Today was Rhyan's second day with her new ear. We let her wear her old ear this morning. We celebrated her 6th birthday and we just couldn't force her to be without sound on her special day. We told her that after her party we would have to put her old ear away for a few weeks. She took it off on her own and she hasn't asked for it back.

She is continuing to turn up the sound pretty quickly and is very excited when she realizes that she's hearing better. She has said several times, 'I heard you and you sound like you.' or 'I sound like myself.' Her excitement is so contagious.

She still has a lot of difficulty hearing things. I can say her name repeatedly while standing right next to her and she won't respond. But if she is focused on what we're doing, as with her flash cards, she is getting about half of the words correct.

Jesus continues to give me glimmers of light on this path. When I start feeling sad that she doesn't know my voice, she'll start singing and smile at the sound of her own. Our first official day of this new leg of our journey was, all in all, pretty good. She isn't hearing us very well, but she is happy. And I'm so very grateful.