Faith's Mom's Blog

I guess after Saturday's wheelchair soccer game in which Faith took part, I could easily see myself as a wheelchair soccer mom. She had such a blast and with the help of a soccer player from the University of Mary, she made some great plays and even scored some goals! And the faster her helper pushed her chair around up and down the gym, the bigger she smiled. Her dad watched from the sidelines praying her driver wasn't going to crash her into the wall. Faith goes flying across the gym to help her teammates on the other side check out the gigantic "soccer ball" are soccer balls supposed to go up in the air like that? While it was called wheelchair soccer, it was sort of a toss up between soccer and beach volleyball. The kids couldn't use their feet but instead used their hands and upper body to get the ball up and down the "soccer field." And the ball wasn't a soccer ball, instead it was a huge blow-up beach ball. The kids were divided a

It seems we have been having a bit of our own March madness with so much happening this past week. Last week Faith and I were both struggling with colds and sore throats which caused me to miss work and her to miss school. I was hoping she would be up to trying wheelchair soccer this past weekend over at her school but she just wasn't up to it. As for myself, I wasn't sure if I would be up going to a Christian concert in Dickinson, but I went anyway. Me and my friend Sandy had front row seats and I even got autographs from the artistis themselves - Big Daddy Weave, MikesChair and Kerrie Roberts! I also saw another friend at the concert who recently moved to Killdeer - it was so cool to see her there! While I went road-tripping to Dickinson, Faith spent the whole evening with her dad. I didn't get home until 1:00 a.m. and by 10:30 a.m. the next day, Faith really wanted her mom. I was sleeping in the bedroom with the door closed and all the sudden I heard Faith knocking

This past week, Faith did something for the first time ever at school - she ate lunch. She tried everything on her tray, which included a turkey sandwich, glazed carrots (which she ate the most of), strawberries and a few bites of a breadstick. Because Faith still needs help eating solids, her occupational therapist had Faith and a few other girls eat lunch together in a separate room. Faith has made the comment when we feed her that "that's for babies" meaning she knows that this is how babies eat - being spoon-fed by someone else. Since we know she is sensitive to this, we decided not to have her join her classroom at lunch for the time-being. But the fact that she actually got to have her lunch replace one of her tube feedings at school was very exciting. The next day she got to eat one of her favorite foods - mashed potatoes and gravy. Each day the kids at school get a choice between a chef salad, ham or turkey sandwich and a hot meal. Each of them comes with diff

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! On Tuesday, Rob took Faith to get her x-rays and then on Wednesday he took her to see the physiotherapist. Upon reviewing Faith's x-rays of her hips, the doctor could not quite believe what he was seeing. The hip looked like it was in the same position as it was five months ago. He was in such disbelief that he sent Rob and Faith back downstairs for another round of x-rays. Faith had to stay on the table in case the doctor wanted more shots taken. She laid there as patiently as she could for about 30 minutes before the doctor finally called them back upstairs. The doctor may have been befuddled but we know that God is working in Faith's body and we give Him all the praise!

It seems that the month of February always goes by so quickly. Maybe it is because January is usually the coldest month of the year and the month just crawls; then when February finally comes, spring doesn't seem so far away. This year, with the milder weather, January wasn't so bad and February is going by even faster than usual. Another factor to a fast-flying February, at least for our family, is that both mine and Rob's birthdays are in February and it is also the month Faith gets to celebrate one of her favorite holidays - Valentines Day. Another fun time for Faith this month was having her 2nd grade program at school. She had so much fun singing along to all the songs and jingling her bell (all the kids got to take turns playing an instrument and hers was the bell) that she wanted to have another program! It was so good to see her truly relaxed and not even having a tough time with startling when people clapped. And although she herself didn't have any lines, sh

What is curling you might ask? The only thing I really knew about curling was that in the Olympics, it was the sport where they use a broom to furiously brush the ice in order to make that round thing go in a certain direction. Then one day Faith brought a flier home from school that her physical therapist sent along announcing wheelchair curling at the Capital Curling Club (I had no idea Bismarck had their own curling club). Faith on Ice! Honestly, I wasn't too sure about it but Faith seemed like she really wanted to try it. She was mostly excited that she would get to go on the ice (must be the Canadian in her!) I, however, was not excited to get on the ice and was glad there were going to be volunteers to help Faith. I'm not sure of all the terms (although my sister-in-law tried to explain it to me the night before we went) but basically one volunteer helped Faith hold a stick thing which they clamped on to a "rock" and then pushed her chair to help her mov

What About the Boy? is written by Stephen Gallup, the father who made a pledge to his disabled son to help him find wellness no matter what it took. Joseph's parents were convinced that something was wrong him. He spent much of his time crying and while lying on the floor he would shake his head from side to side. Doctors and specialists told them that Joseph had a brain injury but that nothing could be done for him.  Believing that it was Joseph's birthright to be well, Joseph's parents took matters into their own hands, rising to the challenge of enabling Joseph to live a life of wholeness. For my complete review of What About the Boy click here . Read Stephen Gallup's guest post on my blog, Who Needs Sympathy?