Faith's Mom's Blog

As all of the Fourth of July celebrations are coming to a close, I am still thinking about that one Fourth of July that happened ten years ago. It was around this time back in 2004 that we made the move from our home in Watford City to the Bismarck-Mandan area. I will never forget our first Fourth of July in Mandan. Due to getting moved in to our apartment, we didn't take in any of the celebrations. As we were still putting stuff away late into the night, I opened up the curtains and to my pleasant surprise, saw fireworks going off in the sky.  “Look!” I exclaimed to my husband, “We can see the fireworks from here!” He picked up Faith and lifted her to the window so she could see too. We couldn't have known it then but in our next ten years here, we would be experiencing fireworks of many kinds - some bright and beautiful and others complete duds! Faith playing in our first apartment After living in Mandan and driving Faith back and forth into Bismarck for all of

It seems to me that God really knew what He was doing when He made Rob Faith's daddy. Ever since Rob first met his tiny little girl in the NICU over ten years ago in Rochester, Minnesota, it was love at first sight. But his love and prayers for her didn't start there - it all started when we first saw the picture of her in my womb and we heard her heartbeat for the first time. He has loved her and prayed fervently for her ever since. Kangaroo Cares Snuggling One of the most wonderful fruits of his prayers for her is her love for Jesus and for others. She truly does love people and makes a point to remember people's names and ask them all sorts of questions about their life because she really is interested. She loves to see photos of people's spouses, babies and even pets. Something else she has a result of her daddy's prayers is her own faith that keeps her strong and keeps her going through the difficult times. Story Time Play Time I love that Fai

For most of Faith's life, we have focused on doing some of the more traditional therapies such as occupational and physical therapy in order to help her reach her fullest potential. More recently, though we have been trying some alternative forms of therapy such as chiropractic care and music integration sessions. Honestly, we have seen more progress this past year in trying these different therapies than we had been seeing with years of following traditional methods. You can read HERE to see how Chiropractic Care has benefited Faith and HERE for music therapy.  Chiropractic care has benefitted Faith immensely Unfortunately, most insurance companies, including Medicaid does not cover these different types of therapies as they are still considered experimental. One of the local fundraisers does not allocate funds for these alternative therapies for the same reasons. This means we have been paying out of our pockets and it is now getting to the point that we have to decide

I think North Dakota forgot all about spring this year and just went right into summer. As our pastor said in church last week, "I guess North Dakota likes quick transitions!" It seriously seemed like one day the ground was still brown, the trees still bare and there wasn't a robin in sight then the next it was like the exact opposite. While everyone was certainly getting tired of old man winter, we sure weren't ready for 90 degrees! Faith enjoying being outside at Michelle's with her ducks! Besides it feeling like summer, I am thankful that it really is summer vacation and that Faith is done with school this year! She did so well the first half of fourth grade and somewhere along the way around Christmas vacation she seemed to really be struggling. We chalked it up to her high muscle tone protesting the frigid temperatures. When it started warming up a little, though there were days she still struggled to get to school. In February she came down with a sin

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