True blessings abound

Well you know the professionals amongst us choose to work with deaf and hearing impaired kids.

We as the parents of those kids, didn't choose it, it chose us.



Honestly, I'm not any of us were that thrilled with the choices life threw at us in those early days in which we found out things were going to be just a little bit different in our households.



That's the most incredible thing about parenting, when you think you can't cope or you think you can't do it - you look at that dear sweet child who needs you, who depends on you - and whammo suddenly you find a strength you never knew you had. With the strength comes the drive, the passion to do whatever it takes for your child.



A smaller subset of those parents, are beset with the "passing the baton gene". This gene isn't really a gene per se but something that might as well be. That's because it is right at the heart of them, right deep down inside, almost like part of their genetic makeup. These are the parents that see the bigger picture, these are the parents that want to make a difference! BUT not just to their own kids, for all the kids around them and those kids who are yet to come.



These same parents are the ones that are really tired and feel like falling in a heap until someone else who is not so far on the journey, calls or emails and needs some help or support. Forgeting their own state of tiredness, they collectively respond to gently lift that struggling parent back up on to their feet.



These are the same people who see something important, recognise it and put their heads down and their butts up and just go for it.



Jodi, Val and Lydia are 3 such people - they have in 6 days put together the most amazing website.




www.cicircle.org




This website is going to be just the most amazing reference point for parents and professionals alike. It also has a link to CI Circle blog where parents of newly diagnosed kids can come and meet some others who have been there before and know the support they so desire is but an email away - now in this internet age, that is truly a precious, precious thing.








Alongside these 3 go getters are a cast of over 1700 members of the CI Circle discussion list.

It is all about you guys. The list serve was set up for you all and boy have you taken it and turned it into more than Karen & I ever dared to imagine over 10 years ago now.

The group is so unique and special - perhaps a more caring environment than some of our members have in their immediate surroundings. A welcoming place where people "JUST GET IT!"



It truly is a case of no matter what life dishes out, there most definitely are so many blessings around us, and I am so incredibly blessed to have you all in my life.