Faith's Mom's Blog

Christmas music has been playing now for about a month or so but honestly, I think it could play all year long as far as I'm concerned. I love the beautiful lyrics about the baby born in a manger; some of them written hundreds of years ago.  While the traditional ones about Jesus are my favorite, there are a few Christmas songs that I really have fun listening to - and singing along with! When Faith was very little, I used to play The Denver Mile High Orchestra's swing version of Jingle Bells and would have her in my arms, and we'd go dancing around the living room together.  Maybe that's why that song is one of her favorites! Faith actually doesn't do well listening to the slower, more traditional songs as she gets very emotional and even a little weepy. To learn the history of where these Christmas songs originated check out my article: My Top Ten Favorite Christmas Songs and from Whence They Came It was hard to narrow it down to just ten - but these Christ...

As with most kids in this country who have a physical impairment, our daughter has access to one of the most basic necessities of a handicapped child - a wheelchair. But for those disabled children in third-world or communist countries, many children with cerebral palsy or similar disabilities cannot so easily attain a a much-needed chair that offers the simple gift of mobility. For just a $150 donation, a pediatric wheelchair can be given to a child in a third-world country It is truly heartbreaking that these children who have no means of mobility are left home to lie in bed all day while their parents go to work. These children cannot attend school because they have no way of being transported or even the ability to sit up while at school. Some children who may have use of their upper bodies crawl on the ground to get from one place to another. The worst part for these families is that they are looked down upon for having a child with special needs. Sometimes the father leave...

This season is known as the most wonderful time of the year and probably the busiest time of the year as well. Along with starting Christmas shopping, putting up our tree and thinking about getting our Christmas cards ready, we have taken part in some great Christmas events. Faith checking out some of the ornaments on our Christmas tree! Last Monday we kicked off the week with Faith's program at school called "Old Man Winter's Icicle Follies." Faith's music teacher had given us a CD with all of the music on it so Faith could learn the words better.  I must say, when Rob and I both heard the fast-moving music with all of the tongue-twisting words, we both thought the songs were a little ambitious for third graders. We really impressed when they pulled it off! All of the third graders did great!  The best part was seeing Faith in the front of the gymnasium alongside the kids in her grade looking relaxed and singing right along with the rest of them. Although,...

At least once a year, Faith's school has a fun week where there is a theme each day on how to dress. When Rob was getting Faith ready in the mornings, he really didn't put too much effort into making sure Faith was dressed according to the theme of the day. I used to love having these fun weeks at school and I loved getting Faith ready each day this week.  Here is what her fun week looked like: Monday - Faith's favorite day of all - Pajama Day! Tuesday - Backwards Day - even Faith's smile is backwards! Wednesday - Tie Dye Day! Thursday - School Spirit Day Friday - Wacky Day!

November 30 is Newborn Heart Defect Screening Awareness Day .  I think it is very important to spread this awareness, especially since congenital heart defects (CHD) are the number one birth defect in babies. CHD affects 8 out of every 1,000 newborns and is responsible for more deaths in the first year of life than any other birth defect.  A simple screening, which is done via pulse oximetry done within the first 24 hours of the baby's life, could prevent such deaths from happening. One such death was a five-day old baby named Cora.  I was born with a congenital heart defect   (CHD) ,  and nobody knew until I was about five or six months old. My mom began noticing that the simplest act of eating from my bottle completely wore me out. And when my lips and fingernails began to have a bluish tinge to them, she knew something was very wrong.  Unfortunately, at that time we lived on an Indian reservation in Wolf Point, Montana so there weren't a lot of specia...

Me and my little family of three have a Thanksgiving tradition of going out for thanksgiving dinner on our own. This year, though, we invited another family of three to join as they had done years ago after we first moved to Mandan. We had met this family at a church in Mandan and have recently reconnected with them as we all now go to New Life Church. So thankful to be reconnected with this wonderful family! So today we headed out to one of the buffets at a local hotel. I was looking forward to eating a delicious turkey dinner and having pumpkin pie with whip cream for dessert. As we walked into the dining room, however, the first thing I noticed was that the pieces of pumpkin on the dessert tables were not topped with whip cream. I wasn't going to complain though, as I didn't want to appear to be ungrateful on Thanksgiving of all days. As we sat around the table, enjoying our delicious turkey dinner I couldn't help but notice that nobody was taking the bare pumpk...

It seems we have won the battle over Faith getting up and getting ready for school in the mornings. She is no longer protesting and wakes up in the morning excited to bring a "special guest" to school. Last week she pretended to get Clifford the Big Red dog ready for school, but he couldn't fit in our van, so he had to ride on top. She also talks about how when she gets to school, she is going to help take care of one of her friends who is also in a wheelchair. A few things are helping Faith with her morning routine. One she is getting more rest and not feeling so fatigued throughout the week as she is only going half-days on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Another is that we have been feeding her Pediasure with 1.5 times more calories than what she has gotten before. This is helping with both her energy and her weight. Rob took her in to get weighed last week and she has gained almost a pound since getting the added calories. While the mornings have been going great, we have a...

For Faith's birthday this year, we decided to keep it pretty low-key. And even though we really didn't do a whole lot, Faith had a very fun-filled birthday.  On Thursday, she took her favorite snack - goldfish crackers - to school to share with her classmates. Then after school she got to play her new Wheel of Fortune game on the PS3 with daddy. This is what I found when I came home from work that evening: Of course, Faith wanted to play her new game with me, which I very happily did. During all of this we took a little break to talk to Faith's Grandparents from Canada who called to wish her a Happy Birthday. We opened her presents from them while both Grandmother and Grandfather were on speaker phone. Friday evening was another night of playing Wheel of Fortune and then on Saturday, we finally had a chance to have birthday cake, for which Grandma came over. We also opened some cards from her aunties and their families. We've definitely had a great three days of ...

It is so hard to believe that it is already that time of the year - time for parent-teacher conferences.  I don't know why but I always get a little emotional at these meetings. I think it might be due to the fact that as Faith gets older it becomes more apparent that Faith does not have the same skills as her classmates - and I become very aware of her disability.  In fact, due to a new grading system, Faith is probably going to be graded as a first grader instead of a third grader. But at the same time, I am so proud of Faith for how well she is doing. Faith with one of her instructional aides.  Those around her at school seem to be noticing a difference in her wanting to be at school rather than asking when she can go home. It seems to correspond to the time that I began staying home in the mornings to help her get ready for school.  I'm not exactly why this is because she still fights some mornings about not wanting to go to school but I'm glad to know that o...

It's hard to believe that it was nine years ago today I was taken by air-ambulance from the hospital in Williston to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. Faith was very unexpectedly trying to make her way into the world 14 weeks early.  The doctors and staff in Williston knew they did not have the expertise in dealing with a mom with a complex heart condition having a baby born so prematurely. I had been planning on having Faith in Rochester but not this soon! After all, my due date wasn't until January 6th. After getting to Rochester, I was in the hospital for five days hooked up to a baby monitor. Faith seemed to be doing well and I was no longer going into preterm labor. Although I wanted to just go back home, the doctors thought it would be wise for me to stick around Rochester, just in case. The Travel Lodge became my temporary home.   Faith in the NICU in Rochester, Minnesota where she was born Rob had been going back and forth between Rochester and Watfo...

I honestly didn't know if we were going to make it to the hayride last night. Faith had been having a somewhat tough week again and the medication we were giving her for the bacteria in her tummy was causing Faith to nearly throw up. I canceled Grandma coming for grandparents day because I just wasn't sure Faith was going to be up to it. Thursday afternoon Rob went to get her early from school and she was able to get some good rest. It helped because Friday she woke up smiley and in a great mood ready for the day. We promised her that next year both Grandma and Grandpa will come to Grandparents Day since they will be living here! It worked out well for Rob to drive me to work and then he and Faith picked me up and headed off into the country for Faith's first hayride. When we first told her about the hayride, she exclaimed, "just like Little House on the Prairie !"  Well, it wasn't exactly like Little House as the wagon was actually more like a long trail...

This week has definitely been interesting for our family. I started my new work schedule on Monday, and it was so wonderful crawling into bed with Faith in the morning and gently waking her up. When she realized I was in bed with her, she said, "Mommy, are you getting me ready for school today?"  I pretended not to know how to get her ready for school, so she proceeded telling me what to do and in what order. When I gave her a kiss goodbye she had the sweetest smile on her face. Me and my sweet little girl Rob was able to drive me to work since he needed the van that day. It all worked out perfectly and I was so happy to have spent the first part of the morning with Faith. Now fast forward to Thursday. Faith woke up saying she didn't want me to get her ready for school and when I tried to start the routine she became quite upset and demanded me to call the school to cancel. Where oh where was my sweet little girl? Her fit escalated to screaming and yelling for over...

I really can't believe it is nearing the middle of September already. Time flies though when there is so much going on! It seems that once school starts our schedules go on overdrive! I am very thankful to report that Faith is really enjoying third grade! She is back to driving her power chair at school and it is nice that her classroom is on the main floor so the only class she takes the elevator for is music. She really loves her teacher and this year she has one new instructional aide and also a new special education teacher.  Faith in her third-grade classroom Unfortunately, I was not able to attend her IEP meeting, but Rob was able to go, and it went pretty well. It is great to know that her principal, teachers, aides and therapists are all working together to help her accomplish her goals for the year. They are going to focus more on learning through audio rather than visual. This is due to the fact that she has such great memorization skills when she hears something....

Faith is ready to start 3rd grade!  I am so happy that Faith is all smiles and excited to go back to school! Daddy is very proud of his big girl! So cool and ready for school! The bell was ringing and Faith said, "I don't want to be late!"

Last year at this time, I was a stay-at-home mom. And part of my stay-at-home mom duties were getting Faith ready for school in the mornings and getting her there on time. I was also the one who was in constant contact with her teacher, her instructional aides, and her therapists. Part of the fun of taking Faith to school was getting a chance to visit with those who looked after her throughout the day.   After coming home from dropping Faith off, I would have breakfast and enjoy some quiet time. At least once or twice a week, I would call my friend Tina, or she would call me, and we would talk for at least an hour. Being home gave me a chance to work on my writing, to join a morning women's bible study, to take a nap if we had a rough night or cook and clean at my leisure.  It was nice being a stay-at-home mom. But I did find that if I didn't get out of the house, I would go a little stir-crazy. Another great stay-at-home-mom duty was to join Faith on her fun field trips!...

These past couple of weeks, we have had lots of fun seeing some wonderful friends we have not seen for a while. Our flurry of visits started off when our friend, Brittnee was in town for the Sidewalk Prophets concert. The next day she came over to say hi to Faith and to hand-deliver the gift she bought for Faith when she was in Disney World. Faith was so happy to see her and of course continues to ask when Brittnee is coming over again. Britnee and Faith  Another friend who came up to visit drove all the way from Kansas with her husband and her sister. She and her husband got to share with Faith that there is a baby in Kimberly's tummy!  We are so happy for them, and we know that Kimberly is going to be a great mom! She took such good care of Faith for us when she lived here, and it was with Kimberly that Faith started playing with her doll and together they named her Baby Allie. Faith, Kimberly and Melanie getting baby Allie dressed Two of my college roomies were a...

Guest Post by David Bousfield Cari, our daughter-in-law, has asked me to write up an article for her blog. Not being a blog-writer myself, this has been something of a new experience for me. I do trust that your reading of this will be worth your while. How our son Robert found himself living and working in Watford City, North Dakota , is a complex story.  Robert had lived and worked for a time in Regina, Saskatchewan, thus we had some preparation for his wanting to move back to the west, although we thought that his move would be a move back to Regina.   That Robert met up with Cari in Watford City did not entirely surprise Jean and me. With other family members plus friends from Green Bay, Wisconsin, we were able to get to the wedding and meet up with Cari’s family and friends. We have lived in a number of smaller Ontario towns, but for the most part we are big-city people, the greater part of our lives being spent in Toronto.   Actually, we now liv...