Faith's Mom's Blog

Today Faith had her annual eye appointment. Her special education teacher from school came along because she had some questions regarding Faith's vision. Larissa has noticed when working on reading with Faith in school that if there is a sentence of three words like: The Big Ball Faith will just pick out the word she knows and say that one. And if she knows all three words in the sentence she just looks and picks one but never says them in order from left to right. Also, Faith's teacher said that when there are three lines of numbers like: 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9 Faith can read them if Larissa is pointing to them individually, but Faith can't read the numbers from left to right without them being pointed to. She just zones in on one number and says the one that catches her attention. I am so thankful for Faith's amazing special education teacher who goes out of her way to make sure Faith reaches her fullest potential. I've n...

A typical Wednesday afternoon for Faith... Faith getting her stretches in the pool Faith uses a wet noodle to help kick her legs behind her while working to keep her head up After all that work, it's time to relax a little Faith has come a long way since her first day in the pool when she screamed during the whole half-hour session. Rob had to get in there with her the next time but after that she was fine and started to have fun in the pool. After we get out of the pool, I hurry and get her dressed so she's ready for her physical therapy session. One of the reasons she has hydro first is so that her muscles are more relaxed enabling her to use them more effectively in physical therapy. Look how tall Faith is standing in her gait trainer! And notice her new tennis shoes! Faith in her gait trainer taking some steps Even though it is hard work, Faith really does enjoy her physical therapy sessions - as you can tell in this picture! I know one reason she enj...

For the past month or so, Rob and I have been trying to go through every closet, every drawer, every box, basically everything in our apartment. This Friday all of our un-needed treasure will be up for grabs at a rummage sale we're going in on with a friend of ours.  This morning, Rob realized he had forgotten to go through his clothes, so he hurried into the closet and grabbed all of the hangers with dust on them. A lot of his clothes he has shrunk out of since losing weight. Wish I had that same problem! Another reason for our reorganizing frenzy is because we had to make room for Faith's new bed. While shopping for a better mattress for her, we were at TW Warehouse when we discovered the Dr. Breus Bed . Dr. Breus developed six different mattresses for different kinds of sleepers. The mattress we found for Faith is made especially for people with fibromyalgia or arthritis. Though she doesn't have either of these conditions, we figured it was worth a shot to see if it ...

Ever since Faith stopped going to therapy at the clinic last fall, I felt like we haven't been running around so much. It's actually been kind of nice. But now today I was reminded of how our days of running around used to be and how we managed with only one vehicle. This morning, we had to get Rob to work then Faith had an appointment. We had about an hour before her appointment, so Faith and I hung out at the library for a little bit. She picked out a Curious George book and I found a Roxanne Henke book I haven't read yet. Then we checked out The Red Rooster  Cafe which is located right in the library. I enjoyed a delicious iced mocha and Faith had what else? Ice cream! Then it was time for Faith's appointment. She had a mild meltdown in the waiting room and continued to cry when the nurse came in to get her temp.  She was nervous because she knew someone was going to be looking at her mic-key button, which was the reason for the appointme...

Guest Post by Stephen Gallup Last week, a columnist for the local newspaper interviewed me in connection with a memoir I wrote that’s being published this year. It was a comfortable, low-key discussion in which he asked about the basic facts regarding my disabled son Joseph and what I’ve learned that might be of value to other families. It was the sort of dialog that required no special preparation in advance. I just sat down with him and talked about the subject closest to my heart. But looking back on it now, one thing bothers me. In concluding the interview, the reporter expressed heartfelt sympathy for everything I’ve endured. He was being more than polite. I mean, he laid the compassion on with a spatula. Startled, and already thinking ahead to what I had to do next that day, I just thanked him and said goodbye. But now that final note troubles me. I don’t want sympathy! First of all, from the point of view of a new author hoping to promote his book, sympathy...