The Word Woven into the Code

Evie interlining her Braille assignment.

Just last weekend I attended a breakout session at my church for volunteers to help re-fuel us and our "servant-hearts". During the break out session, I learned about the impact the translation of the Bible into English had on literacy rates. According to the Washington Times: 

...in a period of 100 years reading and writing English among males in England went from about 5 percent of the population to 25% eventually reaching 40% of the population. By 1770, shopkeepers were 95% literate. Literacy in England is directly attributable to the Bible. (Creason, Washington Times, 12/11/14).

My Oversized Poster of Strong Groupsigns

Scripture certainly does give us something worth reading, and at that time it may have been some of the ONLY stuff to read. Now we are bombarded with all kinds of leisure reading options, some worthy and others not...but the Bible, unfortunately finds itself all too often resting on a lonely shelf collecting dust and cobwebs.

Fast forward a few days to today, and my daughter and I working on her Braille lesson. She was brailling Psalm 27: 1-2 which is part of our scripture memorization. As she was doing this, she recognized that she was making mistakes and wanted to fix them. I told her to just keep going and that she could interline her work (print the translation above the brailled symbols) after she was finished, and then we would make corrections the next day.

While she was working on her Braille, I was also working on mine. I was using large paper to create giant posters with CONTRACTED Braille on them so we could continue learning where she left off last year. (She was in public school, but we started homeschooling just this fall). As I was preparing a poster and reading through the various contractions, I started to take note of some unique words that I had no IDEA would be a part of the contracted Braille code.

lord

spirit

world

rejoice

rejoicing

character

ought

knowledge

shall

thyself

Of all the words that could have been transferred into a shortened code in order to make Braille easier to read for its audience...these were worthy enough to be part of that pool.

These beautifully Biblical words were suddenly a part of our lesson plan. 

Evie's Braille assignment with interlining notes,
corrections she made, and new contractions for her to work on
as she continues to practice brailling Psalm 27: 1-2

I was flabbergasted...I was moved almost to a point of tears as I felt relief wash over me. One of the toughest parts of the decision to homeschool my daughter was knowing that we were not going to have access to Braille lessons in the district anymore and I would be responsible for continuing her Braille literacy. I didn't know quite where to begin-but something in my gut today said, "Tammie, just have her start with something she knows...her memory verses."

We will begin to learn those contractions because they will occur over and over again in the scripture that we will be proclaiming in thought, word, deed...and now in Braille. For sure, God's plan is always better than my plan, and His word is a light unto my path.

For the word of God is alive and active...

Hebrews 4:12 NIV

Mom, I Got This...

Evie and I before we left for the NOT Back to School Pool Party

I carefully read the sign...then I RE-read the sign.

Slide Rules: No lap sitting, even for small children. Single rider only.

SINGLE RIDER ONLY?

"Evie," I said, "We can't go down together. The sign says you have to go alone."

My heart sank. I knew she loved water slides...we spent so many fun days at Noah's Ark in Wisconsin Dells when we lived near there. But, I couldn't think of the last time she had been on a water slide where you don't have a raft around you, and I wasn't sure that she wouldn't panic and get an arm or leg caught inside the tube. All of the dangers of this came rushing to the front of my mind like a tragic news story on 20/20.

Jeff snapped this photo of us in the car before we left. 

Good Evening, I'm Barbara Walters and this is Hugh Downs. We begin tonight with a tragic story of a blind girl who broke several limbs when she was stuck in a waterslide in Northern Nevada. Her negligent mother spoke to us earlier today...

"So..." Evie began, "Yes, I want to go."

"You want to go on the waterslide?" I repeat after her to clarify her intention.

"Yes. I-I-I got this, Mom."

"Honey, I can't go down with you. Do you know how to cross your arms and slide down? You have to go feet first?"

My blood pressure begins to rise, I start to sweat and I hear a buzzing in my ears. Even scarier than her potential disappointment is, apparently to me, her desire to do this INDEPENDENTLY!

"Yes, mom," Evie says, "I can do this. O-o-n my own." Her regular stutter is incredibly subdued when she is being assertive with me...good for her!

I grab a life jacket off the wall and fasten the straps around her. She looks like my little girl going in the kiddie pool with her goggles and wet hair, and yet she isn't that little girl anymore. She's going to go on this big, gigantic, looping, swooping, water-rushing water slide all by herself.

I proceed to follow her up the stairs to where the lifeguards are loading the children (and some adults) into the watery SHOOTS OF DOOM (as they appear now in my mind).

Somehow the lifeguard now looks like Santa Claus in The Christmas Story when Ralphie is clutching the slide and desperately pleading for his Red Rider BB Gun...I picture the lifeguard's flip flop pushing on Evie's forehead to get her to release her grip and plunge to her liquidy fate.

I think of all the things I'll say to the lifeguard...she's blind, I need to be down there to catch her, so don't let her come down before you see me in the pool, you'll want to repeat the safety rules to her...

"Mom, leave, please...I-I got this."

I snap back from my terrifying train of thought. "What? You want me to go now? You don't want me to talk to the lifeguard?"

"No, go. Mom, I got this..."

Okay. I need to let go here. I know I need to, but it is so hard. This is where my fear and my faith collide.

"I'll be right down there when you come out of the slide. Okay? And if you change your mind, just come carefully down the stairs."

I head back down the stairs and head over to the pool where the water is rushing out and little bodies sporadically come shooting out of the tubes. I see Evie approach the lifeguard through a foggy window upstairs and she talks to him and in the blink of an eye she is one of the bodies that projectiles into the raging waters of the pool.

She did it! 

As she fights to stand up, she doesn't look too happy. She's almost stunned! I'm laughing and I say, "Honey, you did it! Wow, was that fun?"

She looks around and tries to gather herself and figure out where she is. Then she looks at me and says, "Oh! Oh! I did it! Yeah, that was fun! I'm going to go on the big one now!"

Evie proceeded to go on the bigger slide with me catching her at the end, and then she even went two more times WITHOUT me waiting for her in the pool. Just doing it all on her own. I even allowed myself to stay busy talking to another mom while watching for Evie out of the corner of my eye.

Who knew that the four sweetest words I would hear yesterday were, "Mom, I got this"?