George Strait

George Strait. We are big fan at our house. Especially Chance.

Before Chance heads over the pond to England for a few years, he wanted to get in one more opportunity to see George Strait since George has been doing concerts in Las Vegas and that is close enough for a visit.

Chance wore his official George Strait shirt. He has a few of those.

Chance wore his wrangler jeans. He has a few of those too.

And Chance wore his cowboy boots of course.

I didn't get a picture. I am still upset about it.

Moving onto more pleasant thoughts, it was fun for the family to enjoy the concert together and to watch Chance singing along to his favorite George Strait songs. Most of Chance's four siblings love George Strait. Chance is the one that takes it to the next level though and dresses like a cowboy almost everyday.  His little sister though, is giving Chance a run for George Straits biggest fan.

I think Chance's devotion to George Strait began when he could actually hear the words of the songs. Chance went through an entire evolution on his hearing journey.

First, he could hear.

Then, he could not hear anymore (professionals think this happened at about 13 months).
Chance's brother Ammon who is also deaf, lost his hearing quickly over a period of about 6 months dropping 5 o 10 decibals of hearing every two weeks. So perhaps Chance's hearing loss began early on in his infancy.

No one knows Chance can't hear, and his hearing loss is not discovered until he is a month away from turning three. At this point, Chance gets hearing aids, but it becomes apparent that they are not working well enough to help him hear the way he wants to.

Then a few days before turning 6, Chance receives his first cochlear implant. He receives his second one about 6 months later.

Throughout Chance's hearing journey, his ability to hear and understand the words in music varied by how well he was hearing, and the clarity of the songs.

George Strait's music is generally easy to understand and the words are more clear than many other artists. Chance's dad really likes George Strait and played his music while Chance was growing up. We think George was an artist that Chance could enjoy and understand even when his hearing was rather volitale.

And now, George has one of his biggest fans ever.  Chance has been with George through thick and thin.

George also stands for things that Chance admires. That helps too.  George stands for God, family and country music.  So does Chance.