is my favorite. His name is Chauncey. He has big fluffy red ears and he's tame enough to take a nut from your hand. I hadn't seen him since last winter and I thought he had actually died but one magical Sunday morning, there he was outside our sliding glass door. I of course got really excited and opened the door right away to give him some walnuts.

You can see how excited I am and how unimpressed Riesy is.

After putting Riesy in the office, we opened the door and he came right in to get a nut.

Look how fluffy he is!!

And so plump!

4) OLIVE TIME
I got to spend lots of time with my niece, Olive. She was probably the main reason I made so many trips up from Denver this semester.

I love her dimples.

Stop it. Stop it right now.

 5) BABY LUKE WAS BORN
My oldest sister had her baby just a few days before Thanksgiving. We got to meet him the day after he was born but then Robbie and I both got colds so we haven't been able to spend much time with him yet. I can't wait to hold him some more once I'm better!

He was a big boy at over 8 lbs.

The proud papa

8) MY FRIENDS GOT ENGAGED
My friends, Dan and Chelsea, finally got engaged! He was smart enough to have his dad hide in full camouflage to take pictures. This makes my heart so happy.

7) WORKING AT THE DENTAL SCHOOL
What kept me most occupied this semester was working at the Dental School. I cannot say enough how much I love working there. The people are awesome, the work is interesting, and I get to have lunch almost every day with Robbie. You can't beat that!

Robbie saw his first patient. This was before the appointment.

I have no idea what any of this even means.

Exhausted and covered in dust from working in the lab for hours.

Placing teeth in a denture wax-up.

Me being cool with my awesome scanner in the Instrument Dispensary.

I am so thankful for all the wonderful experiences I had this semester. So many exciting things happened with my family. Praise God for bringing so many blessings into my life so I could cope with the stress of the last few months. He is so good!

Side by Side

I'm excited to share that I recently stumbled across the website for a group that is a ministry of the Christian Medical and Dental Association. The group is called Side by Side and, as their website explains, it is specifically for "women who are married to medical and dental students, residents, fellows, as well as staff physicians and dentists." I was able to get in contact with my local chapter and attended their first meeting for the school year on November 2nd.

Ever since Robbie started school, I have been trying to find a way to connect with as many other wives as possible who are in similar situations. I have met a few other Dental School wives through this blog and I know some of Robbie's classmate's wives, but I have yet to be able to enjoy regular hang-out time with a group of them. All the ladies that came were super friendly and I enjoyed hearing a little bit about each of their experiences.

On the downside, I was the only one there whose husband was in Dental School instead of Medical School. On the plus-side, hearing about the length of the Medical School process reminded me of how grateful I should be that Dental School is only four years, that a residency is not required, and that Dentistry in general is an extremely family-friendly field. I hope to get a few more of my fellow Dental School wives to start going with me to the biweekly meetings.

For my fellow Dental School wives reading this, you should check out Side by Side's website to see if there is a chapter in your area and let me know how things go for you!

Rocky

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you probably already know that I was recently introduced to the Rocky films for the first time in my life. So far, Robbie and I have only watched five of the six movies together but I keep asking one question, "Why has no one ever shown me this before now?!" The first Rocky film is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen in my entire life!

Not only is the acting impeccable and the dialogue superbly entertaining, but the story itself was the most elegant portrayal about the desires of a man's heart that I have ever seen in a film. If you know much about the making of Rocky, it was actually written by Sylvester Stallone when he was trying to make it into the movie industry. He approached studio after studio about it but refused to sell the rights unless  he was allowed to play Rocky because he felt so strongly about how the character should be portrayed (mostly, I'm guessing, because Rocky was a picture of himself).

My favorite aspect of Rocky was the relationship between Rocky and his girlfriend, Adrian. I am not a cryer at all when it comes to movies, but several of their interactions brought tears to my eyes because I connected with their experiences in such a deep level of my heart. In many ways, their relationship reminded me of Robbie and myself and the process of getting into/going through Dental School. One scene in particular comes the night before the "big fight" against Apollo Creed (his opponent who happened to be the World Heavyweight Champion). Rocky lays down on the bed next to Adrian and shares with her that he knows he can't win the fight. Then he tells her something profound.

"Ah come on, Adrian, it's true. I was nobody. But that don't matter either, you know? 'Cause I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood."

I think those few lines are what cause so many men to love this movie. Here's Rocky, this tough, hardened, ballsy guy about to face the biggest challenge of his life and in a moment of vulnerability he acknowledges his weakness and fear. Then he describes something that I believe God built into the heart of every man-- the desire to prove that he has what it takes, that he's not a phony.

What I like most about this scene is that in that moment of vulnerability, Adrian didn't try to convince Rocky that he could win. She didn't even tell him to not go to the fight out of her own fear of him getting hurt. She just laid there with him and held him. Without words she showed him that she believed in him as a man and would support him in whatever he decided to do about the fight (*spoiler* he still went to the fight the next day).

I think every Dental Student will have their serious moments of self doubt through the process. In those moments, I will have the opportunity to speak life into Robbie by standing alongside him, showing him I believe in him, and pointing him to the one who enables him to achieve what he's meant to achieve.

I remember one time, in particular, when Robbie came home completely crushed by the tasks he was facing in school. We parked the car at our apartment and before going inside I began to pray for him. After just a moment, I distinctly sensed God telling me, "Have Robbie pray." So I told Robbie and through his tears, he shared with Jesus what was making him afraid and asked for strength and confidence. Before my eyes, Robbie's appearance changed as a calmness washed over him. God is the one who lead Robbie to pursue dentistry in the first place so by coming to Him, Robbie received his "daily bread," the need for that moment, which was peace that he would be able to finish the race set before him.

I am confident in my husband's ability to become a Dentist because I am confident in my God's faithfulness and might. And when that (figurative) bell of Dental school rings and Robbie's still standing, Robbie will know that he has what it takes and will give all glory to God.

Time to Catch Up

Wow, three weeks since I last posted! I bet you all thought I had drowned in the Colorado floods!

In spite of the fact that I have family living in each of the cities that were hit the worst, none of them had any damage to their houses/cars/etc. Thank goodness! On Thursday the 12th, Aurora got pounded with rain and they decided to close the campus due to flooding. Although we live within 5 minutes of the school, it took us an hour and a half to get home because they completely closed off our street and we ended up going in a big circle with traffic. Before we left campus, two of Robbie's classmates decided to take advantage of the new lake developing.

Gotta love Dental Students.


Something else I've been busy with is making the invitations for my sister Altair's babyshower. They wanted to have more of a couples shower so I had to make sure the invitations weren't too cutesy (lest I should scare of some of their guy friends). We're going to have bratwurst and a baked potato bar so we decided to call it Babetoberfest (like Oktoberfest only a baby shower).

Robbie and I also headed up to Fort Collins last weekend for my sister's birthday. She had a Hawaiian themed party so I made a quick stop by the thrift store to grab a Hawaiian shirt before going over. As always, I had a great time holding my favorite niece, Olive.

Don't you just want to squeeze those adorable chubby legs and arms?!

This semester of Dental School has been flying by for both of us. I've been busy with work and Robbie has been crazy busy with studying and projects. In his Removables lab, they have been hard at work placing teeth in their wax up for dentures. One day this week I stayed on campus with him until about 7 while he and his lab partner worked on their denture.

This is the wax-up prior to having the teeth placed.

Apparently placing teeth in wax is a very messy process.

I'm always so impressed by him and the things he's learning!

This portion is ready to be sent to the lab to be fabricated into an upper denture. The pink wax that's holding the teeth is melted away and is replaced with acrylic by the lab.

If you're a Dental nerd or just curious about the process of Denture fabrication, here's a great video I found on YouTube (complete with a British narrator). Most General Practitioner Dentists do not place teeth in wax-ups themselves because it's too time consuming (the lab places the teeth). The school wants the students to know the process so they understand the need for all the measurements and specifications for their wax-ups.

My job is still going really well. Yesterday, my supervisor and I spent the whole day counting/organizing inventory since we don't have students in our clinic on Fridays. I'm getting a lot more familiar with the materials we have in the dispensary and where they are on the shelves (which, let me tell you, is quite a feat since there are SO MANY different materials). Robbie and I have both been getting over a cold, too. I got it first and decided to be nice and share it with him a few days later. We're both feeling a lot better now though.

Now you all know what we've been doing the last few weeks! I hope you found it very educational. :)

Proverbs for the Aspiring Dentist

Who would've thought that going from stay-at-home wife to 40 hours a week at the school would leave me with so little time?! I'm not complaining--because I'm definitely loving my job--I just feel so bad that I have been barely getting in one blog post a week!

Snapped this on my phone today. You can see the lovely Dental supplies in the background.

Like I said, I am absolutely loving my job! My supervisor and I get along really well and she's incredibly knowledgeable about Dental materials so I have been learning a lot from her. I am also really beginning to see why Dental School is so expensive. The sheer volume of materials required is astronomical and those supplies carry a hefty price tag.

My main tasks throughout the day include checking out instruments to the students, stocking treatment rooms, and sterilizing small things like x-ray rinns (the instruments get sent down to the sterilization department). As I mentioned in my first post about my job, I love working with the Dental Students. I'm starting to learn a lot of their names and they always wave at me when I see them around campus.

In getting to know them a little better, however, I'm realizing that Dental School can only prepare the students so much for being Dentists. Having the head knowledge of how to do dental procedures is only half the battle. If they don't learn how to interact with and care for people--whether that's their patients, their peers, or their future staff--they will struggle as a Dentist. There are a few students who come off as demanding and unappreciative and I can almost guarantee that they will have a high turnover rate of staff in their office someday if they don't change their behavior soon.

I am constantly telling Robbie how important it will be for him to show appreciation to his employees down the road. My childhood Dentist has had the same assistant and hygienist in his practice for over 20 years while another Dentist I know can barely get an assistant to stick around for 2 years! I doubt there is much difference in pay/benefits between the two; however, my childhood Dentist is pleasant to be around and makes a clear effort to take care of his staff while the other Dentist is often cranky and fault-finding. Some of the benefits of having staff long-term include that you aren't wasting time/money constantly training new employees, your staff will get to know your patients and build rapport with them, and your staff will be more likely to grow together into a smoothly functioning team (making your office more efficient and harmonious).

One of the best resources for knowing how to interact with others in a wise and life giving way is the book of Proverbs. It has recommendations on all kinds of situations that could come up in a Dental practice. Here are just a few examples:

1) How should I respond when a patient loses their cool and starts cussing out my staff?

A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. -Prov. 15:1

 2) Is it okay for me to recommend a more expensive procedure to my patient so I can make a little more money, even though the less expensive option would work just as well for them?

Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, but the one who gathers by labor increases it. -Prov. 13:11

The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death. -Prov. 21:6

3) I have a patient here in horrible pain and desperate need of treatment but he has no way to pay me right now.

He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered. -Prov. 21:13

4) My wife feels I'm working too many hours. She says when I come home, I don't have enough energy to play with the kids. Working this many hours has enabled me to bring a lot of revenue into my practice though!

Don't wear yourself out to get rich; stop giving your attention to it. -Prov. 23:4

5) I really need to add another Dental Assistant to my staff because my office is growing, but the people who have applied don't seem like that great of a fit for the position. Still, isn't hiring someone better than not having anyone for the job?

The one who hires a fool or who hires those passing by is like an archer who wounds everyone. -Prov. 26:10

6) I overheard some of my staff gossiping about another Dentist. The conversation sounded really interesting and I want to join in to hear more details. As long as the Dentist doesn't know we're talking about her, what could it hurt?

A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much. -Prov. 20:19

A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends. -Prov. 16:28

7) My office manager just told me about a way we could bill the insurance to get more money by using a slightly different procedure code. We would be fudging the rules a little bit since it's not the exact procedure I did, but we would get payed more in the end.

Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel. -Prov. 20:17

Better a poor man who lives with integrity than a rich man who distorts right and wrong. -Prov. 28:6

Puerto Rico Trip, Part 2

If you're interested in reading about the first day of our trip to Puerto Rico, click here.

On our second day in Puerto Rico, we went kayaking in Condado Lagoon just down the street from our hotel. For $40 total, we both got an individual kayak for an hour and a half. Our hope was that we would see a manatee in the lagoon as we had seen videos online, but no such luck. We did encounter some fun iguanas though!

Here's the little dock where we rented our kayaks.

We made the fun mistake of putting sunblock everywhere except our legs. My knee caps have never been so burned!

Robbie paddling his giant banana through the lagoon.

Robbie making friends with an iguana.

The iguana kindly posed for me.

After getting freshened up at our hotel, we decided we wanted to take a bus to Isla Verde, further east in San Juan. We knew #53 would take us where we wanted to go but got tired of waiting. When we saw bus #10 and it said it was going to Isla Verde, we decided to hop on. Unfortunately, it only took us to the very edge of Isla Verde then started heading south. We thought maybe if we stayed on it would continue back to the east, but we were sorely mistaken. After about twenty minutes in the wrong direction we decided to get off the bus and see if we could find our way back to where we were wanting to go.

Because we couldn't find or figure out which bus would get us back, we ended up walking four and a half miles under the Caribbean sun in the super high humidity. (Please note that San Juan is also very hilly so this wasn't a nice flat walk. Also, we were both wearing flip flops.) Needless to say, by the time we got to Isla Verde we were absolutely exhausted. We wondered down the beach looking for somewhere to eat and ended up in a little bar/grill where we shared nachos and a pina colada.

After some refreshments, we played in the ocean a little then hopped back on a bus to go back to our hotel. (Don't worry, it was the right bus this time!) On the plus side, we did get to see parts of the beach we wouldn't have had we not walked the length of it and we got some beautiful pictures.

Moral of the story: Trying to take a short cut can end up taking you in a completely wrong direction. Don't get on the 10 simply because you're tired of waiting for the 53. Be patient and wait for the 53.

A New Semester, a New Season

I know it's been two weeks since I last posted but it's been a slightly crazy two weeks so I don't feel too bad.

Some exciting news I have to share is that I got a job at the Dental School! I applied about two months ago and had basically assumed I wasn't going to be called back for an interview since I hadn't heard anything in so long. In the meantime, I was applying for a position at the Disney Store and was offered a job there. Before I could start at the Disney Store, however, I heard back from the school. After making it through the initial interview as well as a secondary, I was offered a position as a Dental Assistant in the Futures Clinic. It's brand new and had only been open for two weeks when I started.

My favorite part about my new job is that I love working with the Dental Students! Right now it's third and fourth years doing screenings (basic check-ups) on patients in the clinic so Robbie's class isn't in there yet, but we still get to have lunch together and go to/from school together. I've already gotten to know quite a few of the upper classmen and I can honestly say that Dental Students have the best personalities! You can tell that they are just loving what they're doing and a lot of them have great senses of humor. I will also admit that it's really entertaining to hear the staff's perspective on the students ("Just be patient with the Dental Students. They have a lot on their minds." etc).

For Robbie, the semester is moving ahead at full speed. In his Indirect Restoration class, they're working on crown preps and temporary crowns and in his Combined Removable Prosthodontics class, they're learning about the process of making Dentures.

We went into the lab one weekend so I could give him tips on making temporary crowns. (Finally, something I can help him with!)

The little purple mold is an impression of the tooth before it was prepped for the crown. You fill that little impression with temporary material and place it back on the tooth after it's been prepped and it gives you a temporary crown in the shape of the original tooth. Ingenious! The tooth on the counter is the temporary crown.

Here's his articulator with his denture wax-ups in place.

In other news, I've been getting to paint a lot lately! A couple weekends ago, I went to Altair's house to add Eeyore and Piglet to her baby room. I also offered to paint a mural at my friend Jeanette's church so I drove over there after work three days this week and painted for several hours. I'm really excited because Robbie and I have been looking for a church to call home ever since we moved and we are going to try going to this one on Sunday. 

The crib will go just below the characters.

Eeyore has always been my personal favorite. I even sleep with a stuffed Eeyore that I have had since elementary school! haha

They asked for the Denver skyline but since it's in a children's area, we made it colorful. :)

And now you know why I haven't written in a couple weeks! I definitely have to say that it has been a little bit of an adjustment going back to work after having not worked for a year. Over the past week, our apartment has gotten so messy because neither of us had the time/energy to tidy up much. We also ate out a lot more than we normally do because we didn't have time to go to the grocery store. Now that I'm done with the mural I will have a lot more time after work, but I still feel spoiled because I always went grocery shopping in the morning during the week instead of on the weekend when it's crowded. I'm sure we will find a good groove to get things done that we need to. I'm so grateful and excited for this job and even if that means our place is a little messier, we will survive just fine!

Hope you're all having a good start to the new school year!