Faith's Mom's Blog

It's almost the last day of August and I think pretty much everyone I know is asking, "What in the world happened to summer?" It seems like summer whizzes by faster and faster every year. At the end of every summer, I find myself feeling sad about not doing the things I had wanted to do once the warmer weather approached. But now as I think about it, there were some very hot days that I was content to stay inside! I think our hottest day was 106 degrees. Meanwhile, as summer passes us by and my favorite season quickly approaches, here are some fun things we did over the short summer.  We kicked off the summer celebrating my niece Justine's graduation from high school We saw an unusual number of rainbows this summer after some very crazy storms While we didn't go on the Riverboat this year, we at least made it to the river to enjoy the scenery! Faith was so happy to go to the 4th of July parade this year in Mandan with Grandpa! Having fun wi...

This Father's Day weekend here in North Dakota started off a little rough with a major storm that swept across the state on Friday night. Faith and I were home alone when it reached Bismarck around 9:00 p.m. Rob was still at the office working and I was on the computer finishing up a few articles. I decided to check Facebook and the first thing I saw was a picture my aunt in Arnegard (8 miles west of Watford City) had posted. Her garage had just gotten demolished in a storm that had passed through. The storm was quickly heading east towards Bismarck. One weather warning I saw stated a possibility of wind gusts up to 80 mph. This tree went down a block from our office in downtown Bismarck It's hard to see but this is a traffic light that also went down I figured Rob wasn't paying attention to the weather, so I called him at the office to warn him. I'm thankful he didn't try to come home because the storm hit very quickly. One minute it was still light ou...

Since they moved to Bismarck three years ago, Faith has gotten to spend more time than ever with her grandparents and has especially enjoyed the times she gets to spend with her grandma. She loves her grandpa too, but he can be a little unpredictable with his sudden sneezes or coughs. Plus, he tends to talk a little loudly due to his slight loss of hearing from being around so many trucks and machinery throughout the years!  Faith with one of her favorite people in the world - Grandma! Faith really likes having Grandma over on Saturday afternoons to hang out with us. Usually, Grandma brings pizza and we have lunch (although Faith has already said this weekend when we see Grandma she wants to go to Perkins instead). After that, we hop into the van and take Grandma to the library with us, followed by a trip to Target or the grocery store. Once, Grandma even stayed with Faith for about 20 minutes while I went to get Rob at the office.  Faith likes the comfort of bein...

Normally around this time of year, North Dakotans are nearly dying for spring to come. This was the case early last week when the temperature dipped to six degrees below zero. But then a small miracle took place - temperatures soared to over 70 degrees!  My only complaint was that our apartment, which is warm anyway, became a heat box. There was even one day I came home, and Rob had turned on the air conditioner - in March! The nice weather was the answer to many prayers though, as many ladies involved in JOY International had been praying for weeks that the weather would cooperate for their annual event, the JOY Breakfast. Jennifer Beckham This year's speaker, Jennifer Beckham had come to Bismarck from her home in Jacksonville, Florida. She said she had been amazed to find when flying into Bismarck there was absolutely no snow on the ground. She wondered if the two states had swapped climates because when she left Florida it was only 30 degrees. Seriously, this is the...

Faith was so excited last weekend when I told her they were having wheelchair soccer again. Her first question was, "Can Adam push me again?"  I told her I had no idea if he even went to school at the University of Mary anymore. When we got out there, she was disappointed to learn he had another obligation that day. Everyone assured us Adam would be there the next time. She still had fun with a few other guys from the college soccer team who pushed her around to help her play. In wheelchair soccer, they don't actually use a soccer ball, instead it's more like a beach ball. Normally, the soccer players who push the kids around throw the ball to each other and then help the kid they are pushing hold onto it as they try to get into the net. She had so much fun and the faster they pushed her, the bigger the smile on her face. Ramsey helps Faith with the ball Faith making friends Faith having fun with Garrett the goalie This weekend, despite the fact s...