Thankfulness

While we were in Branson last week, God was showing me how much I had to be thankful for! Each day, I saw the beauty of His creation and couldn't help but say thank you! The weather was beautiful, all the flowers were in full bloom, the grass was lush and green, and there was family to spend time with. The Lord was teaching me that there was so much more to be thankful for than to worry and fret about! Psalm 100 tells us to

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."

So, what things can you be thankful for or put a positive spin on and say Thank you for instead of, "Why is this happening?"

For my own life there are several things I can think about!

Thank you for Harper's cute little hearing aids that help synchronize the sounds during her "off" moments, instead of dwelling on the fact that Harper has Auditory Neuropathy.

I just cannot get the song "Count Your Many Blessings" out of my head, so today I am going to do just that! I am going to count my blessings and give thanks to God for His steadfast and enduring love and all the blessings he gives, whether great or small!

Letting God Out of My Box!

As I sat doing my Bible study this morning, I had so many things running through my mind. I was thinking about Harper's Auditory Neuropathy, her healing, being a better Christian, Faith, the prayers of a righteous man, healing in general, and so much more.

I am tired of being a "Sunday only/when people see me" Christian. I am tired of keeping God in a box. Harper having the neuropathy has stretched me SO much! Never before would I have prayed for healing and truly believe it could happen. These past 6 months, God has shown me just how BIG he is and how finite I am. He has opened my eyes to the sin of my ways. He has taught me about faith and how little mine is. I think it is so sad that I profess to be a Christian and to trust in this great God but have such small faith. I think it is sad that I have given God about 1% of my life and kept the rest for myself.

God is showing me that it is a whole lot more than typical Sunday School answers. It is about dying to self daily and presenting myself as a living sacrifice to God!

-- Whitney

How it came to be known....Finding out about Harper's hearing loss.

After Harper was born the hospital ran the ABR screening on her hearing, but she did not pass. We were told not to worry about it and that there are several babies that "refer". We had the test ran again the next morning, but the results were the same. Before we went home, the test had been run five times and Harper failed all five times. We took Harper back to the hospital a week later to run the screening again. The nurse performed the test twice. Harper passed once on the right ear but failed on the left ear both times.

We were referred to the health department but Harper's forehead was too tiny for the test. We were then referred to the Hough Ear Institute in OKC. At Hough, Dr. Mark Wood checked Harper's ears and had the audiologist perform the OAE screening on her. Harper's ears looked perfectly normal but she failed the OAE screening. We were set up to have Harper's hearing tested at Hearts for Hearing.

On November 12, we took Harper to Hearts for Hearing to have the ABR test ran on Harper's hearing. The test revealed that Harper had a profound hearing loss in her left ear and auditory neuropathy and dys-synchrony (AN/AD) in both ears. This means that in Harper's left ear, the most quiet sounds heard are from 95 dB or more. With the AN/AD, especially in the right ear, Harper can hear, but there is a break in connection as the sound is traveling up the auditory nerve. Once the sound reaches the brain, it is just noise. It is like turning the radio on only hearing static. The audiologist suggested we begin using hearing aids on Harper and test her hearing at six months to see if there are any changes.

Our prayer is that God would heal Harper's hearing if it be His will, but if not, that we would do what is best for Harper!