Friday, April 30, 2010

Bet Ya' Thought I Was Dead or Something, Right?

Nope! I've been here the whole time. Things have been CRAZY around here. Our house sold, we went to the new place we're moving to and chose a fabulous house, the kids are doing great, and well...that about sums it up, doesn't it?

CJ is doing worlds better at school. He still has a couple of off days, but nothing to really complain about it. It helps that his friend, Jim, motivates him with Dairy Queen ice cream cones dipped in magic shell. He seemed to sort of hit rock bottom and actually ended up making his sweet teacher break down in tears. Poor thing! I felt for her.

Aiden is suddenly quite the little man. He tells me I need to get ready because he's pretty sure he's going to hit puberty soon. He checks his armpits for hair regularly. Apparently he's unaware that hair might grow elsewhere. I'm thinking I'll let him go ahead and get that surprise later.

Rachel grew! I mean, she has really just grown into a beautiful little girl on me. I can't believe how beautiful she has gotten. She reminds me that she's still my girl when she makes little comments like, "Mom, a fart in the tubby and it makes bubbles". She really knows how to warm the heart.

Drezden is talking up a blue streak. His favorite word is, of course, poop. That's how I know he really is my kid. He also uses NO frequently. He has really taken to cuddling up in bed with Aiden to sleep. They're best buddies.

Liam has made leaps and bounds progress!!! HE IS NOT USING OXYGEN ANYMORE!!! The Amazing Dr. Sanchez is as surprised as we are by his progress. He's just doing so great. He still has one test to take at home to be sure his sleeping oxygen levels are safe, but that's about it. He has developed his own little sense of humor and seems to think crawling backwards and chasing my dirt pile around while I sleep is hilarious.

Friday, April 2, 2010

An Easier Decision Than We Thought

We are going to move to the area closest to Byron's work. After lots of research, we have discovered that the ward area we love so much doesn't have one single house in our price range that would meet our needs. That made it a pretty simple decision. I think we will benefit from amazing friendships in the other ward even if we don't live directly in their boundaries.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Decisions, Decisions

I may have made mention of the fact that we are being relocated. Things have really fallen into place and the Lord has made clear that it is absolutely His intention for us to go to this new place. While we hate to leave behind those that we dearly love here, we know there are blessings to be found there. Hopefully we will also be able to bring blessings to those we meet.

We have a big decision to make right now, though. Where should we live? The decision was going to be quite simple until last week when everything changed for us.

A few weeks ago (maybe even a couple of months), I got a message on my hearing loss blog about a boy who was working on his Eagle Scout project. He was creating a blog and a website for deaf and hard of hearing kids like himself to get to know each other and share stories. The poster asked me to put a link on my blog to his and then to write up a story for his website. No problem. I posted the link, and then went over to his site and told him he could use any stories or experiences from my blog he wanted.

Last week, he e-mailed me and said he’d noticed that I had “I am a Child of God” and “Teach Me to Walk in the Light” playing on my blog. He asked if I happened to be LDS. I told him that I was, and he then asked to friend me on facebook. I agreed.
About a day later, I got a PM from him saying that he’d noticed that I mentioned moving to the place we're going to. This shocked him because he lives there. His dad is the bishop of his ward. He was so excited about this. To be honest, I was stunned. My blog has been up for over a year now, and this was the first time I’d made contact with him. It just seemed like things were falling into place.

We exchanged questions and answers, and I learned that his ward has him and TWO OTHER FAMILIES WITH DEAF CHILDREN. There are 3 year old twins and a 9 year old girl who all have hearing loss in his ward. This is totally unusual for a hearing ward. Plus, all their youth know ASL because this young man has taught it to his peers. Built-in babysitters.

I spoke with the young man’s mom the other day, and she describes the ward as if it’s like the amazing one we’re already in. It’s small, but not minute. There are other parents who have already juggled the school district and told us which schools are great vs. which ones are not. Their ward is having a dinner and silent auction fund raiser for the youth on one of the nights we’ll be there looking for houses, and we were invited to join them that evening. We will be there.

Then, my bishop from when I was a youth contacted me to give me the names of some of the people he felt could help us find a good ward. He had lived in in the same place we're going, and found some good people. That sister called me today and went on and on about how great this young man’s ward is and how happy we’d be there.

It’s very close to the oral Deaf schools, the children’s hospital, and really anything we’d need. The catch? It is about a 30-45 minute commute for Byron. We really didn’t want to consider an area with more than a 20 minute commute. It really feels like we’re being led to this particular ward in some ways. So, what would you do?