Tonight, Cole came to me with headphones in his ears. He's seen his Daddy wear headphones while working on his computer and he wanted to be like him.
"Mom, I want to listen to music like Daddy. Can you plug these into the computer?"
"Cole, for you I'd need to get the right attachment and connect them to the computer and then to your implants. When someone wears these, the music goes straight into their ears. Your ears don't hear sound that way, so I plug them into your implants and then you can listen to the music if you want."
"Oh."
Ryder chimes in telling a story of a friend who uses headphones to listen to their ipod...
Cole, listens while hanging on my exercise bike...I can tell the wheels in his head are turning.
"Oh man! When I'm older, I'm still going to have to wear cochlear implants?"
I breathed deeply before answering this one. I know it doesn't make sense. Especially since he no longer attends an Auditory Oral school where he has friends with cochlear implants and gets to see that wearing CI's is someone else's "normal" too.
"No, Coley...you'll have to wear them even when you're bigger too, if you want to hear."
"Awww! When I'm a Daddy, I'm not going to wear my Cochlear Implants anymore! My Daddy doesn't wear them. No Daddy's wear them!"
The Ryder pipes up..."Cole, that'll be so cool! You'll be one of the only Daddy's with Cochlear Implants! That's awesome!" He's such an encourager...what a gift, to our family and to our Cole.
One of the truths I'll be speaking in this house until there's no one left in it to tell, is that God made each one of them beautifully, uniquely and perfectly...them. There are no two ways about it. For Cole, it's his hearing, for someone else it may be sight, and still another may wish they hadn't been born with life-threatening food allergies. Whatever it is, we all have something we'd probably wish away if we had the choice. But God says, no.
In Psalm 139 David says...
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
I don't have a visible disability but Romans 3:23 says that I've fallen short. My spirit is empty without knowing that the same God who has a name for more stars than NASA has record of, knows mine too. Not only does He know me, but He formed me...beautifully. The same is true of Cole and every other person who breathes on this earth affected by disability. God makes beautiful things...and for each of them, He has an even more beautiful purpose.
My highest aim as a mom to Cole, is to help him see this...
Not only is he a perfect creation of the Most High God, but God wants to use him to show the world that what He sees as truly beautiful, is a heart and life completely committed to Him.
Oh, the places you'll go dear one...He has beautiful plans for you, and thankfully for us all.
I'm so glad you found us, Stephen! I REJOICE with you over your new hearing journey!!! I praise God for the way He's brought you to the hearing world with the incredible technology He inspired man to make. Welcome to our journey and I look forward to following yours!
What a beautiful post! I am a mom of 3, 2 of which are hard of hearing and deaf. Our oldest, Jared(11)wears hearing aids( just like his dad) and Allison(9)is deaf and has CI's. For 5 years I was the only one in my family that had normal hearing. In 2007 we were blessed with our youngest son, Jordan, who by God's perfect design had normal hearing. I love the fact that I can tell my kids that God made them perfectly and did not make a mistake when he created them with their hearing loss/deafness. I can't wait to see what they are going to do for Him in the future. Feel free to check out our blog...krullfamily5@blogspot.com I look forward to reading more about Cole.
Shelly! Thank you for introducing yourself! What an incredible comfort it is to know that God's design is perfect....with hearing loss or not. :) He has good plans for our kids! I look forward to visiting your journey as well! Thanks for reading, (and writing!)
Hi. I am a newcomer to your blog. I found it through deafvillage.com
I really appreciate your encouragement, highlighting God's plan and purpose for things.
I just had a cochlear implant surgery and am learning to hear with it. Glad to find your blog.
God bless,
Stephen
http://stephenmyoung2.com
http://smy2ci.blogspot.com
I'm so glad you found us, Stephen! I REJOICE with you over your new hearing journey!!! I praise God for the way He's brought you to the hearing world with the incredible technology He inspired man to make. Welcome to our journey and I look forward to following yours!
What a beautiful post! I am a mom of 3, 2 of which are hard of hearing and deaf. Our oldest, Jared(11)wears hearing aids( just like his dad) and Allison(9)is deaf and has CI's. For 5 years I was the only one in my family that had normal hearing. In 2007 we were blessed with our youngest son, Jordan, who by God's perfect design had normal hearing.
I love the fact that I can tell my kids that God made them perfectly and did not make a mistake when he created them with their hearing loss/deafness. I can't wait to see what they are going to do for Him in the future.
Feel free to check out our blog...krullfamily5@blogspot.com I look forward to reading more about Cole.
Shelly! Thank you for introducing yourself! What an incredible comfort it is to know that God's design is perfect....with hearing loss or not. :) He has good plans for our kids! I look forward to visiting your journey as well! Thanks for reading, (and writing!)