Over the course of the next few weeks a great many things took place. We buried my father, adopted my sister, went to countless trips to the doctors in Rochester, and agreed when the time came to allow Janessa to stay with her daughter at our house during her last days.
Janessa died July 9, 2013, we buried her next to my father in the Grant family plot in St. Paul, Minnesota. She died on my fathers birthday. I cried more then than I had at my fathers funeral. I had finally become close to my stepmother, now she was gone. Charlotte was almost three months old when her mother died.
Endless ear infections plagued the poor child and in spite of the doctors efforts she eventually lost her hearing completely. Our gift from God was deaf for life at four months old. I had intended to teach all of my children sign language when I had them. I just never expected it to be anything more than a bit of education and fun, this was necessity.
Charlotte grew, healthy and beautiful. She had my fathers blue eyes and smile, and her mothers dark skin and black hair. She was a quiet baby, but caught on to the signing very quickly. At first I was not sure if I should teach my little girl to address me as sister or mommy. Legally she was my daughter, but she was also my fathers daughter from his second marriage. Will assured me that the right thing to do was for us to act as mommy and daddy, then when she was old enough to understand we would explain everything to her. This seemed like a wise choice, so I began to teach the child that I was Mama and Will was Daddy.
Will was delighted to have a little girl. He had always wanted daughters to love and protect, now he had a sparkle eyed little tot to see him as a knight in shining armor. We had completely forgotten about having our own children, for a while, and we enjoyed being just the three of us. Having a deaf child was a bit of a challenge at times, we learned a lot from her. You cannot yell at a deaf child, and when they don't want to listen, all they have to do is close their eyes.
About a month after Janessa died we threw a welcome to the family/adoption party. We invited all of our families and intimate friends to celebrate the life of the child by which God had blessed us. Every guest raved about how beautiful she was and how God had done an amazing work. A prophet friend of ours told us that God would do great things through her and that she was special. Many gifts were received for both parents and child, clothes mostly, and some toys. Our friends and family were surprised to find that even with the hearing trouble she had Charlotte loved the piano. I would put her in her bouncy seat atop the piano then play. The could feel the vibrations of the notes as I hit them and she would smile and laugh. Some songs would even lull her to sleep.
Toward the middle of August we attended the State Fair. This was our first chance to have a baby in the baby parade for Super Talk Saturday. Charlotte Jane may not be a spectacular name, but she was a beautiful child to show off and she had as good a chance of winning a prize as any. She was four months old that day, and we did end up winning the prize for best name. The hosts thought the story that she was my sister was interesting. A news paper got wind of it and we ended up interviewing for a story about the whole thing for the paper. Not front page, but intriguing any way.
It was not until then that we realized that she may have to go to a special school for a while to learn some things. I was planning to home school our children, but I hadn't a clue as to how to socialize and educate a Deaf child. She would have to be introduced into the Deaf community.
No comments:
Post a Comment