In August 2011, our daughter Aster was diagnosed with a severe speech disorder, and was recently confirmed as having Apraxia**. At the age of two and a half she could only say fifteen words. At the age of three she could barely say five, and those five were very hard to understand.
We didn’t know what the future held; we just knew we’d been praying and waiting for two years to hear her precious voice. And now it was diminishing. I was in shock. And honestly my heart broke a little more each day for the first several weeks.
I knew God was in control and that He could completely heal her. But my mommy-heart hopes and dreams for hearing my little girl’s voice were shattered. And my world turned upside down for a while.
When we shared our story on Facebook and at some speaking events, many of you spoke hope, grace and truth over our hearts. You comforted us with your prayers and claimed God’s promises over our little girl.
Aster has been going to speech therapy two times each week for six months. Her progress has been very slow. In January we discovered her two year molars never formed enamel so a little over a week ago she had surgery, and little silver crowns were put on them.
What happened next was almost miraculous! The crowns must have relieved severe pain we didn’t know about because she couldn’t tell us. And she never indicated it either. (Her pain threshold is incredible!) Her progress in the past ten days has been amazing. Then last weekend, when they came to get me from the airport after a speaking event, Aster started babbling a ton.
So, I got out my iPhone, turned it to where she could see herself when it was filming and we witness a break-through on camera!! Here’s a sweet little peak into God’s faithfulness! {Note, she had never done this before!}
I can’t help but celebrate the “good things HE planned long ago” for a little girl who needed a family to help her find her voice – and for a family who needed a little girl to help them experience the depth of God’s love!
Thank you Lord for the gift of our precious little Ethiopian princess!
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How precious, precious…what a ift for all!!! She truly is…Peggy
She is just too cute Renee.. loved seeing her and hearing her little voice.. she is such a blessing..too cute..Praying for her Thanks for sharing with us..
Bless God….this is the beginning of greater things to come for you and your family in Jesus Name. The best is yet to come!
Renee, when my son was 3 y 3 mo he only put two words together voluntarily, and one of the two was someone’s name! Last spring I had him in 22 speech therapy appts per month. I took him anywhere and everywhere that would accept him. (God paid those bills for us.) It was really hard to do that with my other 2 kids (one older girl, 5, and one younger, 1), but they never complained and never treated their brother any differently because he had special school to go to. Fast forward to a year later, and my son speaks in phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and NOVELS, and all non-stop! He says or tries to say everything now, and almost all of it is intelligible to almost everyone. He is still in speech therapy, but not as often, and the main focus now is on saying initial “f”s. His progress has been nothing short of miraculous! I tell everyone that this is one of God’s many miracles in my life! Once the little ones finally get the hang of speaking, look out! It is like many people told me, but I doubted: there actually will come a time when you will want your child to quit talking and be quiet! My son talks all of our ears off and if we don’t pay attention he will say, “excuse me” until we do. 🙂 God is soooooo good! To Him be all the glory! After watching that video I will think of your Aster often and always say a quick prayer for her when I do.
Yeah Astor…. What a great welcome home gift for Mommy! Renee I was smiling so big listening to that! Isn’t it just like God to place his hand on that dear child and loose her tongue! Soon the day will be here when you may catch yourself thinking… “remind me again why I wanted this dear child to talk so badly!” This video will be a great reminder of the joy of words! PTL!!!
Thanks Reene for share all your heart, soul and spirit with us. Your words always bless my life, i read you from Mexico City. I don’t have a very good english, but i make my best to write today. My best wishes for your beautiful princess, we’ll continue praying for you. Hugs and kisses.
Praise the Lord!! It is amazing to see how God is working in Aster’s life! I will keep her in my prayers and I believe God will develop her speech 100%!! It is exciting to think about the wonderful plans God has for this little, beautiful girl!! Thank you for sharing this.
This was 2 minutes and 17 seconds of pure joy; I smiled from ear to ear every second. Thank you for sharing this with us Renee! Keep up the great work Aster, you are such a blessing!
What a wonderful answer to Prayer may the Lord keep blessing you and your family abundantly. May the Lords healing keep coming.
Praise God for this report. Thanks so much for sharing. It makes my heart glad that God is doing a wonderful work in your precious princess. She is truly beautiful.
How wonderful! Thanks for sharing – this brought joy to my heart!
I rarely comment (blush) but this brought such joy to my face that I found myself smiling. Thanks for sharing.
All I can say is how sweet. I pray that God will continue to bless Aster with her speech.
She is precious, Renee!!
My little girl just had surgery on her feet. Her ankles were not growing properly and they put a screw in each foot to help correct the growth. Did not anticipate dealing with all that we have gone through ever since. She is now choosing to walk instead of sit. PTL!
As a Speech Pathologist myself, I love working with my little friends with apraxia of speech. THEY show ME the a fine example of hard work and persistence as they struggle to overcome this challenge. It is my blessing to teach these little ones and they bring such joy to me, especially as I have no children of my own. I am quite confident that Aster will continue to demonstrate great progress as Early Intervention, (this also includes help from Mommy,Daddy, siblings, yes, even talking ot the dog is beneficial :)! is the key. I’ll bet she’ll even follow Mommy’s footsteps and become a fabulous speaker and leader!
Blessings to your precious little one!
~Tina
You are such a good, good Mama. Just from this video one can see how you just pour love out all over her!!
May the Lord continue to surprise you with joy in the months ahead!
Hugs,
Katie 🙂
It is no secret….what GOD can do….what HE’s done for others, HE WILL DO FOR YOU….Breakthrough in prayer! GOD is SOVEREIGN and ALL-KNOWING and does amazing things. Sometimes when we don’t know what to pray, the SPIRIT intercedes with groaning not heard in ordinary words…..HE KNOWS OUR HEARTS…..MINDS….SOULS AND SPIRITS….!!!! We love your family stories and Aster!!! She is so beautiful….GOOD NEWS!!! Thanks for the precious video!!!
Oh Renee……How wonderful and awesome our God is. Aster is a delightful child and thank you so much for sharing part of your life with us. I too have tears of joy from seeing this video. This is without a doubt the best Bible Study I have done on line. And it is right up there with those I do here. I love the interaction from all our sisters on here and thank you so much for being obedient. With Love in Christ Jesus….Cheryl
Thank you so much for showing us you are a real woman with real problems and a you give our real GOD and SAVIOR all the glory in every day to day moment. I have underlined my book so much and written in the margins so much, I may have to purchase a new one!!!!
God is using your obedience and your transparency to help thousands of women see HIM.
I also have a “special needs” granddaughter from China. We know now it was her family in America that had special needs and God used her life to supply those needs.
Thank you so much Renee for sharing your life with us. Thank you especially for this video of beautiful Aster. I am just overcome by God’s love in our lives. Your sharing has had a great effect in showing me just how gracious God has been in my life!