~Silent Lunch~

The kids and I are still working on our sign language.  We have one more chapter in our book... but master comes a little slower than just learning our lessons.  It is amazing to me how quickly my mind goes blank when I'm looking for a word!

We hosted a lunch at church for the other members that are learning sign along with our translators and deaf members.  We had a great time laughing at each other. 

We started out by not saying a word, but soon learned it was much harder than we thought.  We switched to speaking and signing together and that really helped.  

Everyone in this photo is "saying" cheese!

The funny thing was as speaking people we are not supposed to talk with food in our mouth... but the deaf can't talk well while eating either. We realized we just needed to eat and then talk later☺

~Fantastic Saturday~

I've been interested in Sign Language for many years.  I don't exactly remember when I first saw it, but I know as a child I saw Bill Rice preach and they Signed.  Later, I thought about going to a college that had a big Sign Language ministry.  While I was working and before kids, I tried to take a class but it was cancelled.  I taught all my children simple Signs as babies because I couldn't stand their whining and loved that they could communicate without me having to guess at their needs.

Our church has a ministry to the deaf in our community. We currently have two couples that come to services.   Several families and some individuals have been taking Sign Language classes at church for the last few months.  I gave my kids the choice of either continuing their Spanish or taking Sign Language instead.  They all chose Sign Language. We have been putting in a lot of hours of practice.

We have learned over 600 words in a just a few months!

I have gotten really attached to the one deaf couple.  He is hard of hearing so he helps me (meaning he corrects me!) and she is so fun.

Anyway, Jordan and I went to a "Fantastic Saturday" event.  It is an all day activity including fun, food, services and more fun.  I learned so much about the deaf culture in one short day.  I got more of a desire to work with the deaf!  The man pictured is Allen Snare.  He is deaf.  He is an evangelist to the deaf.  If you ever want to "see" a sermon... WOW! this is the guy you want to see!  Thankfully there were interpreters for us that don't know enough Sign to follow everything he said.

We had a great day and can't wait for another opportunity!