Showing posts with label gabr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gabr. Show all posts

Saturday, January 5, 2013

2012 Year in Review

This year in review is a little belated - I had wanted to do it before the New Year actually began but both Faith and I fell ill with the flu and I had zero energy. It's hard to be creative with no energy! While I became sick shortly after Christmas, Faith got sick on New Year's Eve. On Friday, she finally felt well enough to go to school.

Thank goodness for the miracle drug, tamiflu, which helped decrease our symptoms and the flu did not last as long as it might have without it. I am also thankful that although Rob had mild symptoms for a few days, he is already back to being well. So while we did not end 2012 very well, the New Year started off great as on January 5th the NDSU Bison won their 2nd straight football championship!
Here is how 2012 went for us:

JANUARY - Although last winter was pretty mild for us here in North Dakota, January still got pretty cold which kept us indoors a lot. One of Faith's favorite things to do is SKYPE with our friend Kimberly in Kansas. Kimberly used to be one of our respite care providers. In 2012 we said goodbye to another favorite respite care provider with whom we also keep in touch and see every now and then when she is in Bismarck.
Faith on SKYPE
FEBRUARY - Faith got to take her wheels out onto the ice for the first time ever, thanks to a new organization in Bismarck called Dreams in Motion. In February she went curling and in March she played wheelchair soccer. Also in February, we celebrated mine and Rob's birthdays and Faith baked a lot of cookies with Michelle. She also took part in her 2nd grade school program in which she got to say a few lines and play some little bells for the music portion.
Faith has fun trying curling for the first time
MARCH - Faith had fun playing wheelchair soccer right next door in her school gymnasium. There were volunteers from the University of Mary soccer team that pushed the kids around and the faster they pushed Faith the more fun she had! Mommy had some fun of her own going to Dickinson with a friend to take in a Christian concert.We also had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa who are going to be moving to Bismarck!
At the gym at Centennial Elementary for wheelchair soccer
APRIL - This month always proves to be very busy as it is the annual fundraiser, The Great American Bike Race. Once again Faith's Fantastic 12 participated in the event and as a team raised over $4,000! Faith and her dad went to their very first Butterfly Ball - a daddy-daughter dance. We also celebrated Easter with some friends but unfortunately it was too windy to fly kites. At the end of April, we had fun throwing a surprise birthday party for Faith's uncle Todd.
Rob and Faith at the Butterfly Ball
MAY - Rob and Faith always manage to make me feel extra special on Mother's Day and this year was no different as I received flowers, cards and food so I didn't have to cook! Faith also bonded with her dad as they went fishing together for the first time as part of a school field trip. This spring we started going to New Life Church's redefinition service. We are very happy to finally find a church home - and such a wonderful one at that!
One of my favorite things to do with Faith is read books
JUNE - The big event finally arrived as we celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary here in Bismarck. We had a great time picnicking at Sertoma, the renewal of wedding vows on the Lewis and Clark Riverboat and dinner at the Bistro.
The whole family gets together to celebrate mom and dad's 40th anniversary
JULY - For the first time ever we tried to go to the Fourth of July event at the capitol building but Faith was not too thrilled since we had to listen to the orchestra first. It seemed like forever until it got dark enough to shoot off fireworks and by that time she was ready to go home. We got to see lots of photos taken by my brother Todd and his wife, Barbara who went on a missions trip to Kenya. Also in July we had a visit from our friend Brittnee and new license plates for our van - HEB11 1 (Hebrews 11:1).

Faith spend time with her auntie and uncle
 AUGUST - We did a lot of visiting in August! Our friends Kimberly and Matt came up from Kansas and we got to celebrate the news with them about their baby due in February! Also, I had a reunion with the two roomies I lived with in college while a sophomore at NDSU. It was great to be together with Keri and Mary again! We traveled to Washburn to visit friends as well. Faith started 3rd grade at the end of the month.
Faith always likes having girl time! Here she is with Kimberly and her sister Melanie
SEPTEMBER - Rob and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary at our favorite place to eat - the East 40. We went all out and had filet mignon! Faith went on her first hayride out at some friends house from church.
Faith at her first hayride event
OCTOBER- Faith celebrated her 9th birthday. She discovered playing Wheel of Fortune on the PS3 which Rob and I both have fun doing with her. Faith seemed to be having trouble with fatigue and not gaining weight so we took steps to change her diet and began half days of school on Tuesdays and Thursdays which seemed to help. I celebrated my one anniversary at work by making pumpkin muffins for those who were in my training class and who also made it one year!
Princess Faith celebrates her 9th birthday!
NOVEMBER - We celebrated Thanksgiving with some friends of ours who as you can tell in the picture are huge Dallas Cowboys fans. We have much to be thankful for as we have all been healthy and God has continued to provide for all of our needs.
Happy Thanksgiving!
DECEMBER - Faith had fun during her school program at school and also looked forward to her Christmas vacation from school. I had fun going to another Christian concert with a friend which was held at Evangel Assembly. We had a nice Christmas and saw some family and SKYPED with our family in Canada. Alas, another year has ended and it will be exciting to see what God has in store for 2013!
Faith showing her holiday hat to Grandma and Grandpa





Friday, June 1, 2012

Goodbye to Our Special Tomato

Today we said goodbye to our Special Tomato adaptive car seat. And special it was. It helped Faith stay safe and secure in our Hyundai driving her back and forth to therapy appointments, shopping excursions and many other activities. It also helped us through our time of not being able to afford an accessible van.

Like all adaptive equipment, the special car seat was expensive and although it is the law that a child is secured in a car seat while traveling in a vehicle, neither health insurance nor Medicaid would pay for it. Thankfully, we were able to receive funds from the fundraiser, the Great American Bike Race (GABR) which helps families pay for services and equipment that insurance doesn't cover for kids with cerebral palsy and related disabilities. 

After doing research on the Internet and talking to Faith's physical and occupational therapists, we decided to go for the Special Tomato adaptive car seat. You would think something with that name would be red, but it was in fact, purple.

Faith in her adaptive car seat, The Special Tomato
When we first got it, Faith was about four years old and pretty little. Before getting it, we had made her car seat as supportive as we could by using pillows and foam wedges. But we were having trouble keeping her head supported so we knew we had to do something different.The Special Tomato is a pretty serious car seat and it took up a lot of our backseat but it was more than worth it. It was such a relief that Faith had the support she needed while riding in the car. It was also nice, because we could adjust the seat as she grew taller.

As Faith grew, it became more of a chore to get her out of her wheelchair and into her special car seat, especially when she wasn't very happy about going somewhere and she wouldn't relax her muscles. It was also a chore because we had to take her wheelchair apart, put the seat of her chair in the passenger seat and the base in the trunk. Thankfully, just when it seemed she had outgrown the Special Tomato, altogether, our disability case manager found an accessible van that we purchased just last summer.

We have been wanting to donate the Special Tomato seat to a family who just like us at one time, really needs it. Just today our case manager may have found a new home for it. We really hope the seat works out for their child. It is such a good feeling being able to give it to someone else and we hope it serves them as well as it served us.


When Faith was in her Special Tomato, we had to put the seat to her wheelchair in the passenger seat
in our car and the base to her chair in our trunk.


Thanks to our van, we didn't have to worry anymore about Faith outgrowing her adaptive car seat




Our van makes transporting our growing girl so much easier!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Great GABR Moments

First of all, I'd like to thank the 2012  Faith's Fantastic 12 GABR Team: Becky Eske, Beth Kaylor, Cassie Brazell, Gwen Barone, Julie Jensen, Katie Huizinga, Kent Kaylor, Krysta Wrath, Rob Bousfield, Sarah Hoffman, Tanya Steckler and Brooke Schaff.  

Thanks for riding and for fundraising!

Also, a huge Thank You to all of you who donated to me for Faith's Fantastic 12:
 Mike and Deone Lawlar (Grandpa and Grandma), Cousin Vicki Hammond, Friends Fran Dwelle, The Bitz Family, Tom & Diane Hahn, Michelle Stahl, The Sago Family, Peg Walth, Sandy Bauer, My dear college friends Janee Anez, Resa Hartl, Kristi Holzer and family, Faith's cousins, Sydnee and Kenzie Lawlar, Faith's auntie of sorts, Nicole Samuelson and family, Coworker Blaine Kincaid, Barrett Pharmacy & Variety of Watford City, Centennial Elementary School's staff and students and oh yeah, that mystery man from Marathon Oil!

ALSO thanks to my brother Todd of Todd's Consulting, Inc. - Onsite Oil Well Supervision and Directional Drilling, who sponsors our T-shirts every year!

One of my favorite parts of GABR is seeing many of those we have met along the way in our journey with Faith. I can see why many of the kids with CP and other disabilities compare this day to Christmas because it is like one big get-together with all of their favorite people they have met over the years! It is such a wonderful day and as always, we made many wonderful memories and had some great GABR moments including the announcement at the end of the race that declared they had already beat last year's total amount raised of $300,000!

Captain Cari, Faith and Coworkers from Coventry
Faith and friends from school, Ashley and Paige
The crowd got bigger and bigger throughout the day
Faith and Paige cheer on their kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Steckler
Cousin Beth her husband and Benjamin who loved the bike!
Hey Katie, isn't there a rule about riding and texting?
GABR Stars, Nathan Zent and Tyler Schwab getting interviewed on live TV

Faith's friend Brooklyn stops by to say hi
Ride bikers ride!
Rob rode like this the whole 20 minutes and pedaled the most miles on our team
7.44 which put him in the top 10%!
Faith and Dr. Kevin Murphy, her physiotherapist and GABR founder
Faith and Brittnee who couldn't ride due to a recent bout with the flu but who
drove from Killdeer anyway to show her support!
Krysta gratefully takes a seat and gets fanned to cool off after her ride
Thanks for a great day! Peace out!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Our Van - A True Blessing from God

Ever since finding out Faith was going to be needing some sort of wheelchair for mobility, my husband and I knew that one day we would need an accessible van. Until that time, though, we knew we would have to make-do without one. After Faith outgrew her regular car seat and needed more support, we were able to acquire an adaptive car seat called the Special Tomato using funds from GABR.

Faith's first wheelchair was a pediatric wheelchair called a Kid Cart - which came apart and easily fit into the trunk of our car. But after outgrowing that, her chair became much bigger and much heavier as well. Thankfully, we were able to take the seating system off of the base and then put the seating system in the passenger seat of our car with the base in the trunk. All of this required lots of lifting.

Here's how that process went:



I knew after her chair was upgraded with a new back and seat, not to mention the fact that Faith just wouldn't stop getting taller, we were getting close to really needing something else.

Faith in her adaptive car seat - her legs and feet are kind of squished

Since Faith's Kid Cart days, we had prayed for an accessible van. But this winter, we prayed harder than ever for a van to transport Faith. It was all just getting to be too much lifting. I had looked online for accessible vans but became disheartened upon finding out the cost. A brand new van with a lift could easily cost $50,000. Used ones seemed to be around the $15,000-$30,000 range, depending on the age and number of miles and most of them were located out of state. We had found a few located in North Dakota but they were much older and bigger than we wanted.

Then one day at the beginning of the summer, Faith's disability case manager e-mailed us the specs for an accessible van for sale. It sounded perfect and it was located in north Bismarck, not far from where we live!

When we first went to see it, we were a little concerned because it seemed to have some door issues. Also, the automatic ramp wasn't completely reliable but there was a manual crank which was a good option. We thought about it for quite a while and prayed too - we wondered if this was the van God had for us.

The second time we went to see it, we got Faith inside of it and took it for a test drive. We were impressed and we learned there was a little trick to the door so that it worked better. We really felt this was it, this was our van! The owner even went down on the price for us. It had been his dad's van who was in a power chair. His dad passed away so they no longer needed it.

After going through NDAD to acquire a low-interest loan and getting all of the paper work taken care of, we finally purchased our van! And thanks to GABR, we will be able to pay off part of that loan in the immediate future. We truly believe this is a blessing to us from God - and provided to us in His perfect timing.

Faith loves the van - she says it is soooo big!

Monday, April 18, 2011

A Banner Review

In early March, I received an e-mail from a representative from the company BuildASign.com. They were willing to send me a free banner, created by myself, and in return I would place their link on my blog and I would write up a review of the banner. So, here is that review.

I thought it would be great to have a banner for our team at the Great American Bike Race. I went to BuildASign.com and very easily used their tools to design my banner. From the time I placed my order to when I received the banner was only five days and I was thrilled with the final product!

The only problem became how we were going to hang it. Thankfully, our team's bike was near a wall so me and a few other girls hung up using some pink duct tape I had grabbed before leaving home.

I did get some nice comments about it - that is was a really nice banner, one that could be used again and again. It is very professional-looking and durable. I am very happy to have it and we will definitely being using it at next year's Great American Bike Race!



Monday, April 11, 2011

Twelve Fantastic GABR Memories

As the Great American Bike Race is now in the past, I look back on it with many fond memories. Faith being a GABR star was a blast! We had so much fun during the many new experiences this opportunity afforded us - from doing a radio commercial to being on TV - and the people we worked with were all awesome as well. I just hope Faith isn't too disappointed that she won't get to be the GABR star again next year!

Besides Faith being one of the stars, there are 12 more fantastic things I will always remember about this year's GABR:
  • Faith having the energy to endure being amidst the noise and excitement of the Bike Race all day!

  • Our awesome team - Faith's Fantastic 12 who all showed up to ride and who did a great job of raising money!

  • Our cool t-shirts that turned out great!
  • Having so much fun seeing all of the friends we have made these last 6 1/2 years!
  • Having the team, Badlands Bikers, join in on the event all the way from Watford City!
  • Finding out that Jacey Enget rode not once, twice but three times for her team! She's our hero!
  • Seeing Faith and Tanner having so much fun together!

  • Having a 1/2 team with team captain Lynette and her daughter Ashley - Ashley and Faith's Tie-Dye Team!
  • Being right next to Ashley's team, Paige's team and Tanner's team - all in a row!
  • The support Faith received from her school, her classmates, her friends and family!
  • Rob riding for the 5th year in a row - He's rode for Target, MedEquip and both of Faith's teams
  •  Riders coming back year after year to "Do It for the Kids!"

All in all it was a great GABR and I have already
started recruiting for next year!
See you in 2012!