She has Autism…
She has Autism...I didn’t hear much after that.
There was so much that went through my mind. When I googled, what I saw scared me. We started to wonder...Would they ever speak? Would they have friends? Could we afford therapy, it was so expensive! Would anyone love and treasure them outside our home? What would happen to them when we’re no longer around? For a while we didn’t tell many people about the diagnosis because we feared how society treats people who they label as “different”.
When you hear autism people try to prepare you for the worst, but what they didn’t understand was these girls are gifts straight from Heaven and He gives the best gifts! They really light up the world!
As we plunged into the world of multiple therapies we met some of the most awesome people and God used them to change the way we viewed autism. As a result, our girls are thriving! Ellie has no signs of autism at all and she is truly the happiest person I know. She legit wakes up happy. Every. Single. Day! Nia amazes us daily with her wit and charm. She’s the one that doesn’t say much but has the biggest laugh. When she does talk, she’s brutally honest and she truly is one of the strongest people I know. She never gives up. Ever! Many people think we need grace to manage them, but the truth is they are the ones that show us grace every day.
Don’t get me wrong, we have our hard days. Days where we wish we could move back home or to another state with family but then we realize, autism coverage is still not mandated by many states or back home. We still pray for the day Nia will have a real friend and have a play date with someone other than her therapists. We pray she will always have a village. We pray she will always feel loved.
In the meantime, if you see a kid licking random things out in public behind their parent’s back, think of my girls...think of Nia and maybe don’t stare, just say hi! She’ll probably be distracted long enough to not put the wrong thing in her mouth and to tell you hi back. You may even get the biggest, most heart warming smile 😊
For this I prayed ❤️