The Call of a Mourning Dove

This has been another busy week in our house. Everyone seems to come and go at different hours. We have also been hosting a Latvian family in our home this week and they have been a pleasure. The Latvia Methodist Youth Choir is touring the U.S. for three weeks in June and we have had the pleasure of hosting the choir director, Maris, his wife, Indra, and their six-year old son, Gustavs. Maris speaks English well so we are able to communicate. Gustavs is very quiet and whispers in his parents' ear if he wants to tell us something. It's so cute! Gustavs also has brand new shoes with wheels in the heels that they purchased for him in the states. He skates/rolls everywhere on them and is pretty good at it! When he outgrows the shoes, he plans to cut out the toes so he can keep wearing them! He also likes Apple Jacks with warm milk for breakfast and before bedtime. I've had to get up early every morning to prepare breakfast for them and then take them to the church. We pick them up in the evenings and bring them back home. They arrived last Sunday evening from North Carolina and will leave on Monday morning for Alabama and Texas. We heard the choir sing this afternoon and they have beautiful and unique voices. Wow. The concert for the church is tomorrow evening and we plan to attend that.

This afternoon I spent some time on our front porch writing emails. In the midst of the birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the wind, I kept hearing a whoo-ooo-ooo sound off in the distance. It was a soft soothing sound but I knew it wasn't an owl because owls don't *who* in the middle of the day. I asked Steve to come outside to tell me what it was. He said it was a mourning dove. And I heard it off and on for several hours. The cool thing is that this demonstrates the benefit of bilateral cochlear implants. Binaural hearing has made it easier for me to hear speech and other sounds around me. One ear cannot do all the work. When the same sound like the mourning dove call is heard from both sides, I become aware of the sound at softer levels. That would also explain how I was able to hear a fly on tinfoil. I know you all are still laughing about that and shaking your heads in amazement!

I still have yet to hear an owl. . . my friend, Jessi, at work says she hears one at her house every morning when she gets up with her baby. She sits with her daughter on their back patio that faces the woods. I told her that one of these mornings she might find me in my pajamas, robe and cup of coffee on her doorstep at 6:30 a.m to sit with her and Shelby!

I am making more phone calls with ease. This past week I even called the plumber all by myself - this was someone I did not know and I was able to understand him asking what the problem was, where we lived, and I understood that he would be there before noon. It just gets better and better.

I'm leaving on Thursday for the HLAA convention for four days and cannot wait. I need a break and some time away! It will be fun to meet other people with hearing losses and cochlear implants, professionals who deal with the deaf and hard of hearing, see all the latest gadgets, hear speakers, etc. I am also looking forward to seeing Jennifer again and meeting other people that I've heard about or chatted with online.

The Governor still hasn't made *the announcement* yet. . . I'm tempted to post it here but he has the first right to make the press announcement. . . stay tuned. And Happy Father's Day to all you fathers who read this blog.