January 31st

Ashley is off to a great start this year.

The biggest advance is that Ashley fed herself. She picked up a large pretzel stick and she was able to get it to her mouth, take a bite and eat it. While it is not a seamless flow, it takes her awhile to get the pretzel to her mouth, it is a significant milestone. For the first time in over 30 months Ashley has given herself something to eat. She has also added graham crackers to her practice.

In therapy Ashley walked (with support, but without any patterning) around the entire Lutheran Hospital outpatient rehabilitation main room last week. That’s about 200 feet.

While we are still waiting on those first words Ashley is mouthing individual letters of a given word. It gives us a chill of joy up our spines to realize that she is closing in on regaining the complicated mechanics of what we pray will be her restored voice.

Pool therapy is back twice a week. The buoyancy allows Ashley to walk more fluidly. She also rolls from her back to her stomach with relative ease. She moves her legs to the therapist’s request more frequently and to a greater range. The pool time is a definite plus. One thing the physical therapist noticed was that Ashley was more vocal in the pool. They shared that with speech therapy so her speech therapist came to the pool (this is in a separate facility) to see what Ashley was doing to possibly augment her speech rehab.

Ashley is improving her practice with drinking liquids with a straw. While Ashley very rarely has a problem with choking when it comes to food (pureed, or something she is chewing) liquids are still a challenge. She will master this with time as well.

Ashley visited with several friends before they returned to school and even took in a movie (Blindside) with two friends (Rachel and Jessica who coincidentally are studying to be a physical and occupational therapist respectfully).

We traveled down to Elwood, IN for a post holiday Slater side of the family get together a few weeks ago. Ashley’s cousin Lara and her husband Daniel were our hosts. It was wonderful to visit with the extended family. Ashley’s progress was on display. She walked into the house (with support) and enjoyed visiting with everyone.

Ashley also has paid a couple of visits to the newest addition to the extended family, Nora Grace.

We continue to witness the miracle of Ashley’s healing that is a direct result of all the ongoing pray support that we are so fortunate to receive. We cannot fathom how anyone could confront the challenges Ashley faces while maintaining such a positive focus and optimism without strong faith. Ashley is unwavering in her faith. She will not begin a meal until grace is said. She takes on an aura of peace at night following evening prayers at bedtime. Although Ashley cannot speak aloud yet she most certainly has an open line of communication with God. He has plans for Ashley and we have seen first hand how she has such a powerful, positive impact on so many people that have crossed her path.

Ashley’s friend Emily coined the phrase Walk, Talk & Eat. We are praying that 2010 is the year when ‘talk’ joins ‘walk’ and ‘eat’ in Ashley’s rehabilitation. We appreciate your prayers for words to flow from Ashley again.