Good-Bye Atlanta Speech School......for now

Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster for us.  It was filled with tears, laughter, sadness, anticipation, sadness again, and then relief.  You see, the Atlanta Speech School's graduation ceremony was yesterday  and being able to witness all these little miracles puts you into a different place.
For the past couple of days our whole family has come down with a terrible sickness.  A cold......I think.  We've gone through so many tissues I honestly think it would do us good to buy stock in Kleenex.  The night before graduation was filled with many groans.  Groans from the kids but most of all, groans from Doug and I. Against our better judgement, we made the decision to ingest a monster energy drink and 2 DayQuils.......at 9pm.  If you don't really know Doug and I, we are secret thrill-seekers.  We LOVE to put ourselves in that type of predicament.  I mean, who wouldn't love to stay up until 3am and have to get up at 5 to be in Atlanta by 7:30am.  If you REALLY know Doug and I, you would know this is far from the truth.  We ADORE sleep, we CRAVE sleep, and when we don't get it, watch out.

After a good night's sleep(ha!) we ended up leaving 30 minutes late.  Because of my sister's back being out and her amazing determination, I drove her car so I could drop her off at the door.  The ONLY complaint that I could give the Atlanta Speech School is the parking.  Especially days like yesterday.  The whole school was having their graduation and in order to fit everyone, you had to park down the road.  We were supposed  to be there at 7:30 to avoid having to park far off, but with our nightly excursion we arrived at 8:15.  I dropped Misty off at the door and started circling the parking lots.  We checked out the parking lot next door, nothing.  Same result at the next parking lot.  We finally had to park across the street and down the road in a residential neighborhood with the hopes that our car didn't get towed.  Whew........what we don't do for our kids.

After the mile trek to the school, me in heels, we got to eat breakfast with all of our teachers and fellow students.  The Atlanta Speech School spares no expense when it comes to their parents.  Fruit, oatmeal with all the fixings, sausage, donuts, and tons of muffins were laid out on the table for us to partake.  After a joyful breakfast, we all assembled in the Love Auditorium for the ceremony. 

At the beginning, Comer Yates the Executive Director, presented a couple of awards to children that had many accomplishments and to their parents in continuing support for their education.  Well guess who those kids were??

Yours truly!!!!

Natalie and Ella was awarded the Junior League Scholarship.  With it comes a $500 scholarship awarded to EACH child to go towards their tuition.  As we made our way to the stage, the room was filled with applause.  This wasn't your ordinary applause.  These people were our family.  They had been with us through our happiest hour and our darkest hour.  Most of these families were going through the same issues as we were.  One thing that you may not realize is that most of these families are not local.  They travel from afar so that their children can attend this school.

The rest of the ceremony was filled with songs from students and speeches from the graduates.  I wish everyone could experience what we did yesterday.  Kids who were born deaf and received cochlear implants were mainstreaming into public schools.  They read their own prepared speeches and if you didn't know it, you wouldn't realize that they were deaf.  This gives us hope.  Hope for the future and hope for our children that they will make a difference in this world.  Children who will have the same opportunities as the hearing child.  Children who can reach out to both worlds and help unite them.

Near the end of the program was a very special little guy who graduated.  His name is Eric and he was in Natalie's toddler class.  We have been with this family since Natalie started and he is dear to my heart.  If you ever have a chance, go to YouTube and search for "cochlear implant for eric."  This is one of the first videos that we saw, even before we started the Atlanta Speech School, of a child being activated for the first time.  If this doesn't bring tears to your eyes, then I don't know what will. 

As they started his video, I couldn't stop the waterfall that was forming in my eyes.  You come to the realization how important your kids are.  The sacrifices that each parent has made are more than you can count.  The fact that most of my beloved friends were leaving the speech school was very heartbreaking for me.  Now grant it, there are still lots of beloved friends still left at the school but sadly most of the ones that are leaving are the ones that have been with us from the very first day. 

After giving everyone a hug and promising to stay in touch, we left the speech school.  But we're not done yet.  We still have a long ways to go but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Her class was singing the "Bumblebee Song"

Natalie's best friend Brittany

Natalie with her teachers Mrs. Melissa and Mrs. Michelle.  Love these 2

Jake (Eric's brother), Eric, me, and Natalie