Faith's Mom's Blog

Am I ever glad it was last last weekend that we traveled for the NDSU football game and not this one as we are having our first winter storm and parts of South Dakota are actually under a blizzard watch! This weekend the Bison are getting ready to take on Northern Iowa at the Fargodome. It should be a good game considering our opposing team is ranked number four in the NCAA FCS division. But honestly, I am still thinking about last weekend's 20-0 victory over SDSU and how much fun I had with my dad and sister as we NDSU grads cheered the Bison on in person! The Thundering Herd prepares to take the field! My sister Tesa was the master planner behind the whole event. She had wanted to take my dad to a Bison football game and asked if I would want to come along. She was hoping for homecoming tickets but the only tickets she was able to acquire were to the Bison vs Jackrabbits game. Brookings, South Dakota was a great meeting place as she drove there from Lincoln, Nebraska and

One of the main reasons we sought chiropractic care for Faith was to help her with her startle reflex. Most people startle when they hear a loud, sudden noise but for Faith her startle can be debilitating. When she was younger if she startled often in a short amount of time, she would break down in tears. Her startle made it difficult to do things like being in a school program and something like going to the movies was totally out for her. It was hard to watch her startling constantly during a church service when someone spoke into a microphone. Her whole body would tense up making it impossible for her muscles to relax. Besides her startle, we were also having a tough time dealing with her emotions and behavior. She would have screaming fits that left me and Rob feeling helpless, not knowing what to do to help her. We thought as she got older, things would get better. But last year during school, her tantrums escalated and we chalked it up to pure exhaustion. Her pediatrician e

We did something new as a family this weekend - we went to the United Tribes International Powwow . This year marks 44 years that the United Tribes Technical College here in Bismarck has hosted the huge event. Seventy tribes are represented at the event with over 1,500 dancers and drummers coming from all over the world to participate. The event draws over 20,000 spectators from Thursday through Sunday and the Bousfields were part of the crowd this year. Over 1,500 dancers participate in the Powwow It all started when Faith's class went to the event on a field trip. Unfortunately, it is hard to get a wheelchair to the arena where all the action takes place because there are no sidewalks and one has to push a chair through the grass which can be hard, especially when it is hot and humid outside with bees swarming everywhere. Her aid ending up not being able to get Faith to join her classmates at the arena. Faith was pretty upset about this and about her dad taking her home ea

Today marks Faith's 8th day of school and we are all adjusting to a new schedule. Faith has made huge strides this past summer in sleeping better and having more energy so we decided to have her go to school from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 5 days a week. This is a change as last year she did not go Tuesday and Thursday afternoons due to how tired and worn out she would get. Faith's first day of 4th grade School starts at 8:30 a.m. but we asked if it would be okay for us to get her there at 9:00 instead. This allows us to more time to get her first feeding into her before she even gets to school. Her aides noticed last year that when we brought her to school without any food in her tummy, she was pretty sluggish and tired upon arrival. Sometimes, after getting her to school she wouldn't start getting her feeding until after 9:00 a.m. which meant, that because she gets a feeding every 3 hours, her last feeding of the day didn't end until 10:00 p.m. Another advantage to

All of us North Dakotans know that summer always goes by way too fast. While winter can last six long months, summer comes and goes before we know it. Normally, I don't mind when summer is over because I look forward to the fall and all the busyness that the new season brings. Not to mention the cooler weather, the changing leaves, and celebrating Faith's  birthday. But this year is different - I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to summer. Maybe I'm not quite ready because it has been unseasonably cool with temps in the 70s and low 80s - to me those are perfect temperatures! Or maybe I'm just not quite mentally prepared for Faith to go back to school where she'll be a 4th grader. Or it just might simply be this summer has a great one for our family and I'm sad to see it end.  Faith and I enjoyed hanging out on the patio at our apartment complex this summer Faith, on the other hand is all gung-ho to start school again. In fact, ever since it ended

Over the last week, we have had a chance to see and visit with some very special friends. Our string of visits started last weekend when we traveled to Hazen to visit with some friends that Rob and I have both known since before we were married. While living in Watford City, there was just Tuck, Greta and their son Kaden but since then, their amazing family has expanded to three more boys and a girl. It was a beautiful drive and it was great seeing the haying season in full swing with lots of golden hay bales dotting the thousands of acres of farmland. While visiting and seeing their new home (they just moved there from Washburn), we found out that they are now attending church at New Life in Beulah, which means we are all part of the same church family! (The New Life church in Bismarck is an extension of the church in Beulah.) It was great hearing about their Junior Bible Quiz adventures including driving all the way to Texas for the national competition. It was obvious that Aubry

Upon reflecting about the month of July, I have come to the conclusion that Faith has never had more appointments in one month than she did last month. She had over a dozen chiropractic appointments, eight ABM lessons, two visits from the Easter Seals coordinator, one occupational therapy consult, one optometrist appointment (and a partridge in a pear tree!). The Easter Seals visits were merely a formality as Faith has a new case worker and we needed to update some paperwork. Her disability case manager came along on one of the visits. Her optometrist appointment was her annual routine eye exam and we are glad to report that Faith's eyes continue to remain the same and she still isn't needing glasses. We are thrilled about this as Faith had glasses at one time and we also had to do patching on her eyes but her vision and her eye muscles continue to function normally! (Praise the Lord!) Faith getting a chance to relax! In June, Rob took Faith to see a chiropractor for a c