Faith's Mom's Blog

I loved the shocked look on my friend's face on the 4th of July when upon asking, "So did just your dad come down for the 4th?" And I told her, "My parents live in Bismarck now." In March of this year, my dad officially retired from the oilfield after 35 years, most of those years spent driving an 18-wheeler. Shortly after his retirement, they officially became residents of Bismarck. In fact, their home is just down the road from my younger brother's place. They still have their land and their home in Watford City though so whenever my dad starts missing home, he can always go back to visit! They were blessed to have met some great people to rent their home out to who moved here from California to work in the Bakken. Welcome to my parent's new place! (I made that sign in high school!) My youngest sister, dad and me on Father's Day. Besides my parents moving here, my youngest sister also moved here from New Town. So now with the exception ...

Every year I am disappointed because neither Faith nor Rob wants to go to the 4th of July Parade in Mandan with me, so I end up not going at all. This year was going to be different though. This year I had a parade date - my dad! Also, I was going to be meeting up with my friend Kristi and her family who sit in the same spot every year. I was so excited to go to the parade! The night before the big event, Rob and I asked Faith if she wanted to go, too. She has only gone to the parade twice and didn't seem to really enjoy it either time. So, I was totally expecting her to not want to go again this year. But then she said she did want to go and started asking all sorts of questions about what we were going to see at the parade. Even though she seemed excited, I didn't get my hopes up too high. Sometimes she acts excited about something, but when it comes down to actually going through with it, she changes her mind. Whether she went or not, I was still happy to be going with...

I knew this would happen. Ever since Rob's parents told us about their plans to fly from Toronto to Winnipeg, we looked so forward to driving there to meet them. And now, after spending five days in Canada, the fun is over much too soon. Faith gets ready for our drive to Canada Rob, Faith and I made the 420-mile drive on Monday and Jean and David arrived by plane on Tuesday morning. When we told people we were driving to Winnipeg, they said, "That's kind of a long drive." But after driving over 1,300 miles all the way to Toronto in October 2011, this drive was going to be a breeze! And it was. Faith once again proved to be a great little traveler and was content to listen to her music CDs the whole way. Of course, we didn't make it in 6 hours and 20 minutes like MapQuest said we would. With stops to eat, gas up, get Faith changed and get her feedings started, it took us more like 8 1/2 hours. Practically the whole way there, Faith asked, "Are we in Win...

Not too long ago, someone at church commented to me, "Your daughter is so full of life." I have heard lots of positive comments about Faith throughout the years, but this one brought tears to my eyes. To think that my daughter - a nine-year-old girl bound to a wheelchair was full of life - meant the world to me. Faith's disability causes her to be different from her peers and others around her. She understands this, and although she gets frustrated at times, she doesn't let her disability get her down. She has a very positive attitude about life. I give a lot of the credit to those who pray without ceasing for her and to Jesus who helps her on her journey each and every day. I truly praise God that someone who sees my daughter sees that she has a joyful life despite her special needs. Full of joy I know too well this isn't always the case. Usually, when someone pictures in their mind a nine-year-old who needs to use a wheelchair for mobility, gets her nutri...

The month of May is already nearly over! But it makes perfect sense why it went by so fast, because this month was jam-packed. It's hard to believe that June is just around the corner. I can share in our pastor's sentiment when he said the year is half over, but it seems like 2013 has just begun! On the first Thursday of May, JOY Internationa l had its last Java JOY of the season. We had a great get-together as we celebrated moms and discussed the powerful prayers of a mom. We had a wonderful panel of three amazing moms who shared their hearts on praying for their children.  We also shared testimonies of answered prayers for ourselves and our children. As Java JOY coordinator, I am relieved to be taking some time off, but I already have lots of ideas for our next season which starts up again in September!   Me with our mom panel at Java JOY Me and Faith on Mother's Day Me and Faith playing our favorite game - Wheel of Fortune At the beginning of the month, we...