"Ye Olde Carnival"

On Saturday, November 4th, the girls and I went to Owasso to attend an old fashioned Carnival at Discovery Bible Fellowship. This event was hosted by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing AGBELL and other generous donors. It was an exciting day for the children and great get-to-know-each-other time for adults. Audiologists, Therapists, Parents, Grandparents, Children, and Media were present at this event. I love the fact that there are so many people in professional positions who attend our AG Bell events. It brings them down to the parent's and child's level so there isn't that clinical wall between the two. The boundaries seem to be a little less in these circumstances and it makes me so happy to be involved! There was also a YO-YO guy who taught the kids how to yo-yo and did some really neat tricks. Then he let the kids "borrow" his yo-yo's to practice! YEAH! Like Natalie's going to give THAT back!

Olivia was so excited to be a part of this event! She and Natalie played hard at the games and made the neatest pumpkins and candy bags. I am so proud of all that Olivia has accomplished. It makes me teary eyed every time I remember the day she was diagnosed as profoundly deaf. I'll never forget the fear, the anxiety, and the hurt that came with thinking that my daughter would never be a part of my world. She'll never say MOM, she'll never understand language, she'll never hear me sing...etc...

I will be forever grateful to Sooner Start Therapist, Nicole Streich. Without her knowledge and being willing to share her knowledge about deaf culture and other avenues available to myself and my daughter, I don't think we'd be where we are now.

WE LOVE YOU NICOLE!!!!! WE MISS YOU!!!!!

Here are some photos from the "Carnival":

Yummy! Pizza and BBQ! Olivia thought she should make the impression of a bear at the little girl sitting across from her who kept trying to jump across the table to take her cheese pizza!

Yes, that is Olivia headbanging! (With a very attentive Natalie sitting criss-crossed applesauce behind her) Olivia's little friend, Gracie, (sitting beside Olivia, but you can't see her face) Yeah. She's headbanging too! Her head was going up and Olivia's was coming down!

The infamous "teach em to yo-yo" session. Yeah. I'm thinking the whole "you can borrow my yo-yo to practice but ya gotta give it back" was a little over their heads. I had to fish 3 yo-yo's out of Natalie's bag because she said "HE GAVE 'EM TO ME!" Natalie is trying to yo-yo. You can see her at the extreme right edge of the picture.