Churchin' it with my girls! First time back to our church since Thanksgiving! We've attended online for the last 2 months because I was extra cautious to not get sick presurgery and then of course, had surgery and then recovery. I love our church and really missed it! ( We are masked and socially distanced.)
New sounds this week that made snicker. Putting on my deodorant. Makes a sound. Putting on lotion. Makes a sound. Seriously, next time you put on lotion think about the sounds. I literally heard it and was like, "This is kinda gross!" The other day, my son was cooking and was turning on the gas burner on the stove. You guys, I could hear the ticking from my couch in the next room. Now it's only 12ft away, but I could hear it! I looked over and saw that it wasn't lighting and heard that it was just ticking and said, "Hey, that's only ticking!" Joe quickly looked at me and said, "You heard that!" This time, I heard it! Yes, we are celebrating everything over here! It's stuff like this that has made me realize where and how I have naturally compensated in life. I used to just depend on my eyes to see that it wasn't lighting and then I'd turn it off and count to 10 to myself to be sure the gas had dissipated and then try to relight it.
When you are deaf, you hear through seeing and watching. You depend on your eyes. I can usually pick up on something before Joe does because I am so used to sitting back and observing. You learn to read body language, expressions, and lips. You piece it all together to hear. It's like your other senses make up for what is lost. Even though I am hearing more sounds now, I still need to see the lips. Lipreading is my natural default and what has always brought clarity to words in my life. I love this picture. When I lipread, I can fill in those missing pieces. My audiologist said I may get to the point where I may depend less on lip-reading...now that's just crazy sauce to me!
As of church today...have I mentioned I love our church? I love the people. I love the community. I love the messages. I love the pastors. I am sleeping with one of them. Ok...I am actually married to one of them, so it's completely fine. Life is too short to not laugh. We are definitely a screwed up bunch, but we all know we're all on journey and it's a place of grace and know we need Jesus. Find yourself a church with an awesome worship pastor who love ya where you are and will send you the worship songs for that week ahead of time, so you can listen to them over and over in hopes that beeps turn to words. (Matt, you aren't allowed to leave Fellowship, but you can add that to your resume...thank you!) One song was still all beeps, two were all words, and one was both. Little by little and it's a process has become my motto. I've always said, if God would ever take all of my hearing, worship would be a sound I would definitely miss. Today, I closed my eyes and took it all in as I got to hear it louder and clearer than ever before...thankful...
One Change a Day,
Aime Beth