Last Day of School

That title sounds so FINAL! It's not like she will be out forever!

Gabby had her end of the school year program today and it was darling! Here she is with two of her FABULOUS teachers! They love her and we love them!

For those that might not know, Gabby was born profoundly deaf. By the time she was a year old she had gone completely silent... cried silently, laughed silently... pretty much devastating to see your precious little girl have no access to sound. We prayed and prayed for a miracle. Just to have our little girl hear us say how much we loved her would have been amazing.

At 12 months we received that miracle... cochlear implants.

These devices have changed her (and our) life. She has worked extremely hard in an intensive speech therapy school since birth and now is TALKING like crazy (I am sure I will share MANY Gabby stories... she comes up with the craziest stuff!). We are so thankful for her and for all

the blessings God has blessed her with.

Her school is filled with children like Gabby and parents like Derek and I. Parents who were told that their children would not talk or attend a mainstream school. Now, these children are reading and talking and singing and dancing. I can't tell you how great it is to see.

Hope restored in such hopeless situations.

Here is a picture of her buddy Emily (the read head). They are paired throughout the day for speech and auditory training (basically it means they are on the same level). They were pretending the rocks were sharks and they had to stay on the path so they wouldn't be eaten... how precious!!

Any who... We are so proud of you Gabby and can't wait to see the young lady you turn into! Happy Summer... have fun (and wear sunscreen, be careful with your processors, keep reading books, be nice to your sister, listen to your mom and dad, clean up after yourself...)

ok... just have fun, after all your hard work, you DESERVE IT! Have a cookie with Emmy!

when the phone rings from school...

YOU KNOW THERE IS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM!

Yep, you read that right. I got a phone call at 2:30 in the afternoon from Gabby's school.

First, this is extra concerning considering I have to pick her up in only 30 short minutes. What is so important that she can't wait for 30 minutes? Plus, she knows I always get there 10 minutes early. So we are really looking at 20 TINY minutes. Insert panic mode! (Going through my head... broken bones, out-of-control temper tantrum, lost...)

The teacher calmly and, thankfully, quickly states 'Gabby fell and knocked her head on the floor face first'... hmmm... Yes....'she is fine and isn't upset about her bleeding mouth or wiggling front tooth.'

Note to self: STAY CALM

"WIGGLY FRONT TOOTH! WHAT! Is my child going to be that child with knocked out front teeth... how will this affect her speech, confidence, etc... How will she eat? What do I DO!?" (Ok, so I did not say this, I added the quotes for effect... you really thought I did, didn't you :) )

No, I simply said, "Do I need to call the dentist? and come get her?"

Teacher: "Yes, that would be a good idea. She doesn't seem bothered by it but it is wiggling."

Me: "Ok, I will see you in a bit."

Dentist: "Bring her in and we will take a look"

Here is our little Gabby at the dentist...

note... I may or may not have gone to the waiting room to get my camera so that I could blog about the entire experience... oh my life has officially changed! :)

She was and is fine... I was worried at her lack of desire for ice cream or sucking the NOTORIOUS thumb but, alas, she is back to her normal ice cream loving, thumb sucking self. And the dentist, he assured me it won't fall out and she will have a normal child hood... umm, not the latter, but I can dream! :)

Here we go

Alright, I am taking the plunge... I am jumping in with both feet... I am throwing caution to the wind... I am taking the bull by its horns... I am biting the bullet... I am getting this ball rolling... I am laying the first stone... It is now or never!!

I AM STARTING A BLOG!!

You have no idea how exciting this is for me!! ha! I have been following different blogs for years and like to dream about my blog... I sometimes even live different moments of life as if I were blogging... wow! A little sad, A LOT exciting!!!

So, I know I am supposed to put all my intentions and such in the profile part but I want to let you (my oh so many faithful readers...HA!) that this blog will be about my monogramming business (Initial This) and my memories (aka CHILDREN).

I LIVE at the computer doing design work and such for the embroidery and so I have high hopes of posting frequently, with lots of pics (thanks sister for the new, little camera). Don't have high hopes of great grammar (sorry K) or spelling (sorry N). I was and am a lover of numbers, not letters... however I am hear and I am righting (ok... so I do know that was a joke, I am not that bad!!).

So... here we goooo!