Our summer with Leanna - Part Five

July 8, 2010

Hi all,

We could use some extra prayers today. Leanna’s dental appt. was supposed to be on Monday, but she’s been having trouble with one of her teeth for several days. It seems to be getting worse, so I changed her appt. to today at 2 pm. I have no idea what to expect from her, but please pray during that time. She’s mad at me because we were supposed to go the lake today and now we’re not. There were 2 days last week that we were going to go to the lake but both mornings we woke up to rain and did not go. So she’s doubly mad because she thinks I keep putting it off. I don’t care that she’s mad at me, but it could make for an interesting time at the dentist. Thankfully, my mom is here and will stay home with Jacob, Caleb and Abbi.

The great week we had last week with Leanna is a sweet memory now. J She is fine with the kids and I during the day, but her demeanor changes when Jon gets home. She’s still fine with me, but with Jon she is moody, dramatic, gets mad at him over nothing, turns her back, crosses her arms, and just has a general ugly attitude with him. Please pray for wisdom for Jon and I about how to deal with this. It’s getting increasingly worse and we’ve got to do something. She treats him like, well, crap, and it is beginning to anger me. But it could be that my patience is gone by the time Jon gets home. It could be that I’m not sleeping well (nor is Jon) and am exhausted. If the other 3 kids treated Jon the way Leanna has been they’d have something coming. But we can’t discipline her the way we would the other 3. We were up late last night trying to figure out what we’re going to do…we have no answers. I don’t know if she’s testing him or if it’s a girl thing, an orphan thing, a teenage thing, a PMS thing, a control thing…or all of the above. Please pray for insight. This is not about Jon and I…we know that. But we don’t want her attitude to become a habit. We don’t want her to think this is how it will be when she’s home for good. Jon is struggling because he wants so badly to build a relationship with Leanna but she’s making it very difficult. Please pray that our love for her (and more importantly, God’s love for her) will shine through and overshadow our frustration with her.

Friends, we thank you for your continued prayers.

Love,

Jon & Amy

And the follow-up that night...

I cannot thank you all enough for you prayers today. Really! The dentist appt. went okay. Leanna got her teeth cleaned and said, “Ow!” a few times, but it was mostly okay. When the technician got all done cleaning Leanna’s teeth, the look Leanna gave her spoke volumes. If looks could kill…look out! Anyway, Leanna has cavities on all of her back teeth. Some of them can wait until she’s home for good and on our insurance, but a few of them are bad. The technician showed Leanna one of the holes in her teeth. If Leanna starts flossing every day, some of her cavities should not worsen. I told her all of this on the translator when we got home. Right now the bill is over $1,300, but it sounds like the dentist may work with us. The tooth that has been giving her pain is because of a root canal gone bad in Russia. It sounds like she had it done in March and it started hurting at camp. The dentist did a close X-ray of just that tooth and found that when her root canal was done, whoever did it didn’t clean it all out before filling it in. So now it’s infected. He referred us to an endodontist to have the root canal redone. Great. Please pray that the endodontist will work with us on the price. Or even do it for free (that’s what I’m praying for!).

On another note, the difference in Leanna from yesterday to today is astonishing. Not one issue. Even with Jon. Leanna was pleasant all evening and was back to her fun, happy self. I am so glad that my mom is seeing the Leanna we fell in love with. I think tonight she saw a glimpse of our future. We went to the park after dinner and we all sang songs on the way home. The only explanation that can be given for the change in Leanna is all your prayers and God’s faithfulness. Tonight my mom was commenting on the difference in Leanna (last night was really bad) from yesterday to today, and I couldn’t help but wonder why all of this happened. Could it be that the Lord had planned all along to use this to prove to us the power of prayer? The power of God? That He really does listen and care and respond to His people? That He simply IS? The thought is too big for me to chew on right now. When we were at the park my mom remarked on how wonderful Leanna was this afternoon and evening. I said to myself, “Thank God for prayer partners!”

Anyway, it’s late and I’m so tired. But I did want to let you all know how the day went and THANK YOU!!! We are praying for another good day tomorrow. At the lake! J

Love,

Jon & Amy