Straight Teeth!

Before braces

Jonathan had terrible teeth.  He had a narrow face and an extra tooth (!).  Last year, he got an expander to give him more room in his mouth.  He also had his extra baby tooth pulled, and we waited to see which of his two (!) canines would be straighter.  Then we had the crooked-er tooth pulled.  He was a trooper.  He was in SO much pain when he got the expander and then when he finally got braces on his top teeth.

After braces - with GUM!

But look at the results!!  We (well, I) had hemmed and hawed, hoping that we could do just one "phase" of orthodontics, but two Christmases ago, his Sunday school was acting out the Christmas story and one little girl didn't want to "be his 'wife'" in the skit because his teeth were ugly.  It crushed me, because Jonathan is THE sweetest kid.  Seriously.  Anyone who knows him knows his loving heart.  We had a good talk about where your worth comes from (which is who you are in Christ), and whether the outside is a good reflection of what you are inside (it's not).  It was also good to have his brother and sisters be just as horrified at this girl's reaction. By the way, I don't know who it was, and she's just a kid - kids say mean things, mine included - so I'm not mad.  I was just sad for my sweet boy.

Onto the rest of the story....if you look at his calendar page from 2011, there are very few smiling pictures of Jonathan.  2012, however....almost all of them are smiles!!

Well worth the cost, I say!