Faith's Mom's Blog

On Facebook this month, I did a #30DaysOfThankfulness and posted each day what I am thankful for. I wanted to compile my complete list in one spot - so here it is! Day 1 : I really am thankful that God took me, someone with a past of swearing, alcohol abuse, rebellion, and other types of sinful behavior, and made me into a new creation, which can only truly be done through JESUS! Day 2 : Thankful that even on more challenging days, there is always something to be thankful for, and today I'm thankful for chocolate! Day 3 : The first snowfall of the year always reminds me of this Bible verse. I'm thankful that all the promises in His word will one day come to pass. Day 4 : I watched a movie yesterday called The Last Face (it's a tough movie about the civil war that took place in Liberia). I found myself feeling more thankful than ever that we live where we do and that all of our basic needs get met each and every day.  Not only does my family have a ...

I think North Dakota forgot all about spring this year and just went right into summer. It seriously seemed like one day the ground was still brown, the trees still bare and there wasn't a robin in sight and the next day was the exact opposite. While everyone was certainly getting tired of old man winter, we weren't ready for 90 degrees! Faith enjoying being outside at Michelle's with her ducks! Besides feeling like summer, I am thankful that it really is summer vacation, and that Faith is done with school this year! She did so well the first half of fourth grade and somewhere along the way around Christmas vacation she began to struggle. We chalked it up to her high muscle tone protesting the frigid temperatures. When it started warming up a little, though there were days she still struggled to get to school. In February she came down with a sinus infection and then in May the kids were getting a little more rambunctious than usual, so it was harder for her to be ar...

One of the main reasons we sought chiropractic care for Faith was to help her with her startle reflex. Most people startle when they hear a loud, sudden noise but for Faith her startle can be debilitating. When she was younger, if she startled often in a short amount of time, she would break down in tears. Her startle made it difficult to do things like being in a school program or going to the movies. It was hard to watch her startling constantly during a church service when someone spoke into a microphone. Her whole body would tense up making it impossible for her muscles to relax. Besides her startle, we were also having a tough time dealing with her emotions and behavior. She would have screaming fits that left me and Rob feeling helpless, not knowing what to do to help her. We thought as she got older, things would get better. But last year during school, her tantrums escalated, and we chalked it up to pure exhaustion. Her pediatrician even agreed she was just too fatigued a...

Today marks Faith's 8th day of school and we are all adjusting to a new schedule. Faith has made huge strides this past summer in sleeping better and having more energy, so we decided to have her go to school from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 5 days a week. This is a change as last year she did not go Tuesday and Thursday afternoons due to how tired and worn out she would get. Faith's first day of 4th grade School starts at 8:30 a.m. but we asked if it would be okay for us to get her there at 9:00 instead. This allows us to more time to get her first feeding into her before she even gets to school. Her aides noticed last year that when we brought her to school without any food in her tummy, she was pretty sluggish and tired upon arrival.  Sometimes, after getting her to school she wouldn't start getting her feeding until after 9:00 a.m. which meant, that because she gets a feeding every 3 hours, her last feeding of the day didn't end until 10:00 p.m. Another advantage ...

All of us North Dakotans know that summer goes by way too fast. While winter can last six long months, summer comes and goes before we know it. Normally, I don't mind when summer is over because I look forward to Fall and all the busyness that the new season brings. Not to mention the cooler weather, the changing leaves, and celebrating Faith's birthday. But this year is different - I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to summer. Maybe I'm not quite ready because it has been unseasonably cool with temps in the 70s and low 80s - to me those are perfect temperatures! Or maybe I'm just not quite mentally prepared for Faith to go back to school where she'll be a 4th grader. Or it just might simply be this summer has a great one for our family and I'm sad to see it end.    Faith and I enjoyed hanging out on the patio at our apartment complex this summer Faith, on the other hand is all gung-ho to start school again. In fact, ever since it ended last year ...

Have you ever felt this way?  I know I need to lift my eyes up But I'm too weak Life just won't let up And I know that You can give me rest So I cry out with all that I have left My prayers are wearing thin And I'm worn  Even before the day begins I'm worn I've lost my will to fight I bet there are a lot of special needs parents or parents with very young children who can relate to these words. I know I can. Whenever I hear the song, Worn which contains the above lyrics, I am transported back in time when Faith was a little baby.  I was working full time during the day and trying to look after her at night. She did not sleep well, which meant neither Rob nor I sleep well either. To make things even harder, Rob worked overnights on the weekends. I was in a major state of sleep deprivation. I started drinking caffeine and eating sugar every day at work to help me stay awake. It didn't help that my thyroid was out of whack. Eventually I...

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...

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...

I was so proud of Faith today - she went to children's church all by herself! The few times Faith had gone before, she didn't want to go by herself, so I went with her. Going in with her last week was sort of a bummer because I missed a really great sermon on the kinds of things we were going to be doing in Heaven. But this week, Faith went by herself and when I peeked in the window, she was talking away to the children's church teacher. When I went in to get her, she told me very excitedly that she had just learned a lesson. When I asked what about she said, "A lesson about God." Rob and Faith celebrating Independence Day at the Capitol Building I think Faith is getting a boost of confidence because she has been going in for prayer at the Healing Rooms by herself too. When we go to the Healing Rooms, we write down our prayer requests, give them to whomever is at the desk and then go into a prayer room to be prayed over by those on the Healing Rooms team. Wh...

It has been quite the weekend! It all started Friday when Faith had her last day of summer school. She had really struggled getting to school the last two weeks because of her cold that just wouldn't go away. She also wasn't sleeping well which made things even worse.  She missed three days of school last week, but she made it on the last day! And the best part was that she drove her power chair home from school! Her dad was especially impressed at how great she drives. Normally, she has her seating system on a manual base, and she switches over to her power base when she's in school. We are hoping to get her in her power chair more and more which will be easier for us when we get our van - for which our loan has been approved! If everything goes smoothly this week, we will be getting our van by the coming weekend! On Saturday we told Faith we were going on an adventure and drove two hours to a lake resort called Indian Hills where my whole family was c...