Many of my blog readers will remember that our adopted daughter is deaf.  We didn’t sign-up for a deaf child, but God chose her for our family.  I vividly remember the day they delivered her to us at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Guatemala City, Guatemala.  It was a scary, happy, anxious, beautiful, glorious, excited time for both Amy and I. We took her up to our room and within 15 minutes I knew something was not quite right.  She wouldn’t respond to Spanish or English.  I knew something was wrong, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

It wasn’t until we had her home for a week that Amy said one night, “Mark, I think she’s deaf.”  To which I replied, “No way!”  So, being the scientific guy that I am I came in the house and did an impromptu hearing test.  I got a big pot and big spoon from the kitchen and snuck up behind her and began banging it.  No response!  To which I surmised – Amy’s right, she’s deaf!

Long story . . . she had cochlear implants on February 28, 2008.  And on March 17th, 2008 her ears were “turned on.”  That means Mariah has been hearing for two years now.  That explains why when I asked her this week if she wanted to watch Dora or Diego she replied, “No, I want to watch Diego.”  Well, it wasn’t that clear, but I could certainly understand her two year old speech.

There is rarely a day that goes by lately that I’m not amazed at how well she  is hearing.  Last week while I was teaching my photography class she was downstairs and heard me talking and exclaimed, “Daddy, my Daddy!”  It’s amazing to me that she can distinguish my voice from the voice of other males.  So, Mariah is three years old, but today is her two year hearing anniversary and with that here is a picture I took of her for one of my photography class assignments.  She’s one of three “Daddy’s girl’s” in this house!