I made a statement to Heath that I would document his journey in 2017 every month.  However, I think when I made that commitment; I was going on a journey myself and did not know it, hence why I did not blog every month.  i failed at my commitment to educate hearing parents on the Deaf journey.  I guess maybe a year ago, I felt like there was so much to show about Deafhood, Hearing parents with a Deaf child, and our family in general and now that time has passed, I am not so sure.
Honestly, there is not much more to be said anymore.  The reality is… we are a Hearing family, who chose NOT to use devices to define our child’s existence, and decided to embrace everything about who he is, give him a Deaf identity, and allow him to fit into our family like everyone else does….awkwardly, whether you are hearing or Deaf.
I think the journey we are on as a family is truly just that.  A family journey.  I remember vividly walking into California School for the Deaf in Fremont and not knowing a single person and walking out knowing these two women, who would shape our journey as a family for the better.

Now we shared a New Year’s together with our families!  They are not only Heath’s Deaf Family but also our friends!  We are also blessed to have them all in our lives and we are blessed to share this journey called life together.

Our ultimate goal for Heath was to be able to have long lasting meaningful friendships with Deaf people and I think we have given him that foundation.  0-5 years old is critical for a child and I think that he is there.  He is confident in himself, who he is, and will be quite all right!
I guess the wrap up is… we just do not really have anything inspirational to blog anymore.  Our Deaf child is Five years old, fluent in ASL, has a Deaf Identity, is being raised in Deaf Culture, and Oh… by the way, has hearing parents.

However, really that is it.  ASL is Heath’s first language, it is the language of our home, it is the only thing he knows, and it is what makes sense for us.  As we move away from the controversy of devices vs. non-devices, we really just want to make sure of one thing… BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE, but in the end we thank Heath for giving us all friends along the way.