More Than Asked or Imagined...: The Golden Days of Summer

Ah, how the time slips away when you are having fun!

We have been enjoying our summer from dawn to dusk, which leaves the Mama with precious little time to do things like update the blog.

What have we been doing?

Bike riding.

Swimming.

Climbing.

Playing.

Putting on puppet shows.

Learning new things.

In the midst of it all, we celebrated the 4th of July, and the girls even rode on a float in our local parade to promote adoption.

We celebrated Anna's Forever Family Day -- one year since she walked into our lives in that scratchy yellow dress. What a difference a year makes. We never, ever could have foreseen the things this year would bring. We may not know what the future holds, but we know the One who holds the future. He had good plans then, and He has good plans now. What joy Anna has brought to our lives. How privileged we are that God has allowed us the blessing of Anna, the blessing of differences, the blessing of a new way of doing things. We are growing and stretching and seeing more of the Father and His love for all of His children

Speaking of a new way of doing things...we participated in our first Deaf Vacation Bible school this summer. A wonderful ministry visited our city and worked in coordination with a local Deaf congregation to bring VBS to Deaf children and their families. It was so wonderful to see the Bible presented in American Sign Language, acting, crafts, and other methods purposely designed to reach deaf children and their families. Anna made her church program debut as Mary, the mother of Jesus (complete with pink pacifier...artistic liberties, of course!)

Amelia danced her way through two local ballet summer workshops, which she loved. The girl could dance all day long and turn around dance all night. She also participated in her very first trip away from home (without mom) -- church camp! She had a FABULOUS time. I did have to laugh when it was reported to me that, on seeing the rather rustic cabins, Amelia commented that she thought the lodging would be a little nicer. What can I say? She enjoys a nice hotel! While she grew spiritually this summer, she also grew up in other ways. She ditched her training wheels and learned to ride a big girl bike. She also had some big girl nights out - a movie night with Mom, dinner out with some friends, the theater with Papa...sometimes a big girl just needs to escape her little sisters. Let me tell you, though, that Amelia is a fabulous big sister. She is helpful, kind, patient (mostly!), and a great teacher.

Anna has mastered her new bike, too. It was time to move Lucy off her little tricycle and onto a small bike, and Anna was ready to move up a size, so we gave Anna's bike to Lucy, and I took Anna shopping for a new bike just her size. No surprises when shopping with Anna -- if it is pink and girly, and especially if it has any kind of sparkle, Anna is all in. She delightedly chose a princess bike. However, when we got it home, she never wanted to ride it. After lots of practice, her little string bean legs are strong enough to make the bike go, and she is finally happily riding the princess bike. She also participated in a speech camp this summer, which she enjoyed. Each night, we would do an activity and learn the vocabulary for the next day of camp. Anna has not had as many experiences as the average American preschooler, so in many ways, we have to play catch-up to make sure she understands. She is such a social little person....anything that involves friends and fun is something Anna will enjoy.

We made a return trip to Los Angeles to be seen at the House Ear Institute for another mapping session in July. It was good to see our friends at House again. They seem satisfied with her status -- she is making progress and responding to some sounds. It is a painfully slow process for people like me who like to see fast results (could this be why my diets continually fail?!). We are all still working to get Anna's ABI at just the right levels to optimize her outcome.

While we were in Los Angeles, we got to cross a picket line! There were some Deaf protesters who were picketing at the House clinic. It was so very interesting. They were kind to us and simply handed us their literature. Many d/Deaf people support families who pursue a listening/speaking outcome for their children; they only want parents to know that there are choices -- a Deaf community with rich language, history and opportunity. It has never been our intention to remove Anna from that community or to refuse her a place alongside other d/Deaf people. It has always been our heart to give Anna a full-range of all the options available to her in this time and this place. While we were in Los Angeles, we visited Chinatown (love, love, love), and we met a lovely Asian Deaf woman who uses both spoken English and ASL fluently. She is an ASL instructor at a college in New York. I felt like a got a glimpse of the kind of future we want for Anna -- moving easily in both the hearing and Deaf worlds, able to communicate effectively in both languages, making a positive contribution to the world. Thank you, Lord, for the encouragement You give us on the journey.

Lately, my heart has been a little heavy with the realization that I have not put an equal amount of resources and effort into teaching Anna to sign as I have in pursuing the ABI and related therapies. I am still working on developing my signing, and we are making a concerted effort to make sure Anna can develop her signing skills alongside her hearing skills. We have begun attending a Deaf church, which has been great for Anna, and even better for the rest of us. The warm and gentle people at the church have welcomed all of us with love and acceptance and a willingness to help us learn. I have been going to the signing Sunday School class, and although I do miss a lot of the discussion, I also gain a lot, both in terms of spiritual truths and communicating in ASL.

Lucy. What can I say about Lucy except that, well, she makes us laugh. She is the tender-heart, the silly monkey, the comic relief in this family. Lucy has at least 327,000 questions per day. She has graduated from her tricycle, and she is a speed-maniac on her little bike. She can go, go, go. She would like a unicycle for her birthday. Yes, that is what she asked for. How crazy is it that I actually know someone who has an old on in her garage and has agreed to relinquish it to delight Lucy's heart?! Lucy likes to do puzzles, play with the kitties, and take naps. She has a very limited palate (read, she is an uber-picky eater!). She sings about the moon ("when the moon's in the sky like a big pizza pie..."), thinks a costume-a-day is the way she should roll, and wants to know when she can go to big school like Ameeya. She is signing up a storm and often serves as Anna's voice to the world.