Faith's Mom's Blog

These past couple of weeks, we have had lots of fun seeing some wonderful friends we have not seen for awhile. Our flurry of visits started off when our friend, Brittnee was in town for the Sidewalk Prophets concert. The next day she came over to say hi to Faith and to hand-deliver the gift she bought for Faith when she was in Disney World. Faith was so happy to see her and of course continues to ask when Brittnee is coming over again. Another friend who came up to visit drove all the way from Kansas with her husband and her sister. She and her husband got to share with Faith that there is a baby in Kimberly's tummy! We are so happy for them and we know that Kimberly is going to be a great mom! She took such good care of Faith for us when she lived here and it was with Kimberly that Faith started playing with her doll and together they named her Baby Allie. Faith, Kimberly and Melanie getting baby Allie dressed Kimberly and Matt with a picture of the baby! Two of m

Grandfather and Grandmother spending time with Faith  Guest Post by David Bousfield Cari, our daughter-in-law, has asked me to write up an article for her blog. Not being a blog-writer myself, this has been something of a new experience for me. I do trust that your reading of this will be worth your while. How our son Robert found himself living and working in Watford City, North Dakota , is a complex story. Robert had lived and worked for a time in Regina, Saskatchewan, thus we had some preparation for his wanting to move back to the west, although we thought that his move would be a move back to Regina.   That Robert met up with Cari in Watford City did not entirely surprise Jean and me. With other family members plus friends from Green Bay, Wisconsin, we were able to get to the wedding and meet up with Cari’s family and friends. We have lived in a number of smaller Ontario towns, but for the most part we are big-city people, the greater part of our lives be

Even though Faith's x-rays have shown that her hips are stable and have not come any further out of her sockets (especially her left hip), we decided to move forward with getting the baclofen pump . We felt this was the right decision and that Faith would benefit if the pump helped to decrease her tone. After making the decision, Rob sat down with Faith and explained to her that she was going to be getting something called a baclofen pump and that she was going to have to be in the hospital. She of course, was not too happy about this news and every now and then she would let us know it by yelling, "I'm not going to get a baclofen pump and I'm not going to the hospital." Rob called the clinic to get the ball rolling and ended up leaving a message. We were surprised when no one returned our phone call right away. Then when we finally did hear from them, they gave us the surprising news. They had made a managerial decision at the clinic to stop putting baclofen

Rob and Faith celebrating Independence Day at the Capitol Building I was so proud of Faith today - she went to children's church all by herself! The few times Faith had gone before, she didn't want to go by herself so I went with her. Going in with her last week was sort of a bummer because I missed a really great sermon on the kinds of things we were going to be doing in Heaven. But this week, Faith went by herself and when I peeked in the window, she was talking away to the children's church teacher. When I went in to get her, she told me very excitedly that she had just learned a lesson. When I asked what about she said, "A lesson about God." I think Faith is getting a boost of confidence because she has been going in for prayer at the Healing Rooms by herself too. When we go to the Healing Rooms, we write down our prayer requests, give them to whomever is at the desk and then go into a prayer room to be prayed over by those on the Healing Rooms tea

Faith and daddy happy at home Lately it seems that Faith is becoming more and more of a homebody, meaning she likes to stay home more than she likes to go out. I'm not really sure if it is a good thing she is turning into such a homebody - I think her dad is having an influence on her because I know she doesn't get it from me! Take this weekend for instance. My sister Tesa and her boys were coming back through Bismarck from Watford City on their way home to Nebraska (lots of geography in that sentence, I know) and planned on staying over in Bismarck. At first, Rob, Faith and I were planning on meeting them along with my mom and aunt for supper. But then, Rob laid down to take a nap so I thought just me and Faith would go. At the last minute, Faith decided she didn't want to go and told me to just go by myself. This was partly understandable considering she hadn't slept well for two nights in a row plus Michelle had come over yesterday morning and they did their

On June 3rd of this year, my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. It wasn't until this past weekend, however, that they were able to celebrate the momentous occasion with their five kids, eight grandchildren and a few of their siblings as well. The festivities began on Friday when my family arrived from Nebraska, Montana, parts of North Dakota and from across town right here in Bismarck. My youngest sister and younger brother fed the large group at a picnic at Sertoma Park with grilled burgers, hotdogs, homemade potato salad and lots of other goodies. Saturday we all reunited where the celebration continued on the Lewis and Clark Riverboat on the Missouri River. Unfortunately, due to the high winds, the boat was unable to go anywhere but it was nice nonetheless. It did not escape anyone's mind that last year around the same time the very parking lot on which we all parked our vehicles had been well under water. Faith loved her first time on a boat, even tho

Today we said goodbye to our Special Tomato adaptive car seat. And special it was. It helped Faith stay safe and secure in our Hyundai driving her back and forth to therapy appointments, shopping excursions and many other activities. It also helped us through our time of not being able to afford an accessible van. Like all adaptive equipment , the special car seat was expensive and although it is the law that a child is secured in a car seat while traveling in a vehicle, neither health insurance nor Medicaid would pay for it. Thankfully, we were able to receive funds from the fundraiser, the Great American Bike Race ( GABR ) which helps families pay for services and equipment that insurance doesn't cover for kids with cerebral palsy and related disabilities.  After doing research on the Internet and talking to Faith's physical and occupational therapists, we decided to go for the Special Tomato adaptive car seat. You would think something with that name would be r