Chingawassa Days

Every June we try to make it down to Kansas to visit relatives and go to Chingawassa Days. We all had a great time this year - just a wonderful week-end!

Graduation

In May - our oldest son, Blake, graduated from high school! Whew! One more done! He's in college now, planning to work in Nuclear Medicine.

Birthday!!

I remember how sad I was last year when Emma couldn't spend her birthday with us. We made up for it this year! While we don't have pics of everything - we went and played Lazer Tag, had a pizza party, then later a pinata and party at home. So much fun! I know Emma had a blast. She invited her cousins - Cassie & Slade. That always works out great - because Daniel & Slade like to play and Cassie & Emma are best friends. So glad they could come!

So Behind

Yes - Really behind here, huh? I tried a couple of times, unsuccessfully, to get out CI activation video to upload and then gave up. Then... life took over and here it is already September!

So - here are some pics to show you where we've been and what we've been up to! I'll start with Easter!

Waiting!

January has been a very busy month. Emma recycled the Christmas stocking decorations and made a warrior outfit out of them. She's also been having a lot of fun playing with the tea set that she received from her great aunt. Every month is full of new firsts here - too many to remember. I should be writing it all down, but, just like with my biological children, I'm pretty bad about that. Emma's sign language is coming along in leaps and bounds now - longer sentences and more words. It is still hard to communicate at times, but getting much easier. Her brother, Daniel is a fantastic signer as well. He can sign faster than I can. It is fun to watch the two of them playing together. One of the most exciting things this month was Emma's cochlear implant surgery. I've been nervous for weeks about this and that - all those random mother worries. But, she came through it just fine and healed up quickly. She's anxious for it to heal so that she can get back to swimming again. Emma loves to swim! This Wednesday her implant will be activated. The audiologist said they tested the implant during surgery and her nerve reacted well. I don't know what that means exactly, just that it's good. He seemed very optimistic, despite the fact that Emma is getting her implant so late. Just a few more days and Emma will be hearing. We hope to tape her activation so we can post it! More later!

We have DATES!!!

In January of 2008 our family seen Emma's picture for the very first time and began the adoption process. So much has happened between now and then - it's just unbelieveable.

I will update more later - but I just had to say, we FINALLY have a date for Emma's CI surgery. It is January 20th! Her surgeon uses a technique where the inicision is very small and so it heals faster. Because of this, her CI can be activated much earlier. Her CI activation date is January 28th!

I can't believe we are finally this close. Please say a prayer that the surgery goes well and is successful!

December 2008

Lots of firsts and good news in December. December is loaded with birthdays and birthday parties in our family. Emma likes these as they come with ice cream, the one and only dairy product that Emma likes. Christmas was also a big thumbs up. I have never had a child thank me so many times for presents. She opened presents and just danced all over with excitement. This was definitely one of the best Christmas' ever.

We also have insurance approval for Emma's cochlear implant - better late than never! Hopefully sometime in January, Emma will be able to hear. This is incredible news. There is no definite date yet and if I've learned anything from the adoption process, it is not to get my hopes up too high until I've got a date in writing. But, I confess, I'm getting pretty eager for Emma to begin to hear. She wants to talk so badly and any little bit of sound that she could get could help her with this.

We also found out that she has been approved to begin in a nearby deaf/hoh TC classroom. This means that Emma will be able to attend a classroom where there is both spoken language and ASL. She is learning sign quickly and is so eager to express herself. We know that it will be a big help for her to have teachers and peers that use sign language as well. She will also get more speech therapy and can get the follow up therapy she will need for her cochlear implant. She starts in her new school after the Christmas break. On the sad side, she had made so many friends at the local school and it was hard for her to tell them goodbye. They had a big party for her. I can't begin to say how supportive the local school and her classmates have been. There are no words to explain how thankful I am for all of them.

Pray for us as we move into January 2009!