Planet of the Apels reviews Lonely Girl, Gracious God!

I was sent a book, Lonely Girl, Gracious God A Mother's Story of Autism's Devastation and God's Promise of Enduring Love on behalf of Bring it On! Communications. You can buy this book on Amazon. 

About Lonely Girl, Gracious God:

This is a very inspiring biography and autobiography. It's about a mother that raises a girl that has autism. For a long time Lauri, the mom and author knew something was wrong with her daughter, Farema. Lauri spent much of her time hiding her daughter's odd behavior from others. She just didn't know what Farema had. Doctor's even had a problem diagnosing little Fee. Autism was just starting to be researched at the time of Farema's childhood. Something in Lauri longed for Farema to be normal like her three older sister's.

Days became long. Lauri felt the need to keep Farema stimulated socially. One day she took her for a ride. She was looking for anything to do. They spotted an ice skating rink. Farema skated with ease. Many other individual sports such as biking, horseback riding and swimming came naturally for Farema. Ice skating seemed to be Farema's calling. 

Ice skating was the solution to Farema coming out of her shell. She moved into her own home, skated for the olympic ice skater, Scott Hamilton and got a job at the local skate rink. Everything seemed to be looking up for Farema. 

Lauri never expected that Farema was doing too much. The 20 something Farema had a giant set back. Farema got lost in her own world.  
 
How This Book Related to Me:

I totally could relate to Lauri's feelings in the beginning. My son Mica had many problems when he was a baby. He was born with a cyst under his tongue; making his tongue mis-shaped. We were told that Mica may never talk. He had to see a team of doctors; much like the team of doctors that were talked about in the book. I worried about him not being able to communicate vocally.

Mica had a funky crawl. He tucked up one leg under him; not using it at all. I did some research at the time. His crawl was a key characteristic of autism. I was afraid something was wrong with our son.

We are so lucky that Mica is a normal boy. I worried so much for nothing. At the time it seemed so very important to me. You want your kids to fit in with others socially and to do well in life.

I just found out that one of our neighbor's has autism. He is Isaak's age. I never knew the importance of autistic kids needing social interaction with other kids their own age. I mistook autism as a disorder where kids were better off by themselves. I'm so glad that I understand the disorder so much more through reading this book! 

This story helped me to understand that although we strive for normal {whatever that is}, we have to take things as they come. Except a situation for what it is. Most importantly, don't take things for granted like we often do. 
  
About the Author:

Lauri Khodabandehloo is a major supporter in the autism community. She is a contributor for Chicken Soup for the Soul; sharing her heart felt story about raising Farema, her daughter that has autism. 

Disclaimer:

The opinions on this post are my personal take on the products. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Bring it On! Communications provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so choose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.