When Dollies Get Hearing Aids, Too..

I came across this picture from when my kids were little..

My at the time 3 year old newly identified child had just gotten her hearing aids. She has since decided to not wear them, and we support her in her decision. At that time, she wanted her baby to have hearing aids too.. So, I looked around the store and finally found some puff paint and thought that could work! So, for less than $3 we had hearing aids on a few dolls! I love her so much, and always want her to feel good about herself.. She is amazing and I'm so proud to be her mama!

Stone Soup

I thought I'd share a little of our homeschool with you guys! We are a good way into the year and enjoying learning together..

We are doing Five in a Row for most of our Language Arts and enrichment for our other subjects.. We are also doing some of the Literary Classics in pure ASL. We basically follow the FIAR method with these books, bringing in academic elements from text, and making these stories come alive!

Of course it starts with the book! We read the book or versions of the book everyday for 5 days pulling out all of the amazing bring-it-to-life awesomeness!!! Then, we read the classic book in both languages, and then we have a child-friendly version to work on decoding skills! Lastly, we move to a video, hopefully we can find one in ASL, with English voice over, and English text! DawnSign Press does an amazing job!!! This helps with comprehension and helps the kids relate to the text...

Videos is ASL by Dawnsign Press. 

Rewriting and Language Activities! 

Cooking and Measuring! Did I mention they picked their stone out of the garden?!? 

We loved our Stone Soup unit!!! 

 Yep, that's the stone!!! LOL!

I Can't Believe You Are Seven?!?

My Bubbly Middle Girl,

    You are looking more like your big sister everyday! I just can't believe it...you are growing up so fast!!! There are so many things that make you special...you are complex and unique. These are just a few... I love your sense humor~

   You are funny; no matter what is going on in my life you can always make me laugh!!! You are silly, bubbly, and full of joy!!! You are friendly and kind! You know how to light up the room with the smile on your face. Your heart always shines through and that is what makes you beautiful!

   You are so beautiful! I love your smile..especially your sneaky smile even if I'll never admit it to your face! Your dad and I tease that you may be a lawyer someday because you know how to get your way! Just be a good one, OK? You have the beauty and the brains...you are smart!

   You are so smart!!! This is your first year homeschooling and I am so impressed with all that you have learned so far!!! You are reading and writing like a champ!!! I know you will have so much to say to the world and books have so many amazing things to teach you about the world! Bubbly girl, teach them about love, teach the world to have a heart!

   I love your heart! You are so kind!!! You love your dog the most...you can't walk past her without giving her a little love. Compassion is your greatest attribute! You also can't stand for anyone to be left out.. You are such a good sister...you girls are also good at pestering each other! :D Your heart is also what gives your the strength to be so strong!

   You are strong! Umm, sweetie, not just on the inside, but you have some muscle!!! You have started gymnastics this year and I'm so impressed with your bar work...the way you can lift yourself off the bar and then flip yourself over it~ Wow!!! You are strong and that helps you to believe in yourself!

   You are becoming self-aware.. It has been hard at times this year as you have come to understand that you are Deaf and that everyone in the world isn't.. You are so confident in your language, culture, and yourself as a person! I smile every time I see that big, prideful smile cross your face when you tell someone that you are Deaf. You love teaching hearing people ASL and jumping up and down giving "high-fives" when you meet a Deaf adult! You know that it will be you one day...you are growing up!

    You are growing up on me... I am trying to treasure every moment and celebrate the person that you are becoming. I am so happy that God gave me such a wonderful daughter! Daddy thinks you hung the moon; well, I pretty much know it! I am so proud of you, and I thank God for you everyday!
I love you.

Love,
Mommy

Smacking Melons!

If you ever see our little family out around town you will more than likely notice two things; we are always learning something, and we use ASL & English. So if you see us, say hi! We also try to give our kids a good mix of individual attention & family time...one way is to split off while shopping.
The other day this is just what we did...it was Bubbles' turn to go with me to the fresh market while daddy took Beauty & Baby to the Pet store in the same shopping center. Bubbles is Deaf and like a super awesome kid! As with all of my kids I try to teach little life lessons as we go...in between hearing all about school, fairies, friends, dreams, new dance moves, art, and of course what they are going to be when they grow up~ which seems to change daily!
We went on with our shopping and I let her pick some of the fruits & veggies for the week.. Then it was time to pick the watermelon~ and I was like hmm??? I remember growing up hearing learning about smacking watermelon and listening for that "thump" that meant is was sweet. Not sure of the Science behind it but I come from a long line of Southern people that swear by and who am I to argue?!? I wanted to share this with my daughter...
I was like 'I got it!; we will feel for it.... So there I am smacking the melons while holding my hand on the other side to feel the vibration going through the melon, and yes it took a lot of concentration and quite a few melons before I could feel the difference.... and then I taught my daughter, who was now out of boredom~ twirling beside me! We stood there smacking the melons and discussing whether this one or that one would be sweet...the color and designs on the melons and so on... We were all smiles as we walked back to our cart with the perfect watermelon!
As we walked on I shared the story of to picking melons with my dad as a kid...
I also learned that watermelon is her new favorite food!
I feel like I'm learning everyday! Most of the time it comes from having no idea what I'm doing!!! I'm simply doing what I can and trusting God with the everything else... I still worry that I am not enough, that I'm not mother enough for her not being Deaf myself, but at least she will grow up learning how to smack melons!

Yeah, and she can say she got that from me!

Dreams Along The Journey

So there I was stretched out on the beach...cold drink sitting beside my long-chair as the sound of the waves crashed against the silence. The bright sun barely starting to warm my feet as the cool, tropical breeze envelops me.
 I gently adjust the cashmere cover around my shoulders as I am chilled under the shade of a small palm tree. I am alone, relaxed in sheer tropical bliss as the aroma of coconut and honeysuckle drift through the air...I could sit here forever just listening to waves.

Then I hear a sound in the distance...to some a sharp, angry sound! I recognize this sound, embracing, it is the sound of a Deaf child trying to wake her hearing mother~ with that paradise begins to shatter. 

Darkness.
I blink...peek out of one eye as she smiles with that huge grin I am gifted every morning. I lay there as she starts signing everything that has happened in the few short minutes that she has been awake as well as all of her requests for the day. Our conversation filled with laughter, and silliness...
It is in those sweet moments that I am reminded that some dreams really do come true~ 
and this one wants her breakfast!

A Journey Into Homeschooling!

So after a LOT of prayer, talks, and sleepless nights we have decided to homeschool our children.
We had always planned to homeschool, or if we moved I would get a job at one of the local Christian Schools and put our kids there...it was a nice plan.

Well, life had other plans~ adoption plans!

That was when I began to doubt our big, beautiful plan... I had a child that was ESL (English as a Second Language) that also had some other issues that made learning difficult. This made for some big questions~
Did I have the patience? I love her more than my own life~ but she can drive me nuts!!!!! Just being honest here.. Seriously; considering we have no biology~ we are SO MUCH ALIKE!!!! So yeah, we get on each others nerves!!! I fear the teen years are going to kill us all!

I also have another child attending a program for the Deaf. She couldn't be home with us...was it fair? Would it hurt her feelings? The answer: NOPE! She loves going to school... She will have Bible, Art, and PE with us at home as well so there is plenty of time with us! :)

My youngest has some challenges, but was aging out of therapy which meant it was up to me to help her now...which kinda meant more stress! So it hit me at like 2:00 AM~ what better way to help her than to teach her! I could "plan" time out of our day to work on her home-therapy.

So there I was~ out of excuses! I finally asked my husband; the amazing, wise leader of our family, what did he think for the final time. I mean we had milled over it, and over, and over, but one this day I just simply asked with desperation in my voice in and his reply was this "I don't want to put more stress on you, but, yes, I feel that you have a lot to offer our kids. If they were home with you they could learn stuff that isn't taught in school; they could learn how to be like you (trying not to tear up!), and that would help them for the rest of their lives."
To be honest I have never felt more honored in my life! In that moment I felt like the woman that was spoken of in Proverbs~
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Proverbs 31: 28

So, we applied with a homeschool charter, and ordered some of our curriculum...
~and that is how we became a homeschool family!

More to come...much more!

Baking A Little Love...Along The Journey

So tomorrow is Valentines Day!! One of my girls is off on break right now, but my middle daughter is off to school with some yummy cookies! She attends a preschool for DHOH so I thought some Heart & Hands and ASL~ I Love You cookies would be perfect!!!

So that gave us a fun activity for this afternoon...

So we pounded out the dough...

Then we rolled it out...

Then cut out our cookies...

So I just baked up some variety and put them on a plate... Homemade chocolate chip on the bottom! 

So there you go... a little love! I hope the kids love them!!!

A Little Crazy On The Journey!!!

I am just plain crazy.... It's okay, I have accepted it.
I am crazy about my husband~ Crazy about my kids~ I am even crazy about my two cats~
Don't believe me?? I have a a detailed form on my fridge including when to give the cats their hairball cream and to only give filtered water to my fur-babies just in case something terrible happens to me and no one can remember the name of the vet's office! :)

Then there is another thing that  makes me appear crazy~ signing in the car!!!
I can't tell you how many times I have been chatting with my girl at a stoplight only to look over at someone staring not able to see my deaf three year old in the back (thanks a lot tinted mini-van windows!) which is  followed by the head shake of pity at my diminished mental capacity.

When hubby is driving I really get to show off my "crazy side" as I sign to everyone in the car.. ASL is not only my daughter's language; it is our family's language. So I guess that means we are all a little crazy, right?!?

You know, after writing this all out I guess I am crazy about ASL, too!
I love that I can chat with my little girl. I love knowing what is on her little mind....I love being a part of her world.
Communication is so powerful!!! 
 I love the craziness~ the excitement over the latest thing that she has learned!!! I love when she comes home from preschool and wants to tell me all about her day~ her teachers are so awesome!!! I just love the excitement of talking about what we are going to do that day...which is usually her wanting to ride her bike!

So yeah, I am crazy~ crazy in love!!! 

Dollies, Hearing Aids, and Puff Paint~Oh My!

So our middle daughter is doing great!!! She is loving her 3yr class for the deaf and is picking up a lot of new signs!!! We love her teachers!

 We also went as a Deaf Awareness Day at the Zoo and have made some new friends and had an awesome playdate! I am looking forward to many more! :)

Big thanks so Nonnie, Papa, Auntie, Uncle, & Cousins for going with us and making the day at the zoo so much more special! 

 Our bubbly little girl is also going to get her hearing aids in about 2 weeks which she hasn't had for a few months...long story! Grrr...anyway.

 I am somewhat worried that she is going to have a hard time adjusting so I got out the old puff paint and got her dollies some hearing aids! 

I am hoping it will help, but if not it sure is cute!! 

Umm...I may need someone to come wrestle the puff paint out of my hand?!? :D

Happy Birthday To My Sweet Bubbles!!!

S. ~I love you my bubbly baby girl!! You are amazing! You came into my life like thunder and into my heart like lightning! You move like a hurricane and spring joy like a volcano! Like all of these you change the world around you...I know you have forever changed me.

You may be deaf~ you are also the loudest little person I know! Your entire life screams love & joy!! You touch so many people around you and you don't even know it! You have such a big heart and you inspire me more than you ever know! You have taught me more in these few short months than I have learned in the last thirty years. You have been through so much, but you embrace life..freely love..and have more strength than I could ever imagine. You are amazing!

There is so much I love about you....like the way your face lights up when you are happy....the way you are such a rough-&-tumble kind of girl who loves to wear her little pink leopard jacket and tutu signing beautiful into the mirror....the way you insist on a kiss at my busiest minute reminding me to slow down and take in every moment....the way you "bubble" with laughter....and the greatest of all when you sign "Mama" pulling yourself into my lap for a hug! I love you so much~Happy Birthday!

A Moment I Thought May Never Come, But Will Never Be Forgotten...

Well, the day that I thought may never come...did. My middle daughter is wonderful at signing not mention funny & bright. She is the sweetest little girl and she can express her feelings fully. In my heart however~ if I am truly honest as a mom I also long to hear her voice...well today I heard the sweetest word... 

My little girl put her little hand to her throat to feel the vibration and said "Mama!" 

At first I wasn't sure because she babbles so much so I asked(signed) "what?" She signed back MAMA!!! I felt a weird mix of amazement, & delight! I was just so happy & proud I praised her new achievement! She just beamed back at me! 

So all week she has been signing and saying Mama at the same time! She is so proud of herself! As for me well~ I think I just might burst! I have so many dreams, hopes, and fears when it come so raising my kids, but for this moment I am going to sick back at listen to my little girls say the sweetest word I have ever heard... 

She is simply amazing...just the way she is!  

Getting Social On The Journey..

 This last week we decided it was time for a new adventure~the deaf/hearing ice cream social. It was one of the places we frequented when we were in college; you know at different colleges & during different years! We still had it in common and shared lots of stories of our hearing student goes to deaf event days.
You know looking back we could never had imagined that we would ever had gotten married much less adopt a daughter that is deaf. God's plans are higher than our's and looking back we see how much was just put in place by His hands.

We want our middle daughter who is profoundly deaf to have a sense of pride in who she is, and make friends within the community. Well, for that to happen WE have to get into the community. So we started tonight and here are just a few things I noticed...

1. I am old, no wait scratch that~ they just invite really young & pretty ASL students to these things!

2. There were not a lot of deaf kids, and I think the reason for that is that people don't want to bring them in the fear that they will behave as badly as mine did...be them the sweet little angels and all. ;)

3. Running into an old friend is always wonderful, even better introducing him to hubby and sitting back watching them chat as my kids play around the table.

4. Whoever thought of having ice cream at these social must have had children!! It really made their night!

5. I miss being in the community...

~Meeting Our Girls~

We sat in the van our hearts pounding...waiting on the social worker to arrive to show inside and introduce us to two of our girls. I smiled, looking down at my hands tightly clutching 2 stuffed animals we had brought for the girls.
I seemed lost in that moment, wanting to take it all in...

At last the worker arrived and I somehow made it across the yard with shaky knees and a pounding heart. Our worker knocks and a sweet little 5 year old girl with long brown hair and big brown eyes comes flying around the social worker to give me a hug! It seemed in that moment the whole world just whirled around me with happiness.as I knelt down hugging my little girl...

She then ran up to Hubby showing him her little picture book we had sent her and announced that she knew who he was, gave him a little hug, and asked if he wanted to see her toys & books. She was so excited as she started playing school...we were her students and she seemed to just love that attention. It felt so natural. It felt like home....<3

A few minutes into looking at toys & books I got another surprise~ the youngest came toddling up to me with her arms up wanting me to pick her up! We had been told that she was very shy and attached to foster-mom so not to expect much, boy were they wrong! She took turns running from me to James; giving us her little toys & playing peek-a-boo. She is just so cute with her shoulder length hair, soft brown eyes, and tiny little frame. ~All smiles and giggles! <3

After about 2 hours we got back in the car to drive to the other house with our hearts full of love! We couldn't stop smiling!!

We arrived and were brought into the playroom were we met our middle daughter.. We introduced ourselves in asl..giving her the stuffed animal we brought for her and her foster-mom showed her our pictures in her book. Then it kinda *clicked* who we were and she was so surprised and happy to see us! She hugged Hubby first and LOVED his beard (So I guess I'm out voted!) and sat his lap and showed him the little book. She played with her toys and then brought over a brush to "fix' my hair...then wanted me to fix her beautiful long thick hair with her soft almost almond eyes sparkling with delight as I brushed her hair while she brushed her doll's... <3

We were so impressed at how many words in asl she knew and how easy it was to communicate with her..she is so smart! It was a little harder taking pictures of her; because she is deaf she is very visual so any distractions and she looks away. That is okay, the ones we did get are sooo cute! She then went and got her shoes and told her foster-mom and the worker that she was going home now...meaning with us. They told her she could go right then & that she had to wait and seemed okay with that, although I'm not sure I felt the same...
I want her to come home...I want all of them home.

We could not have asked for a better first visit!! We are just so blessed!!!
      You know they say there is no such thing as ~love at first sight...I think they are wrong. I knew in that moment that my heart would never be the same...it is now in little pieces and I gave away three that day.

I guess you could say I loved my daughters at first sight....

A Few Answers....

So on writing this blog...it is all in love and logic~I am simply inspired by all of the questions...

As adoptive parents, as with any new parent-to-be we are asked a lot of comments posed as questions and most have been positive or said in jest, but there are times even with our good sense of humor they make us pause and think...even question ourselves.
So here I am... just writing all of this out as much for myself as for you guys... So as I prepare for my girls to come home and inundated with questions...here are some of the answers.

Have you lost your mind?!? 
Umm..in a word..Yes! My mind is no longer my own...it is lost to me, and is now filled with thoughts and hopes for my little girls. It is filled with hopes and dreams for us as a new family, and to ease the transition. It means that I am no longer doing what is rational or practical because love isn't practical~its perfect! Love makes us all do crazy stuff...in my case it's adopting 3 amazing little girls!

Do you know what you are doing? 
Nope! Just doing the best I can, and trusting God for the rest. I guess the same could be asked of any woman with a child(ren) on the way... Just because our kids come to us a different way doesn't mean we are better off...just that we have a lot more paperwork! LOL!

Three?!? Instant family, huh?!?
Yep!!! We didn't plan on three, but love it! God knew better than we did..He always does! This process has been quite difficult, and if we do decide to do this again, we would like for it to be a good long while... We like that our girls will be together, they can share their hurts and feelings... They know that there is someone in the family that knows just how they feel. We are a family...that is what it is all about!

So one girl is deaf, can you handle that? 
Yes, we can handle anything together...as a family, as husband & wife, and most important as children of God. It may however be hard...many things in life are hard. Most of them are worth it!
I also have to say how blessed we are that so many friends & family, and their children are learning ASL (American Sign Language) and are eager to be able to talk & play with our little girl.
How cool is that?!?

You are in for it now...do you have any idea how much your life is going to change?
Yes, we are, LOL, and no I do not... How could I? How could any woman? All we know is that life is full of changes...and we can't think of a better one!

All in all~here is what we do know. 

We know that we are on a long journey and a very hard road....
     We also know that with God with us and before us...we can do all things through Him.

We know that there will be sleepless nights...already had a few of those.
     We also know that we are given a set amount of energy; what better way to use it than to help these girls...

We know that there are going to be hard times, and times when we feel like giving up.
     We also know that there are people praying for us...

We know that there are many challenges for our little ones because of their past...also that there are hurts that only God can heal.
     We also know a healer...we know Him by name!

We know we only have one life.
      We also can't think of a better way to spend our time on this earth...
   

Blogging...

I thought I would write a little just for the sake of blogging... We are slowly getting back to normal"-ish" after the Holidays. Family has returned home, and some decorations are taken down.

Now, we start the cleaning, reorganizing, and planning for all of the travel needed to bring the girls home.

I also need to whip up some laundry soap, and have some made-ahead-dinners in the the freezer for when our lives get really busy!!!

All the while nourishing our marriage & remembering what is really important in life!

I have also been studying ASL at night, researching school options, deaf culture, and the like... Trying not to stress too much, but there is so much to consider...I admit it can be overwhelming.
 We have also been working with family...everyone is learning ASL and we couldn't be more proud! We have such a great family!

Well, that is about it for us...let the craziness begin!