Imagine!
Imagine you’ve just brought your third child home from the hospital. Your precious bundle has all ten toes, all ten fingers, both eyes, and a nose you can’t resist tweaking for all its cuteness. Your little one also has ears, but there’s some disconnect between those little velvety flaps and the language center hiding under those tiny curls.
And since we’re imagining, imagine that this is not a problem. Why?
First, your family has already discovered the only currently running Christian TV program created in ASL for Deaf children (with voiceover). Together, you enjoy Dr. Wonder’s Workshop (DWW) every Saturday morning on your favorite Christian broadcasting network. Your hearing children already think of the characters as friends—including Paula the chemist, Lisa the office manager, Edwin the accountant, and Billy the electrical genius.
Many dinner conversations have revolved around antics at DWW, such as Billy’s attempt to fix Paula’s sink, ending with water spraying everywhere; Paula’s sudden fame, causing her to forget important things like being humble and loving her friends; or Doc’s anxiety, getting overwhelmed because he forgot the importance of working together as a team. Your children are learning these lessons from the DWW show, and you’ve been able to follow up and reinforce your values.
Second, your children are also learning important things about deaf people. So now, bringing home a deaf baby is not the problem people might imagine. Your family sees American Sign Language in action among Deaf adults who use it every day for any topic. Together, you have been learning some important signs, such as forgive, respect, encourage, patience, pay attention, and best of all, I love you. Truth be told, you’ve enjoyed using some of these quiet tools while out with friends when you needed to quickly communicate with your children across the room.
As your children enjoy the Bible stories on DWW, you have confidence in their accuracy and clarity. Favorite stories include David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, Jonah, Ruth, Elijah and the widow, Joseph, and especially Jesus blessing the children. In fact, many of the Bible stories convey the things Jesus taught and did while He was with us in a body.
All of this will give to your new little one a foundation of faith while your family learns more sign language to communicate with him or her. By the way, your children will learn faster than you do. It’s part of the design of childhood.
Another ministry is currently ready for that new little bundle of yours to reach the teen years: Deaf Teen Quest. A division of Youth for Christ, this group has a personal and direct ministry to teens and their families across the United States.
Then, as your children transition from teens to adults, they can tap into the gospel message with resources from Deaf Missions, Deaf Bible Society, and Deaf Harbor, including ASL translations of the scriptures in two formats accessible on any smart phone, tablet, or computer.
With this faith foundation of mentors and video resources, your third child and others of the same generation could very well become carriers of the message of hope. They may even travel with DOOR International to join the translation and evangelism teams working to translate the scriptures and develop disciples in the 400+ other signed languages around the world.
Imagine! Your highest goal as a parent can be realized, and it won’t matter that your child and so many others use a different language. Why? Because they have learned that Jesus knows their language and wants a relationship with them—enough to have provided a progression of ministries that work together to bring deaf children into adulthood and into His kingdom.
I can’t imagine anything better. Can you? Well, perhaps one thing—that deaf ministries can spend more time in creating life-changing resources and less time and effort in raising funds to produce them.
Please consider supporting these ministries with your financial gifts. For example, release of the final season of DWW is taking much longer than anticipated because of the need for continued funding to cover production costs. Field-testing the ground-breaking SignLab VBS has proven that it is an exciting learning adventure in ASL for Deaf and hearing kids. Although it is ready for the final stages of publishing, its budget is not. It takes time and work to raise the required funds for these projects. You can help. Contact Silent Blessings today to make a one-time or ongoing (monthly) gift by going to silentblessings.org and clicking on “Donate,” or calling toll free 877-FOR-DEAF. Imagine the possibilities!