Strive to...Brighten

I am almost a real hygienist! In May I will graduate with my bachelor's degree and will be official. I like being a hygienist, I like helping people find their prettier, healthier smile. It's fun for me to work so closely with people. But along with the good, there is bad. As soon as someone  sits in my chair, it's like I have a flashing sign on my head that lights up, "Tell me your life story!" My mom has the same sign that flashes when she stands in line at Wal-Mart...I don't really know which is more inconvenient...she want to peacefully buy her banana's and I want to finish my job in an hour....     

SIU is the only four year dental hygiene program in the state, so it is really competitive to get in, but more than that it has to compete and set itself above and beyond the 13 other dental hygiene programs in the sate. Senior year we take a course called Multicultural Dental Hygiene and no other hygiene program offers an equivalent.

We go out into the community and work in different traditional offices, nursing homes, schools and we work with public health. The public health aspect is the sad part. We work hand-in-hand with Head Start and Early Head Start. These programs work with the poorest of the poor in the community. We get to go on home visits to work with parents and their little one's. It is eye opening and heart breaking to see what goes on beyond closed doors. The stories we are told are heart wrenching. Think of every bad things a mother and her children can endure and these families have...times ten!

This time of year is a hard time for a lot of people. The holidays have a tendency to bring family together to celebrate, eat and spend a lot of fun, quality time together, which is wonderful. However, for some families there are few fond memories of the Holiday season and there is one story that is weighing on my heart.

I don't want to burden you with the long, sad and unfortunate lifestyle that this family leads, but Alex and I have made the decision to try to brighten their holiday season. They cannot afford a turkey for Thanksgiving and on top of that, the food pantry, meals on wheels and a lot of the churches in their community are not serving Thanksgiving dinner due to the lack of funding. After realizing that we will be going to three different Thanksgiving dinners where there will be food to spare, Alex and I will be taking this family a little basket of goodies and a gift card to go buy themselves a Thanksgiving dinner. 

We're not going to be breaking the bank or going all out to provide them a White House worthy Thanksgiving, but we are going to try to brighten their spirits at this very hard time of year. This leads me to the Strive moment of the week. Strive to brighten someone else's holiday season. You don't have to do a lot or even buy a turkey. But, you can make a donation to your local food pantry or bake a pie and take it to the homeless shelter. The options are endless!

 Happy Brightening!

Psalm 146:7- He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free.