Blizzard 2010 !!!!!

Well, I haven’t seen this much snow in Nashville since the mid-nineties! We usually get a couple of dustings every year, but a 6” snow is a pretty rare event. People from up north will probably laugh, but school was shut down on Friday and I closed up the warehouse around 10am. You guys just don’t understand. People in the south “freak out” when it snows. I’m guessing that it would have taken me over an hour to get home if I had worked all day ( 7 mile drive ). My dad, who lives in Chattanooga, said that it took him over three hours to get home from work on Friday! That was probably about an eight or nine mile drive.

We had a big time when we woke up on Saturday. I got my snow gear out and set forth on a little adventure to check out the roads. They were pretty dicey, but my little all wheel drive Subaru was a champ. I could barely make it slide even when I tried to do it on purpose. I came back home, picked up the kids and the wife and headed for the sledding slopes of Crockett Park. I bet there were fifty or sixty people sledding when we arrived. Everyone was having a blast. A few people even had some snow ramps built for sled jumping!

After a while, we decided that Crockett Park was too tame, so we headed for the hill at Edmonson Elementary School. Now this is a pretty steep hill. Luckily, there is a little ditch at the bottom which slows you down before you hit the road. The first few rides were great. They were super fast and super smooth. Unfortunately, my luck did not last. Claire and I decided to take a run together. A few seconds after we got started, our disk turned around backwards. This would have been fine, but I did not see the dip that was quickly approaching. We hit the dip doing about 100 mph and were thrown in to a serious back flip. I did not land on Claire, but I did land on my face. It was pretty embarrassing to arrive back at the top of the hill spitting out blood from a busted lip! Claire was a little shaken up and chose to sit out the rest of the runs. Max was a machine. He could have sledded for several more hours.

A quick aside….We dropped out AB “ears” in the snow several times and they are still working fine!

Anyway, we had a great weekend. We had a blast in the snow, Kentucky creamed Vanderbilt, the Predators thrashed the Thrashers and Chris Smith delivered a great sermon at Harpeth Hills. On to work tomorrow. Here’s to praying for a good week!

See ya! Greg

Family Update

What have we been up to over the past few weeks? Hmm. Let’s see. As you know, we got a hamster named Tom for Christmas. Claire turned four on January 10th and we decided to get her a hamster of her own. She decided that she would name her hamster Tom as well. Very original of her. Unfortunately, Tom # 2 died yesterday. We are not sure why, but we have a pretty good idea that it was from sheer terror. Claire gets a little excited with the hamsters. So, yesterday afternoon we replaced Tom # 2 with Tom # 3. Tom # 3 is a big guy and seems very sturdy. I think he will fair a little better. The funny thing is that Tom # 3 has some anatomy that Tom # 1 does not have. So, it seems that Tom # 1 is actually a Tomette and we will need to rename him….her.

We also received a little snow here in Nashville last weekend. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to have some fun sledding. My mom and dad were up for Claire’s birthday, so they got to share in the snowy fun. Dad had a big time pushing the kids on the sled. I hope we get a bigger snow at some point this winter, so we can do some real sledding.

I am trying to learn to play my new guitar and I am training for the Country Music ½ Marathon. I’m not sure which is more difficult. I am sure which one is more fun! I finished last in my group on our 5 mile run on Saturday. That didn’t do much for the old confidence. I wish I had someone to play my guitar with. You can find a lot of good lessons on YouTube and the internet, but that gets old after a while.

Stephanie starts her new job next week. I hope she likes it. She is a great talent and I know that she will surpass her new boss’s expectations. She is training for the ½ marathon as well. She beat me in the 5 mile run by 10 minutes. Uhg.

Anyway, the kids are well. Max is doing great in school and Claire continues to improve her skills. I can’t wait for “Clearvoice” from Advanced Bionics to come out. It is new software and I hear that the clarity is nothing short of a miracle. The FDA needs to get the lead out and approve this thing. I know that it will do wonders for Max and Claire. Check it out on the Advanced Bionics web site.

Happy New Year!

Another Christmas has come and gone and we are about to move in to a new decade. Time really seems to be moving at a breakneck pace these days. I hope it doesn’t seem that way for Max and Claire. I pray that they are able to enjoy this innocent and joyful time in their lives, before the stresses of the world catch up with them. Sometimes I wonder how much stress hearing loss has added to their lives. Do they face frustration with learning skills? Are they shunned from peer groups because their social skills are a little behind? Do I question their obedience, when they may have just not heard what I said? I don’t know. I don’t suppose I’ll ever know, because this is life as they know it.

On the other hand, I do feel that hearing loss is keeping them innocent just a little longer than most kids. Even though Max is doing great in school and sports and has many friends, I feel like he still has the heart of a younger child. I think that he misses out on the environment around him, just enough to shelter him from some of the unwholesome things other kids are exposed to. My experience with Claire is the same. Even though she challenges my patience on a daily basis, I feel like I can still play with my almost four year old as though she were only two. She still seems to be my baby.

As I said, time seems to be slipping by so quickly at the moment. I am afraid that I am not stopping to smell the roses and that I am letting my own stress affect my relationship with Max and Claire. That being said, maybe I should make a couple of New Year resolutions for 2010. My first resolution is to make 4:30pm until 9pm during the week, Max and Claire time. This means no napping on the couch when I get home, no Facebook when I get home and certainly much less TV time for all of us when I get home. We will play games, play Nerf dart wars and wrestle! My next resolution is to spend more time with Max on his school work and more time with Claire doing therapy type activities. I watched a video of Max the other day. It was filmed when he was 2 ½. I feel like he was so much further along with his speaking skills that Claire is now. I really want to catch her up and not cheat her out of a mainstreamed life.

My last resolution doesn’t really have to do with the kids. But I am determined to run the Music City ½ Marathon this year. I start training on January 9th. Please pray for me. I will need it! Running is not my thing.

A few things the kids got for Christmas…… Red Rider BB Gun, Tom the Hamster (real), Ice Skates and a Bicycle!!!!!

Here’s to hoping 2010 is the best year of our lives! Happy New Year!!!!!!

Greg

Daddy! Airplane!

I already posted this on Facebook, so if this is redundant, I apologize. Claire was playing in our living room this morning when a helicopter flew over our house. I was upstairs when I heard her yell, “Daddy! Airplane!”. Obviously, the fact that she could hear the helicopter at all will always be a blessing. However, the fact that she could distinguish what the sound was is a true sign of progress and testament to the miracle of cochlear implants. With a cochlear implant, noise is not just “noise”; noise is a validation of the environment surrounding the user. A cochlear implant is the tool that allows the user to truly interact with that environment. What an awesome lifestyle experience these implants provide! Can you imagine the difference between a life of silence or extremely distorted noise vs. a life where sounds are rich and clear? If not, I suggest that you walk around with ear plugs in your ears for a couple of days, and then you might begin to truly appreciate this wonderful medical device. Life is full of struggles for our family, but our lives are also full of countless blessings!

I am thankful for.....

Let's see.... What am I thankful for? I've been focusing on the negative lately, so this should be a good exercise for me. I am thankful for a beautiful, kind hearted, hard working, intelligent, loving wife, who is an awesome mother to Max and Claire. I am thankful for two wonderful children, who happen to be deaf. I can't imagine my life without their smiles, hugs, kisses and laughter. Max has the biggest heart I've ever seen and Claire gives the best hugs and kisses. They will melt your heart! I am thankful for my Mom and Dad. Everyone would be a better person if they had parents like mine. I am thankful for my grandparents who are still with me. I haven't always been the best grandson, but they have always been the best grandparents. I am thankful for my little sister. I wish that I was more like her. I am thankful for Christian in-laws who gave me such a wonderful wife. I am thankful for all of my extended family. I don't have very many close friends, but I am thankful for the ones that I do have. You know who you are! I am thankful for my church and church family. I am thankful for my job. I am thankful for David Lipscomb Campus School and all of the wonderful teachers who work there. I am thankful for Mama Leer Hearing School. Katie and Rob rock!! I am thankful for Eggleston Children’s' Hospital and Vanderbilt Children’s' Hospital. They are doing God's work. I am thankful for Advanced Bionics and all of their outstanding employees. I am thankful for doctors David Haynes and Wendell Todd. I am thankful for Mary Anne Costa and Edie Gibson. I am thankful for all of my earthly blessings. I am thankful to be an American and a Southerner. I am the most thankful for Jesus Christ. I am thankful for countless things. I hope you are as well. Oh yeah. I'm thankful that the Titan's will not go 0-16 :)

Claire's Mickey Mouse SKINIT

This is not the best picture, but Claire's Mickey Mouse SKINITs came in last night. She was very excited!

Nashville Predators SKINIT !!!!

Well this is really cool. I learned about SKINIT at the Advanced Bionics seminar. This company is known for making "skins" for cell phones, PDA's, laptops, etc. However, they also make "skins" for the Advanced Bionics Harmony. You can chose from just about any pro or college sports team, kids' theme or you can even design your own. I obviously suggest the Nashville Predators "skin". Your kids will love them (Max does) and their friends will envy them! I'm starting to sound like an infomercial. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about something fun for your kids. Claire's should arrive shortly! Oh yeah. http://www.skinit.com/