Faith's Mom's Blog

Faith turned 13 on October 25th. We celebrated her milestone birthday a week ago today at my parents house, which has become the official family party place. It still has sunken in quite yet that I am the mother of a teenager. Despite exhibiting some telltale signs, like hormone overload and emotions running rampant, she is still in many ways my little girl. I'm not sure if that will ever change. She has had to endure a lot during these past 13 years and every time we are faced with a new challenge, and wonder how we're going to overcome it, it's always her tenacity and warrior-like attitude that completely amazes us. Though she may be feeling discomfort, she's still able to laugh. Though she might get frustrated by something she can't do, she still has hope. Though she experiences disappointment, she still finds joy. Both Rob and I have learned so much from her, and as we continue to move forward in our journey, I look forward to seeing God's plans for he

Ever since I began this blog (back in 2009), I've always had the faith verse from Hebrews 11:1 on the header. But as of late, I feel the passage from 2 Corinthians 5:7 better reflects our current season of life. This past year has been one of the more challenging ones we've had in light of caring for our daughter. As she has gotten heavier, I found lifting her has presented opportunities for straining my back. Thankfully, I’ve been able to receive healing through both prayer and the hands of a wonderful friend who is also a massage therapist. At the same time, I know I can no longer lift Faith as I once used to. Faith hanging out at the eye doctor. She received a good report and still does not need glasses!  Another huge change is that this past spring, Faith officially became a woman. While this is usually something for girls to celebrate, for us it provided a new set of challenges, including major PMS symptoms. Her sensitivity to loud noises heightens during this t

One of Faith's favorite things to do is call her Auntie Johanna (Joh for short) and listen to her cat, Ruby purr over the phone. (Faith also likes to hear stories about Joh's dog, Rosie). Sometimes getting Ruby to purr is more challenging than at other times but Joh usually succeeds in getting Ruby to purr at least once during our weekly phone call. Faith and Auntie Joh during our last visit to Ontario in October 2014 You might not be too impressed by a purring cat but this cat purrs like none other (and I've had a lot of cats growing up!) Even over the phone her purring sounds like a small engine. Sometimes Joh will get Ruby to purr several times and the next day Faith will tell everyone, "Ruby purred a million times over the phone last night!" We are convinced we need to get her a cat of her own, or at least one of those stuffed cats that looks and sounds real! Ruby the Purring Kitty Cat Something else Faith loves to do is make up stories. We do some

To continue with our little Thanksgiving tradition, I asked Faith to list all of the things she is especially thankful for this year. Once again, as I looked over her list, I realized it's mostly the people in her life for which she is the most grateful. Since she is such a homebody, she especially loves it when people come to our place to visit. However, the three of us did venture to Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving Dinner where she had a blast! Here are some of the people she is most thankful for, along with a few other activities she enjoys doing.     "My Whole Family" - One time when I spoke at New Life's Redefinition Cafe service, her grandma, grandpa, uncle and aunt showed up. Afterwards she commented, "I can't believe the whole family came to church." So when she says her whole family, she is talking about her extended family. She especially loves having visits with Grandma and calling Grandmother, Grandfather, and Auntie Joh on th

This past Sunday at church I noticed Faith singing along to the chorus with a little more gusto than she has in the past. She seemed a little more confident and really projected her voice once she caught on to the words that were being sung. I must admit, listening to her sweet voice singing the words, "He is faithful, He is glorious, He is Jesus, all my hope is in Him. He is freedom, He is healing right now" was enough to cause tears to stream down my face. Later after thinking about it, I realized that part of her new-found confidence in singing probably has something to do with the integrative music sessions she has been doing with a music therapist. Faith playing the xylophone fun with shakers Every couple of weeks, Jonnica comes into our home and spends about 30 minutes with Faith singing songs and playing instruments. I know how much Faith likes music so I was pretty sure she would enjoy doing this but an added bonus is that the music therapist also does wor

We did something new as a family this weekend - we went to the United Tribes International Powwow . This year marks 44 years that the United Tribes Technical College here in Bismarck has hosted the huge event. Seventy tribes are represented at the event with over 1,500 dancers and drummers coming from all over the world to participate. The event draws over 20,000 spectators from Thursday through Sunday and the Bousfields were part of the crowd this year. Over 1,500 dancers participate in the Powwow It all started when Faith's class went to the event on a field trip. Unfortunately, it is hard to get a wheelchair to the arena where all the action takes place because there are no sidewalks and one has to push a chair through the grass which can be hard, especially when it is hot and humid outside with bees swarming everywhere. Her aid ending up not being able to get Faith to join her classmates at the arena. Faith was pretty upset about this and about her dad taking her home ea

Have you every 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 everyday at work to help me stay awake. It didn't help that my thyroid was out of whack. Eventually I

I thought it would be interesting to see what blog posts in 2012 had the most views. I was a little surprised by the post that was visited the most. I was also very proud that the guest post written by my father-in-law made the top 12, in fact it almost made number one! I had a big surge of views during the month of December. In fact, four of the posts I put up that month ended up getting more page views than the posts I had written at the beginning and middle of 2012. I wrote 42 posts during 2012 and here are Faith's Mom's Blog top 12 of 2012: Number 12 - Good News About Faith's Hips publish date: 2-25-12 It's Saturday morning and after a busy, somewhat stressful work week, I can finally take a moment to enjoy a nice cup of coffee while doing some writing. Sitting here, I am reflecting on the wonderful news we received on Wednesday. Faith's left hip has not pulled out any further from its socket! Read More Number 11 - Conscious Sedation - A New Exper

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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 Christmas

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. And 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. Wow were we surprised 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. Alth

I will never forget one of Faith's first programs ever. It was during her preschool days and she was tense and nervous the whole time, startling every time someone clapped. She really didn't look like she was having much fun. Then she began to gag and I knew if I didn't do something, she would throw up all over the place. I bolted towards her, grabbed her out of the chair and hurried into the bathroom with her. I didn't have her venting tube with me but her aide brought me her feeding tube so I could at least try to get air out of her tummy so that she wouldn't throw up. Thankfully, it worked. In kindergarten though Faith didn't have any near throw-ups during a program, she still continued to be stiff and nervous and startled when everyone clapped. It was a little hard to watch and both Rob and I wondered if sticking her in front of a large audience just to be in a school program was the right thing to do. There were times we both wanted to run up and rescue h

Move over Denise Austin! About three years ago, on New Year's Day I decided 2007 was the year I was going to start exercising on a regular basis. So, like many others who had made the same resolution, I ran to Wal-Mart and bought the latest exercise DVD. It was a dance/exercise video with Denise Austin. I later purchased her Boot Camp one as well. I had no idea at the time I began the exercises that Faith would want to watch the DVDs for entertainment. And really, if you think about, it makes sense. Lot of repetition with lots of counting - just right for kids! Because Faith has watched them so many times, she pretty much has them memorized. This can be sort of comical like the time she went to preschool and told her speech therapist to squeeze her buttocks. Or like when I took Faith to physical therapy and she told Jackie she was ready to do her active isolated stretches. Jackie was pretty impressed! When Faith isn't in the mood to do her stretches at home, she gets mot

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