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what a great story. It must be so great for your daughter to be able to talk to people!

What a wonderful gift. Your daughter sounds like a beautiful child in all her wonderment. Must be a special joy to see her be able to express herself. I'm sure you are as proud of her as we all are of you for what you have done. What a wonderful world, with people like you and your family making it shine.

Wow ,, that is very inspiring and oh so nice to see .. sounds like you have a lot of chating to do .. so happy you can comunicate with your little girl ... wow very cool !!! sunshine & peace for all !!

Our little girl recently received a grant for a special speech device to help her communicate. It is a laptop sort of machine with touch icons that can be made into sentences that will speak in a childs voice. It is lightweight and drop-down-the-stairs durable but drop-your-jaw expensive coming in at close to 10k. We are so inspired and excited at the depth and range this machine offers. We appreciate the work everyone at the hospital and school have done to get this grant for Haley and the opportunity brings for her. We have a very cool network of people. We already had one other girl but wanted another child. We wanted a brother or sister and as '01 approached thought it would be cool to have a baby in 2001 like 2001 A Space Odyssey. Haley didn't show up until '02. That was alright cuz' she was well worth waiting for. When she came to us, we were thrilled and elated. Mama had come down with the Lyme disease mid-term. She got pretty sick and as you might imagine and we were very worried. Haley was born seemingly healthy and happy though and her eyes had beautiful sparkles. We thought she was just a quiet baby because she made very few sounds until well after 1 year. She would crawl over to the family photo albums and point at different pictures of people and activities. Her coordination was a bit off and she was a little bit different...she could hear an airplane, motorcycle or a train long before anyone noticed the sound. Sirens were out of the question. The catch all label of "delayed" was all they could come up with as the guru's at the top of the specialist chain said she was probably a 1 in 20 like her in the world. Just a special unique condition but a very amazing sweet smiling girl. Soon after that, our journey to speech began. They call it apraxia of speech. We have worked hard and so has Haley with her SLP's the last few years and we just had a great 6 year birthday party for her. We have met many wonderful Speech Language Pathologists, teachers, other parents of "delayed" and autistic children and have been working with sign, gestures, pictures and interpretation. The theory is that the wiring is just not quite connected but through ongoing therapy and different forms of communication including musical instrments, computers , books and the "Talker", we will get there and she will eventually speak. Haley was able to have the opportunity to use one of two "Talker's" sent to the big city Children's Hospital as loaner grants in lieu of obtaining funding from insurance. They felt that Haley has a good chance of learning how to use it and having it help her connect the wires so she will eventually speak. We will hopefully get a permanent "Talker" once our insurance company approves her case. It looks good...we have letters from Dr.'s, specialists, SLP's, teachers, all in for review and we are very hopeful. I wish I could tell you how it feels to hear her say "My name is Haley, I am six years old and I have two cats and a fish." "What is your name?" "Let's play!" even though it is a voice that comes out of a machine...it's coming tfrom her. It is amazing and she is smiling as she now starts to be able to tell her story. This little girl is the most amazing person I have ever met. She is full of life and amazing spirit that fills the room with creative wonder, expression and laughter. Now, her voice is coming through the "Talker" and we have a lot of thigs to talk about. I can hear her voice... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Walk into splintered sunlight Inch your way through dead dreams to another land" Robert Hunter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ray, a drop of golden sun"

7 strikes in a row and haven't bowled in years!!! Yeah!!! haha =) =) =)

to the Stumans and Ken!

stuman and mrs. stuman, and many more! happy belated 13th birthday to nick and happy 50th birthday to ken... Strike another match, go start anew And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

Stu and his bride on your grate run, and to the birthday boys in gratefulmom's life! Much happiness and good health to you all. The Truth is realized in an instant, the act is practiced step by step.

Happy anniversary stuman, and many more. And happy Birthday to Ken, enjoy the year! peace,pk