I Just Want You to Know by Kate Gosselin

she continued chatting.
    The dentist seemed competent enough and told us Mady had a huge cavity with an infection, but then she tried to pull Mady’s tooth without Novocain. Mady was up and sitting on the chair and practically hanging from the ceiling in pain! I wouldn’t have reacted any better in her situation. Drilling without pain medication? It’s heart-wrenching to watch your child go through something like that.
    At that point, the dentist said we needed to find a pedontist, that she couldn’t help us. I grabbed Mady and raced out of there.
    On the way home, through her tears, Mady asked, “Mommy, why was that lady was so mean? Dr. Kristin would never do that to me.” I knew what I had to do! I knew I had to do whatever I could to get her back to our old dentist.
    When I got home, I called Dr. Kristin and waited to hear back from her office. I kept playing the situation over and over in my mind: Why did I 1 let that happen to Mady? Both Jon and I apologized to her and she just brushed it off like it was nothing. I am continually amazed by the resilience of children.
    The next morning the phone rang early. Dr. Kristin’s office had an opening at three that afternoon. I called Jon to make sure he could take her, and then rescheduled an eye appointment we had. This was an emergency!
    Mady did really well at the dentist; she said it only hurt “like two half times and one whole time.” We had no idea what that meant, but she was content and no longer in pain.
    Mady at a rare trip to Dutch Wonderland.
    Jon was now stuck with the fun job of wrestling with costs and insurance. He managed to pull the dentist aside, and she kindly agreed to work things out with our new insurance. I was so relieved, I started crying when Jon told me. All of our kids’ dental issues would be taken care of, and we’ve gone to Dr. Kristin ever since. Another miracle from the Lord.
    I always considered it my job to save money whenever possible, and I constantly used coupons and looked for sales. One way for me to save money was to buy in bulk or stock up during sales. That worked out well, except we were often faced with space issues. We knew an extra freezer would help so much. My surgery was what finally convinced us. I was cooking two weeks ahead in preparation for my temporary incapacitation, and I needed a place to store the food I had prepared. It was a big decision to spend $650 on an upright freezer, but the need had become urgent. We found a great sale for $550. When we came home with the freezer, my brother found a $50 coupon, so we went back and had the receipt adjusted. This thrilled me!
    Another big expense for us to consider was rear air-conditioning for the Big Blue Bus. The van had front air, but because these vehicles were primarily used commercially, they weren’t equipped with rear air. For us, this meant the kids in the back would roast if we traveled in hot weather. We bought battery operated clip-on fans, which did pull some of the cool air back, but it wasn’t enough. For a while we attended the early service at church so we’d be home by noon or 12:30, before the heat really hit; but planning trips around the weather just wasn’t practical in every situation. We knew we had to make this investment.
    The solution came when we opted to drive instead of fly to Florida for our show-related trip that summer. Even though it took us nineteen hours to drive, it worked out to everyone’s advantage since production picked up the cost of air-conditioning instead often plane tickets, and we had the lasting benefit of having rear air-conditioning in our van. This was yet another example of how the show provided for our needs that we wouldn’t have been able to cover otherwise. All these perks helped us to survive.
    Hannah, Alexis, and Collin as we loaded up the Big Blue Bus.
    I still see the show as a blessing that provided for many of our needs. Plus, because of the show, we pursued opportunities that we otherwise