Lonely Girl, Gracious God: A Mother's Story of Autism's Devastation and God's Promise of Enduring Love [Paperback]

Lonely Girl, Gracious God is all about Lauri, her daughter Farema(who has autism), and the rest of her family. This book takes a very open and honest look at the struggles of a child with autism and also the struggles of the family trying their best to support her. The story starts at the very beginning of Farema's life when her mother found out she was pregnant with her. It takes you step by step through Farema's life and all of the signs that led her to be diagnosed with autism and all the many steps that were taken after that diagnosis to help her live as normal a life as possible. The book also shows how hard Lauri and her family had to work in order to get Farema the medical attention, school care, and social needs taken care of. Throughout the process we see how precious Farema is to her family and how much they love her. Farema's family struggles with each other and outsiders as they work every day to get her needs met. Lauri is a wonderful advocate for her daughter and always relies on God to help her get through the rough times. The book ends with a "Happy Ending," which is a tremendous chapter that shows how much the author herself has grown spiritually and emotionally as a mom, a wife, and a woman as she helped her daughter grow up.

I enjoyed this book very much from the first chapter all the way to the last. I've been around kids with autism as a volunteer in my children's classrooms, a substitute teacher, and my husband's cousin has a child with autism, so this book definitely gave me a different perspective. I will have a much better idea how to deal with an autistic child the next time I'm in the classroom or the next time I see my husband's cousin. I really admire the author for her dedication to her daughter and also to the rest of her family. Lauri is a wonderful example of a Proverbs 31 woman. I've learned a lot from her on how to be a better mom and wife.

Lonely Girl, Gracious God by Lauri Khodabandehloo is a moving story of a mother's struggle to make a better life for her child. Lauri and her husband Cody already had three daughters when she became pregnant with Farema. From the earliest moments of her pregnancy, Lauri knew there was something very different about her baby. After she was born, her worries grew, but she tucked them in her heart, afraid that if she discussed them with anyone, even her husband, they would become more real. After countless tests, the word autism comes up again and again, but Lauri ignores it wanting only for her little girl to be normal. She prays again and again that each treatment, each test will make Farema somehow normal. Meanwhile, her older daughters felt frustrated by their perception of Farema's being spoiled rotten. Readers follow Lauri through the darkest times in her heart, and she reveals things that many mothers would be ashamed to ever say aloud. But God bless her honesty, because she gives readers a true look inside the life of an autistic child with all of its ups and downs. Readers will soar with Farema when she finally finds freedom in ice-skating and crash with her as her attempt at independence ends tragically. This book is not an easy read. It is heart-breaking as Lauri truly opens her heart up for the world to see. In the end, readers are left with the knowledge that God had planned Farema to be just as she is from before she was born, and that He is still in control today. My one complaint is that I wish the author had included some pictures of Farema and maybe even the rest of the family. If you visit the author's website you can see some pictures of her there, as well as a video of her ice-skating, but I would have loved to see "Fee" in pictures in the book as well.

Lonely Girl, Gracious God is a mother's story of Autism's devastation and God's Promise of enduring Love.

From the moment Farema is born, the youngest daughter of four girls, her parents realize she's not like other children her age. She doesn't reach out for her parents like most children do, she doesn't make eye contact, nor talk and coo but she can cry, make funny finger flickers in front of her face, and stiffen, almost like she is having a seizure. Frantic, her mother takes her to doctor upon doctor trying to find a diagnosis that will fit with her mindset. She doesn't want her daughter to be autistic and she pushes anyone out of her life that even suggests it.

Through many trials and tribulations, Farema and her family learn to grow with her condition and take one day as it comes. Feeling it important to keep friends and stimulation in Farema's life, her mother enrolls her in many schools, clubs and sport events, only to be told that Farema just didn't fit in with the other kids. One day, after fretting about her daughter slipping away from them, she takes her on a car ride and they stumble upon an ice rink. And for the next several years, Farema learns to open up, communicate and skate like an Olympic champion. However, as fates would have it, Farema begins to fail in her new found strength and freedoms and slips into a place where only God can lead her from.

I really loved Farema and enjoyed watching her grow up into a beautiful young woman. I liked the flow of the story and thought it to be well edited. I liked the strength in Lauri's reserve to believe in God and put her trust in him, even when she was fighting his diagnosis of her child. I loved how Farrah looked after her sister even sacrificing herself at times, her love for her younger sibling was beautiful to read and she deserves a huge hug for her tenacity to stand by her sister, even when she was ready to run screaming from the room.

I wasn't impressed with the father, he could've been more supportive and attended more of these discussions with his child's welfare. Perhaps if they had walked that path together, Farema's diagnosis could have been found sooner, but to me, it felt like the two of them were always at parental odds with one another, and this sometimes worked against Farema's well being.

I was appalled to watch how Farema's treatment went from doctors and nurses running test upon test upon test with no real solution and then after many years of one on one treatment, drugs were introduced to her system. I mean all kinds of them, drugs to keep up awake, to put her asleep, to stop hallucinations, and some of her medications weren't even allowed to be mixed and yet the doctors continued to push more and more drugs on the poor child. What has the AMA medical system come too?? I'm not even sure if some of those drugs were clinically tested long enough to be ingested into human bodies!! I am glad that Lauri found the strength thru the Grace of God, to stand by her child, her husband and her family!

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