Gratitude

Tis the Season to be grateful.  Honestly, I feel grateful every day.  I remember well this time last year how isolated and anxious I felt each day.  So much has changed in the last year for me.  I rarely feel lonely.  I rarely feel anxious about communicating.  I am sooooo lucky!!!  The greatest benefit to my hearing abilities is understanding my children.  Here's just a few examples:

The other night while I was sitting on the couch in the living room talking with Evan, I heard the sweet voice of Joshua (my three year old) singing from the bathroom "I better watch out, I better not shout, SANTA CLAUS is coming to TOWN!"

While Aleah (my four year old) and I were watching a movie, Joshua was helping Evan make dinner.  I heard Joshua say "I love you daddy" but Evan was not paying attention and didn't respond to him.  Because I heard Joshua, I prompted Evan to respond.

At dinner the other night, Joshua was saying the prayer.  He expressed thanks to Heavenly Father for himself, his daddy, his mommy, grandma, Aleah, plates, cups, spoons, bowls, rice, olives, lettuce, meat, chips and water.  Then he repeated himself three times.  I heard the whole thing.  It was adorable.  The only thing he wasn't grateful for were the tomatoes.  :)

Yesterday I was downstairs sewing and I heard Aleah upstairs calling to me from her bedroom, which is upstairs.  She needed help and I was able to quickly respond.

I overheard Aleah and Joshua telling their dinosaurs "you are being naughty and have to go to time out!"  Hahahaha.

Whenever we go outside and there is snow, the kids immediately run away from me yelling "let's make snow angels" and then throw themselves down in the snow.  What I love is that I can hear them as they are running away from me.  It's amazing to hear without having to lipread.

This is a special Thanksgiving for me.  My heart is so full of thanks for all of those who helped make my journey back to hearing possible.  I'm grateful for the gift of being hard of hearing again.