From left to right: James, Dorothy, and Pastor Alexander Fordson, having an evening Bible Reading. In their household, these readings are always done in American Sign Language--while Dorothy and Alex can hear just fine, James was born completely deaf.

Alex Fordson is the Deaf pastor at his church and leads the ASL service. He had started out interpreting the sermons for his grandson. Then James started bringing his friends, and Pastor Fordson had to sit at the end of the pew so they could see him. As the number of deaf and hard-of-hearing congregants grew, Alex had to move to the front of the sanctuary to be seen. Eventually, the church council voted to have a separate Deaf service due to overcrowding--as Alex knew ASL and was already an ordained--albeit retired--minister, he was chosen as its pastor.

Dorothy has been a housewife all her life but does a good deal of babysitting on the side (especially for Deaf families since she knows ASL) and teaches the Deaf Sunday School. She and Alex learned sign language shortly after James became their ward.

James is an aspiring professional basketball player who has lived with his maternal grandparents ever since he was four--and the reason for it is a very sore point with him. Neither he nor his grandparents like to talk about it. However, there are certain telling details: 1) Although his parents are alive, well, and local, James has not tried to visit or even contact them in several years. 2) When his grandparents formally adopted James and changed his name to reflect that, he insisted they get rid of his middle name at the same time, which was his father's name.

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Original Picture by  rjbartrop