I'm pretty sure I'm too tired to make much sense, but basically, today was quite the mixed bag of emotions. We were told that this wasn't going to be easy. We were prepared for 'not easy'. However, we were in no way prepared for the kicking, screaming, and flailing that accompanied 'not easy'. The fear and confusion were too much for Rhyan this morning and things progressively went from really bad to a whole lot worse.

There was no way we were going to be able to force Rhyan to wear her new ear while it was turned on, so we left the office with her ear on her head, but turned off. Our way of giving in without giving in. Oh, to be the parent of a strong-willed child. On the way home, she fell asleep and all I could think of was that I thought the hard part was over with the surgery. This was, in a way, so much worse. I guess because I know that the difficulty could last for a couple weeks. I cried and prayed and got some prayer reinforcements and by the time we arrived to Sanford, Rhyan had her new ear in her hand and was willing to put it on as long as we didn't make any noise. I cried again and listened to her sing her ABC's for the first time with a whole new sound. She seemed amazed by what she was hearing and started taking normal sounds and listening to them all over again for the first time. Paper rustling, fingers snapping, silly songs. We were in the middle of watching a miracle unfold.

Once we were home, we could see her relax and she took off. She was running up to toys and familiar things with familiar sounds and, once again, hearing them all for the first time. We could see it in her eyes that she was beginning to understand. We are not done with 'not easy'. She was excited to turn up the volume on her new processor by 5 segments, but she still can't understand anything we're saying. The analogy we were given is it's like someone putting ear phones on us and forcing us to listen to a foreign language. It's confusing and frustrating and I wish I could put myself in her place for even a little bit to feel this with her.

We said our prayers tonight in sign language and simply said 'Thank You, Jesus.' Through it all, that's where we come full circle. This is one of the hardest things we've ever been through and Thank You, Jesus, with all our hearts.

As always, we felt your prayers today, and we love you.

Courtney & Matt