Ethan doesn't have much to say most of the time . Well actually all the the time . Ethan is nonverbal. He has said maybe 5 audible words in his whole life. The times he did speak it was so clear as day and it was this magical moment that in a perfect world we would have our cameras ready to record these precious moments. But they come out of nowhere and are gone before we can even fully comprehend the moment . We talk a lot to Ethan and around Ethan but aren't quite sure what he understands and what he doesn't. I have often thought and prayed on "If Ethan can't talk and his receptive language is so poor , How is he to learn about God ?" After long contemplation on the subject this is what I have come up with . There are a lot of things in this world that he can't do , in fact the list of his can'ts are far longer than his list of cans. But Ethan is a special guy. There are a lot of things Ethan can do that even I can't . For instance, Ethan has the ability to not care what people think, he loves everyone despite their faults , he has amazing ability to forgive an forget , all these things I struggle with daily and he does it effortlessly. From my observations of Ethan his ability to communicate doesn't stop him from having a relationship with God either. Ethan's favorite songs are "God is watching over you" , "No greater gift than God's great love" , "Oh how your life will change" Vast Voyage" "God is wild about us" and many more from bible schools . He can listen to them over and over and over and..... over again. He likes to play them loud and proud , he doesn't worry about offending anyone . I think sometimes God uses this about Ethan to help spread his word, cause Ethan has played these songs on trains , in cars, at school, at the grocery stores, doctors offices basically everywhere. He plays them with such joy that he can't contain himself, he is jumping and dancing and most of all laughing . There is no greater sound than that of Ethan laughing . A new joy that Ethan has put in my life is bedtime .... for more reason than one :), but a boy who doesn't like to read books or listen to books in normal settings will lay in his bed while I read to his younger sister before bed, he may not be engaged in the book but he is laying nicely in bed and is hearing the words read over him, the last few nights I looked out of the corner of my eye and caught him just staring at me , taking in everything I said and he reached out and requested (in his own way) for me to rub his arms and legs while I read. Every night , I sing " May the lord bless and keep you , may his face shine upon you and be gracious and give you peace" which is the verse we read over him at his baby dedication . When I start singing it he gets so giggly and give so much eye contact . If I stop mid song he will vocalize to keep going . Following this song we say prayers that usually read something like this:
" Dear Jesus , thank you for today , thank you for all your many blessing , please help Ethan and Hailey to sleep well so they can grow big and strong and smart , help Ethan to talk soon and go pee pee and poo poo on the toilet and help him to be a good big brother to Hailey, help them to have sweet dreams.In your name we pray ....
Amen
Ethan loves the routine of this , he even religiously says this "yeah , yeah" after each part almost like an Amen! It has become my favorite part of the day ! I can see that Ethan has his own special relationship with God . I may not get to discuss the deep intricacy of the bible with Ethan but it's the "having faith like a child" part that Ethan has down pat and can teach me about . I can only do my best to set a good example and point my kids to God , the rest is their own special relationship.
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