Faith's Mom's Blog

Last night after being around some very energetic kids doing activities nonstop for 2 1/2 hours, Faith's response to the whole experience was, "Well that was quite the adventure!" Faith's friend, Chloe, invited her to go to Vacation Bible School (VBS) at Century Baptist, which is Chloe's family's home church. The theme this year was Panda-Mania "Where God is Wild about You!" Last night's lesson was based on "God made you." Chloe and Faith During the beginning, all the kids (and there were a lot of them) gathered together in the sanctuary to sing and dance and make a lot of noise. Faith was very nervous during this part, and she was telling me she was scared.  Both me and Chloe tried to console her the best we could, but it was just too much for Faith. I took her outside to the lobby where she proceeded to tell me she wanted to go home. I talked her into staying as I knew we would be breaking down into smaller, hopefully quieter, ...

I recently read a shocking article that the country of Denmark is well on it's way to making their country Down Syndrome-free. No, it's not with miraculous medical treatment, it's through aborting babies who are tested positive for the condition. Niels Uldbjerg, a gynaecological-obstetrician and researcher in medical ethics says the number of newborns with Down Syndrome approaching zero is a "fantastic achievement." My question is where does this stop? Are they going to start aborting babies who have congenital heart defects? Spina Bifida? Cleft Palates?This eugenics way of thinking is sickening and disheartening which is I why I wanted to post something on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Following is a letter that Sarah Palin wrote to her family and friends a few days before her son, Trig was going to be born with Down Syndrome. Sarah Palin imagined the letter to be from God. To the Sisters, Brother, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Frien...

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...

Shortly after arriving home from my cardiology appointment yesterday, Faith asked, "So was everything A-OK at the doctor's mommy?" Although I had been dreading the first part of my appointment - the stress test - everything really did turn out "A-OK." Doing a stress test is not fun for many reasons. First, you have to take off your shirt and bra and put on one of those flimsy hospital gowns. Then they hook you up to like a dozen electrodes. You have to try to keep everything intact as you push your heart to its maximum limit. And in my case, while all of this was going on, a good-looking young guy who was an intern at Mayo was in the room. Thank goodness I had two wonderful nurses who helped to keep my gown closed and wires untangled while I was on the treadmill. The first three minutes of the test weren't so bad but then they raised the incline and the treadmill sped up. Towards the end of the three minutes, I started noticing my legs getting tired. T...

Yesterday evening we went over to my brother and his wife's house for a barbecue. The weather was perfect, unlike today which has been filled with sporadic rain, thunder, and lightning.  We had a great time visiting and meeting some of those whom Todd and Barbara went to Argentina with on a missions trip. And I must say, even though I have never seen my brother cook before, he is a pro on the grill. The food was fantastic! Todd grilling up some corn on the cob. Relaxing Nicole and Barbara Sorry Chatzi - no food for you! Faith and her new friend, Alex Thanks for the food and fun!