And the Wait Begins

Chance has made the decision to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  This means that he has expressed his interest in going and has turned in the paperwork.

Chance now has entered the time period of waiting to see where he will get assigned to serve. This could end up being almost anywhere in the world.  His paperwork included a note from his audiologist stating that Chance would be able to  serve in any developed nation that would be able to provide implant support.

Chance is very excited to see where he will be sent. The call used to come by mail, in a large envelope, with details about the area where the missionary will be serving as well as information about when to report to the Missionary Training Center or MTC. In the past few months a change has been made and the calls now come by email. There are several MTC's across the world and where one is sent depends on where one will be serving. Chance's brother went to the MTC in Brazil because he had been assigned to serve in a Brazilian mission. Every country does not have an MTC so sometimes missionaries are sent to the one closest to the area where they will serve.

At the MTC missionaries learn a language if they are being sent to a foreign country or somewhere where they will be speaking a language other than their own, along with culture lessons for their assigned area. They also get training in proselytizing methods, including lessons on church doctrine and teaching, missionary rules, and proper interactions with the people they will serve, teach and work with.

Both Chance's dad and I spent time in an MTC on our way to serve missions. I served in the Netherlands and his dad served in Spain. It was one of the highest points of our lives. We both learned to love the people we lived among and grew in ways that we could not have imagined. Chance now is awaiting his own experience.

The choice to serve a mission was solely his own.  You pay your own way on a mission and Chance has been saving the money he will need.

Someone wanting to serve a mission is also required to live a moral code that includes abstaining from alcohol, staying morally clean and being worthy to attend the temple.

Here's a short video that explains a little bit about what mission life is like.



Any day now we will learn where Chance is called to serve his mission! It is such an exciting time!

Chance and His Cochlear TV Streamer

Chance has a new accessory that he has started using with his implants to watch television. And he kind of loves it.

It is the Cochlear wireless TV streamer.

https://store.mycochlear.com/store/index.php/ukb2c/cochlear-wireless-tv-streamer-gb.html

The streamer allows for Chance to hear the television practically anywhere he may go in the house.
This allows him to go into the kitchen to get a snack without having to pause the television. He can put together puzzles like he loves to do with a notebook on the side for taking notes when he watches things like General Conference.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng

And he doesn't even have to look up to see the captions most of the time. He just hears it.

This is great for Chance!

It means we have to compete a bit more for Chance's attention, as we have to talk louder for him to hear us since he is so tuned into listening to the television. But this is a small price to pay for the benefits that Chance gains. He gets to listen and enjoy television like never before. He can walk around and leave the room all while still hearing the television!

Sometimes I wonder if he is hearing the television better than the rest of us hearing members of the family.

Cochlear implant technology is such a blessing for Chance and our family. We are definitely cochlear implant fans at our house.

Chance Gets His Wisdom Teeth Out

Chance had an exciting weekend. To give an idea about just how much fun he had, it may help to know that he got his wisdom teeth taken out late Thursday afternoon.

Chance waiting for his mouth to go numb after the shots

Chance on the car ride home holding ice packs to his face.

Chance has a naturally skinny face that now has considerable more padding down around the jawline.

Fun times on the coach with ice packs to help the swelling

Chance, his cowboy hat, and some face swelling

The procedure went well, though Chance really does not like shots or needles. He was conscious during the entire procedure but had medication to help calm him and numb him up. He was wearing headphones so that he could watch a movie above his head and the deaf, medicated, headphone combination made Chance talk VERY loud.  I had to try not to giggle each time he talked to me since he was so loud. He mostly said, "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
He couldn't hear my answers since he had massive headphones over his ears and implants so we kept talking to a minimum as we waited for his mouth to get numb before the procedure.

As we walked through the parking lot to the van, Chance said, "Mom, I am going to do something and I need you to catch me if it doesn't work."

Before I even had time to respond in any way, Chance did a little jump/kick, like the one people do while country dancing.
Cowboy dancing including the little jump/kick dance move that Chance did in the parking lot. 


Thankfully, he had enough balance to land without falling over.  As we got into the car, Chance told me that he wanted to climb a tree and then started looking out the window to find a potential tree to climb.  I reminded him that he had just had surgery so climbing a tree was not a good idea.

Chance: "I've climbed trees since I was little."

Me: "Yes, but all of the trees around here are baby trees. You've grown into a big boy and these trees are too small for you to climb.

Chance: "I've climbed baby trees before!"

Me:" Okay, but you just had surgery so we're not going to climb trees today."

Chance" "Dang it!"

Chance was a hoot to listen to on the way home. As we approached an intersection where the light had just turned red, Chance asked me, "Why didn't you go through the light? You could have made it."

Me: "The light was red by the time we got here, I couldn't have gone through the light."

Chance: "I would have gone through the light. Maybe you should move over and let me drive."

Obviously Chance was in great condition to drive. (wink, wink).

I did the driving and Chance did the talking which made my drive home most amusing. Chance sang country songs when we stopped to buy him a smoothie since solid foods would be our for a while. He also couldn't figure out why I asked him if he was sure he wanted to go inside the store to get the smoothie. The fact that he was drooling didn't seem to be reason enough for him to miss going into the store.

Chance is now healing well. The medication has worn off so our conversations aren't quite as exciting, but he is perky and continues to ice his cheeks on a regular basis to help with the swelling.

Chance lived through his wisdom teeth being removed so now he can continue the tradition of passing down how this event affected his life to his children just as the rest of us have done.