Our Inspired Journey

Reading this story made me realize how in every person and family's journey to hearing through CI's, there are similarities and then experiences unique only to them. I can relate to these parents' feelings of shock when you discover your child, (who you've nurtured for a while and you thought could hear every word you've spoken) you find is profoundly deaf and hasn't heard a word you've said to them their whole life.

The boy in this article, Tyler, though a little bit older than Cole, followed a similar path to implantation...my heart was with the family as I read through the steps they walked with their boy, at almost exactly the same time we walked them with Cole.

I couldn't help but think that if we were still in CA, our journey would've probably looked identically...UCLA medical center for implantation and John Tracy Clinic for therapy. It's almost as if the Lord was telling me as I read it...I could've worked this out anywhere. In the same breath I inhaled that truth, I also thanked God for bringing us to IL once again. We love the people God has brought in our life to help us navigate this journey with Cole. We absolutely would've loved (I'm sure of it) people in CA too because whenever you go through what seems like a valley, those walking beside you and leading up the mountain become like family to you as constant reminders of God's provision in your life. But for US...for this journey in this season, the close knit community we have around us from our doctor to Cole's audiologists and speech therapists...we couldn't be more thankful for.

As a parent, you know that whoever it is that embraces your child in their life...whoever cheers them on and celebrates their existence, encouraging them to dream dreams worthy of the life that was given for theirs...these are people who etch a special place in your family's life that is hard to describe in words. This is true whether your child has hearing loss or not, but has become especially true of those who've surrounded our family and Cole in these first months of hearing for him. Cole is 2 years old now, but has only lived 7 of those months with sound. We've seen a side of him open up in these last 7 months that make us feel sometimes as if we're getting to know our boy all over again...except this time, he's not 7 pounds and wrapped up in a blanket coming home from the hospital with us. He's 26 pounds, wrapped up with LIFE from his adorable little head down to his sweaty, busy little feet...we brought him home from the hospital a second time 7 months ago. The only difference this time was that he could hear us singing in the car the entire way home :)

I'm thankful to hear that the miracle of Cochlear Implants are being written about by big newspapers such as the LA Times! Of course, it's funny to read the reporter's statements in describing them, like, "A microphone-processor, the size of a hearing aid..." No, it's not...it's much larger than a hearing aid! Cole's little ears could handle the hearing aids during the trial we did with them before implantation...we're still waiting for them to grow big enough to be able to handle the slim but still large BTE (behind the ear) processor. But for now, he is happy with his harness which carries his miracle...his gift of sound, around his body. It doesn't stop him from climbing everything in sight!!! Actually, nothing can stop him. Not now, not ever.

God promises that in Phillippians 4:13 when He inspired Paul to write...