David's family update

Hi family! Just wanted to share something pretty amazing with you all. As you know, things have been really rough for us this past year, trying to get our first game out for my studio. We're in really good shape to have the game really strong for our release date April 4th, and the people we're working with to market the game are doing a great job, so we hope to see some really good things here in the next couple weeks.

During this time, Heather and I have been trying to live the gospel as best we can. This includes paying our tithing on any increases we are blessed with, even with finances so tight. So about 2 months ago, one of my teeth started really bothering me, and since we don't have any insurance, and money is so tight, I haven't been able to get it fixed. Needless to say, it kept getting worse and more and more painful, but my plan was to just keep bearing it until our payday finally arrived after we got the game sold. Heather and the kids started praying for me that we could get my tooth fixed so that "Daddy's tooth can stop hurting". A few weeks ago, Heather was able to bring in exactly $246 through babysitting and running the Co-Op class she does for our Homeschool group, and told me she got me the money I'd need to get my tooth taken care of. (I was a bit skeptical, since in my looking around, the cheapest option for us without insurance would be at least double to triple that)

Since I didn't think that would be possible, I started looking around for other options. Heather found a place here in Springfield that does Dentistry specifically for low income families, but the soonest they could get me in was over a month away. I've been downing leftover painkillers from Heather's last pregnancy just to get through the day and was quickly running out (Aspirin and Tylenol did absolutely nothing to dull the pain) so last Sunday we asked our Home Teachers for a blessing. My friend Ben gave me a blessing, and afterwords, told me he just finished doing a bunch of IT work for a local Dentist, and that he owed him a favor. He called and they set it up so I could come in this morning for them to run some X-Rays and see what we should do about my tooth.

The X-Rays showed it was a total goner, the decay went all the way down to the nerve, and the Dentist had to refer me to the "Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon". He didn't charge me anything for the X-Rays. Luckily they were able to take me immediately, and after they had already numbed me up, while they were waiting for the anesthetic to do its job, they came in and asked me if I wanted to pay now, or after. I told them 'after', not knowing how much it was going to cost, nor how we were going to be able to pay for it. :-/

So they removed the tooth and for the first time in months I can smile, talk, eat without whimpering like a little girl. When I went to go pay, they said the total charge was.... exactly $246. I had totally forgotten about the money Heather brought in a few weeks ago, didn't even realize it until I came home and talked to Heather about how we're going to pay for it. She just suddenly said, "Wait, how much was it exactly?" We looked at the receipt to make sure, and yep. The exact amount, down to the dollar. You can't say this was just a coincidence. This is the power of prayer. Heather and the kids asked for a way to fix daddy's hurt tooth, and Heavenly Father blessed us with exactly what we needed.

I just thought this was a really cool experience and wanted to share it with you all. I am so grateful for the tender mercies the Lord gives us when we put our faith in Him. I am seeing the hand of the Lord so often in our lives, as scary as it can get sometimes, I know He never lets us down when we need Him.

Love you all! Can't wait to see you at reunion!