Faith's Mom's Blog

One of Faith's favorite places to go is the Healing Rooms of the Northern Plains . I'm not kidding! If they were open seven days a week - she would be there everyday. As it is they are open on Mondays and Tuesdays and most weeks she wants to go both days. We have been taking Faith to the Healing Rooms since we first moved here ten years ago, which is also shortly after they opened here in Bismarck. One reason I think Faith loves going there so much is the peacefulness she feels as soon as we walk through the doors. Another reason is because she just loves to go there to visit with the volunteers that she has gotten to know quite well over the years She knows all of them by name and is quick to remember any new members of the prayer team. The first thing we do when we get to the Healing Rooms is greet whoever is at the desk and they hand us a clipboard so that we can jot down our prayer request. She usually tries to get them to say who is going to be on the prayer team tha

The book, In Sickness and in Health: Lessons   Learned on the Journey from Cystic Fibrosis to Total Health  by Mandy B. Anderson, is the author's personal story of what life is like living with what doctors call an incurable disease. In reading her story, I felt like I could completely relate to her. Although my diagnosis of a congenital heart defect is much different than hers, all the ways in which being a sick kid can take an emotional toll, is very much alike. For instance, most kids don't ever have to think about dying an early death or having doctors put an expiration date on your life. This cannot only be emotionally devastating but spiritually devastating as well as "words of death" are constantly being spoken over you. As a kid, you can feel the fear and anxiety in those around you so you take it upon yourself to be the "brave" one. You learn how to mask and hide your true feelings and inadvertently start pretending to be someone you are not.

This past Sunday at church I noticed Faith singing along to the chorus with a little more gusto than she has in the past. She seemed a little more confident and really projected her voice once she caught on to the words that were being sung. I must admit, listening to her sweet voice singing the words, "He is faithful, He is glorious, He is Jesus, all my hope is in Him. He is freedom, He is healing right now" was enough to cause tears to stream down my face. Later after thinking about it, I realized that part of her new-found confidence in singing probably has something to do with the integrative music sessions she has been doing with a music therapist. Faith playing the xylophone fun with shakers Every couple of weeks, Jonnica comes into our home and spends about 30 minutes with Faith singing songs and playing instruments. I know how much Faith likes music so I was pretty sure she would enjoy doing this but an added bonus is that the music therapist also does wor

This is my first post of the new year and it is already March - I guess I have some catching up to do! As you can tell by my new blog header, I am ready for spring. It has been a very cold winter here in North Dakota with several days below zero since December. I know though that much of the country has had a tough winter too so I know we are not alone in being anxious for spring and the warmer weather that comes along with it. Faith especially seems to be struggling with the colder temps - it most likely affects her already high tone. It hasn't helped that it is more difficult to transport her since we can't use our van's ramp due to our door needing to be replaced. Rob has had to get her into the other side of our van which entails him sort of lifting her chair up into the van. We are looking forward to finally getting it fixed this week.  Now that I've gotten our weather-related issues out of the way, here is an update on what the rest of this New Year has been