Amelia asked last week “do you know that some people go to an orthodontist just outside of their neighborhood?” I chuckled and said “yes, aren’t they so lucky”. She continued “Why can’t we? Why do we always have to drive so far.”

Amelia and Emma had the last of their “unicorn” teeth pulled on Thursday. Their precious dentist named the teeth in the middle of their palate “unicorn” teeth. Cleft kids have all sorts of configurations with their teeth, often missing pertinent ones where the cleft is and a bunch of extra malformed ones that appear in their palate. Calling them “unicorn” teeth always made them feel unique instead of weird, not everyone gets to have unicorn teeth you know, but my cleft girlies do, did!

Anyone that has spent more than five minutes with Amelia and Emma know how very different their personalities are. They do have a few shared interests, but for the most part, they are polar opposites. Amelia, our type A, straight A kid, 14 tomorrow, is very much in her teenage angst era and has been for two years now, we see glimpses of her coming out of it and Jay and I silently celebrate when we do. Emma who lives outside of the box, is fiery, has the biggest heart and wears it on her sleeve, so the sixth grade girl drama has her in tears at least once a week, we pray that God protects her tender heart. Amelia tends to tolerate Emma, but Emma has a knack for getting Amelia talking about whatever her favorite thing is at the moment, it’s a way for them to connect. On our way to their appointment to have the last of their unicorn teeth removed, there was a softness from both of them toward each other, that seemed odd. I wasn’t gonna question it, I was just gonna enjoy it. In hindsight they were both nervous and a little scared about the appointment we were headed to. They both have had their share of bad experiences with dentist, orthodontist and surgeries, so the fear and nerves aren’t unwarranted. The closer we got to Texas Children’s the quieter they got, aside from the fighting over who was going to go first.

They both made it through, without tears. My hand lost feeling twice, when they each had their turn to hold it. They giggled all the way to the car talking about how numb their face felt. We’ve started this thing with Amelia where we make her tell us where we parked. Emma has a superb sense of direction like her mama and Amelia, well, I said they were polar opposites. She is getting better at paying attention, but occasionally we get a good giggle because she sets off in the wrong direction. Anywho, the entire car ride home I reflected on how many trips we’ve made to Texas Children’s over the years, that was the second time that week, it’s not a pretty or fun drive, takes us between 1:20-2 hours depending on the time of day. After letting out a deep sigh as I got cut off, Amelia leaned forward and said “mom, thank you for always driving us to our appointments.” To which I replied “it’s an honor, kiddo!” It really is and always has been, what a gift my girls are to me, I would make that drive daily if I had to!

Our Monday appointment with the Cleft team (plastic surgeon, orthodontist and speech pathologist) revealed that we are in the home stretch with regard to surgeries! (Cue celebratory tears) Amelia with possibly just jaw surgery left and Emma with one palate surgery to go in April, and then we could potentially be done! So wild, combined they have had well over 20 surgeries over the last decade, praising God that the end is in sight! The way that He has carried us through each surgery, provided support and given the girls the opportunity to use their medical history, knowledge & trauma to help others has been so beautiful. This has been such a big (and long) chapter in our lives, it’s wild to think it’s nearly over!

These girls of mine are unicorns, special and unique, all of my girls are! I suppose all parents feel that way about their kids. Praying that God continues to draw them closer to Him and continues using their stories. Nothing is wasted!