Countdown to 2015

One of our activities for the New Year count down (at 10pm) was to list 10 blessings. It's such a blessing to live today. We have some of the best doctors and some of the best technology. 2014 proved to be a year where we needed medical help. It all started with the birth of Brenlee and then came the hearing loss,arrhythmia,genetic testing, more hearing loss,a cochlear implant, more genetic testing and even more genetic testing.( We were able to get Brayden in at the very end of the year. Yes!)  We felt like we were outside of Noah's ark (drowning) when everything happened, one right after another. Hard. Hard doesn't even begin to touch it. It's an understatement really. I'm not sure I can ever paint a true depiction of what we experienced in 2014. I do know that there's no way we would have survived it without the help of our Savior. We feel blessed to have survived 2014. The saying, "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger" is something we heard a lot. We do feel stronger. Experiences stretch us and we did a lot of stretching. The one thing we were sad about as 2014 came to a close, our deductible reset. hahaha

Now a new year has started. We have made adjustments and we're confident that with the Lord at our side, we can handle anything. I was reflecting on the year and all its craziness. I remember feeling worried when Bryce lost his hearing. How would I teach him the gospel? How would we pray? read scriptures? The deaf branch has been a blessing. Truly the Lord prepares a way for us. It's not always easy to bounce between our ward and the branch but I think we're getting used to it. We did have a time change with our ward (9am) and the branch's 12:20 remains the same. Somehow I think we might make it to the branch more often. hahaha  Bryce started the year as a Sunbeam and while we're excited we were nervous. He loves nursery and has done well in it. He was also one of the oldest kids (a February birthday) in nursery so we didn't want him to stay extra time. His sweet friend, Henry, is in his class. His parents were called to the branch about the time we started going. We feel it's more than a coincidence. He knows some sign and was helping Bryce during class. :)

Our ward has been supportive as well. It touched us that Brielle was given a signing and talking part for the Primary program. One of Brayden's scout leaders inquired about the signing class. She wants to learn sign to communicate with the kids. I was really touched by this because there's only a few family members that have expressed interest.

I'm thankful for my busy bodies (although it's exhausting at times) and for what they teach me. We've been to plenty of doctor appointments and have seen plenty of sick children. Some of them are quite lethargic (not like kids should be) and it's heartbreaking. There's a lot of unknown about the boys (we're not sure if this will effect the girls later as well) and whether they will have more than hearing loss. Bryce has balance and bowel issues that Brayden doesn't seem to have as well as optic atrophy. We do know that these boys are doing hard things and they're doing them well. Bryce is a little elf just as happy about simple things as he can be. I get told by district personnel how well Brayden is doing for what he's going through. These boys are such great examples to us of how to endure and to endure well the challenges of life.