Final Preparations

So what has Chance been doing this week?

 Chance has been going to the dentist for a cleaning, having an open house to say goodbye to family and friends, and finishing up final preparations for a move to England.

Chance will be living in the Missionary Training Center for about 2 months to study Mandarin before he actually heads out to England, but his mission will officially start the moment we drop him off at the MTC.

We will miss him something awful, but we are so excited for him!

Some of the refreshments we served at the open house.

Chance visiting with family and friends one last time before he heads out to England

Cabin Vacation and Mission Preparation

So, Chance has 10 DAYS LEFT until he leaves for his mission. He will enter the Missionary Training Center or MTC first to study Mandarin until late spring and then he will actually leave for England after that.  He will leave home though to live in the MTC in 10 days.

So what has Chance been doing lately? Well......we have been buying all of the clothes and supplies he will need for his mission, including water proof shoes. It has been an exciting time, but Chance is not a big shopper so after a few hours, he is ready to be done. Then I have to feed him or something. Or let him drive us to our next destination since he doesn't know if he will be able to drive a car on his mission and is thus trying to get all of the drive time in that he can.

We also went on one last family vacation together to a beautiful cabin about an hour outside of Yellowstone National Park.

We got the moon and the sun during the day.

 

Swans on the river

There was a lot of snow. That made for good sledding, snow showing and cross country skiing. Chance is a master at making the perfect sled run on the hill next to the cabin. In typical Chance fashion, he studies it out, plots the right path and then gets to work shoveling and moving snow. It is lovely for the rest of us who get to benefit from the perfect sled hill. This year Chance and his brothers and sisters worked on the hill together. 

Chance getting ready to sled down the hill again.

Chance also made a snow cave this year.

 And made roasted tomato soup from scratch.

The vegetables ready to bake before being made into soup.

The happy cook

My goal each time we have gone to the cabin, is to find a puzzle to make Chance work for it.  Chance is a puzzle master and at the cabin during his down time, he likes to work on a puzzle. It is my job to find a puzzle that takes him at least a couple of days to finish. Technically everyone in the family can work on the puzzle at any time, but Chance is by far the most devoted and spends the most time  working on it. This year the puzzle was round and 1000 pieces. Chance finished it in two days. Not the way I had planned it, but Chance just keeps getting better and better at figuring out puzzles. 

Chance works on the puzzle

The finished product

I need to up my game when it comes to finding him puzzles.

Doing puzzles has actually been a great way for Chance to detox and relax for years.  Sometimes when he would get home from work, he would turn his implants off and work on a puzzle for a few minutes. He also works on puzzles during General Conference and during holidays. 

Puzzling is a great way for Chance to rest his ears and take a hearing break for a minute. He doesn't always turn his implants off when he works on puzzles, but it is a good activity that gives him the option if he wants or needs it. 

Talking to deaf and hard of hearing people through the years, they have talked about hearing fatigue and how they sometimes need a break from hearing. Puzzling does that for Chance. Plus, he loves doing it. 

Last week, Chance confided in me that when he is over at other peoples' houses and they have a puzzle out, he has to restrain himself from plopping down and working on their puzzles. 

Chance got a puzzle of a national park in England for Christmas. It is a beautiful scene and Chance says he wants to live there. 

Lucky for him, he will be in England soon.

Until our next family visit to the cabin with Chance:

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.

Valley of Fire

Our family recently took a trip to Las Vegas to see George Strait in concert. Before Chance leaves on his mission, we wanted to let him see George one last time.  George could retire before Chance has the opportunity to see him again as he will spend two years in England.

On our drive down to Las Vegas, we stopped at The Valley of Fire State Park. It is literally in the middle of the desert. And astoundingly beautiful. There are petroglyphs on colored rocks that stretch off into the distance. We went for a hike to a place called Mouses' Tank which is a basin that collects water each time it rains.

The pamphlet with information about the area explains it like this:

"Mouse’s Tank is named for a Southern Paiute Indian renegade (“Little Mouse”) who used Valley of Fire as a hideout in the 1890’s after he was accused of killing two prospectors and other crimes in the area.   It is named ‘The Mouse’s Tank’ because an alleged Southern Paiute Indian renegade named ‘Little Mouse’ hid out there in the 1890’s. He was accused of gunning down two prospectors and many other crimes. "


Our family climbed up and around the area that Little Mouse had inhabited over 100 years ago. There were pockets of water that had filled in natural basins created by the rocks and you could see why it would be a good spot to hide out.

We hiked up above the basin where water had gathered and found a crevice in the mountains. Chance climbed up inside the crevice and slid back into the shadow of the rock. Then he put his sheath knife that he had on his belt into his mouth and waited for me to go by. It was a little creepy I have to say. He looked like an outlaw hiding from the authorities.  And like he might just jump out and kill you as you walked by.

It was really dry with little vegetation, but it had a unique beauty and it was peaceful.

Where in the World is Chance Going On His Mission?

A few months ago, Chance sent in the needed paperwork to serve a proselyting mission

for our church,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Chance waited with anticipation for several weeks to see where he was going to be called to serve.  

    The call has arrived and.......

DRUM ROLE PLEASE

Chance has been called to serve in England!

Speaking Mandarin!

He is so excited.

He will leave for his mission on March 6th.

That means he will report to the Missionary Training Center on that date.

The Missionary Training Center(known as the MTC)

does just what it's name implies.

It is a place to train missionaries to be ready to serve missions.

In Chance's case, this means he will have classes

where he studies Mandarin along with

other classes and activities.

There is a lot to do to prepare when you are going to live overseas for

two years as Chance will do.

One of our main concerns with Chance's implants is that England is much more

humid than our little neck of the woods. 

Chance will need to take that into account when caring for 

his implants.

He will need to use his little Dry and Store dehumidifier a bit more 

than he does here. 

Maybe a lot more.

I am so excited for Chance to start using phrases like:

"A few sandwiches short of a picnic."

and 

"Bees knees."

The adventure begins!

The Hunt for Our Christmas Tree

The day after Thanksgiving we drove up into the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree.

The weather is never the same from year to year as we head up to get our Christmas tree.  Some years, there is not much snow on the ground and we only need jackets. Other years there is lots of snow for us to hike through and we are all bundled up with coats, gloves and boots.

This year, there was already snow on the ground when we parked our car and the trees looked absolutely beautiful covered with a dusting of snow. It looked like a winter wonderland. We only have our mini van, not a big truck to get the tree, so we have to watch the weather when we head up to chop down our tree. This year a snow storm was supposed to hit Friday night so we got up into the mountains earlier in the day so we could get our tree and head back down the canyon before the storm hit. As we were hiking around on the mountain trying to find the right Christmas tree, we could see the clouds moving swiftly across the sky as the storm started moving in.

We had a marvelous time hiking up and down the terrain looking for our tree. I threw a snowball at Chance and he filmed it with my camera as it flew through the air.  There was a river running through a snow covered meadow and Chance and his brother crossed it to check out the trees on the other side.

We found a beautiful tree. Every year the tree we find is beautiful. There is just something about having a live tree with the fresh pine smell.

Chance got to yell "timber!" as the tree fell after being chopped down since he will be leaving on his mission soon and will miss the next two years of tree chopping.

Chance really is in his element when he is outside in nature. He loves to help chop down the tree and being in the mountains. He is an outdoor boy.

Ear Popping

Chance's dad and brother were experiencing ear popping. It happens sometimes to them when flying, or when there are large changes in elevation over a short period of time. The boys just happened to be driving through a high mountain pass.

So they asked Chance if he experiences ear popping. He kind of looked at them and said:

"Ear popping?"

They explained it to him......

"You know, when your ears kind of pop or it gets uncomfortable so you want them to pop."

Chance stared at them.

I think we can safely assume that Chance's ears do not POP like the rest of the ears in the family.

So those suckers that I would give to Chance and his brother when we flew on an airplane during take off and landings when they were little were unwarranted?

I just asked Chance if his ears pop when he flies on an airplane and he said he feels pressure, then he fills his checks with air and blows it out real quick and the pressure is gone.

The rest of us start to feel pain as the pressure builds. And it doesn't just always just go away when you try to pop them when you aren't deaf. Maybe other deaf people have a harder time than Chance does relieving the pressure and Chance is just lucky. Whatever the case may be, Chance's ears just don't pop like the rest of the families ears.

Now we'll have to get Ammon on an airplane to see if his hears pop. 

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.