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Faith's First Concert Experience

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Earlier this year I decided it would be fun to do something extra special for Faith's 21st birthday. Ever since I went to Bon Jovi a couple of years ago with my sisters, Faith has been telling me she wants to attend a concert, too.  When she was younger, I knew she could not have handled all the noise, and that a concert would be way too overstimulating for her. I did, however, take her to a NDSU Bison game a couple of years ago and she handled that like a champ! Because of how well she did with that, I began searching for concerts coming to the area.  The only one that I thought Faith might be remotely interested in was the Zach Williams Revival Nights Tour . The best part was that it was going to be held in Fargo just a few weeks before her birthday! The tour also featured Matt Mahar and CAIN, who both did songs that we sing in church.  First time ever at Scheels Arena in Fargo!  To make it even more exciting for her, I asked her dad if he could meet us in Fargo for part of her
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Our Review of Wheel of Fortune: The New Era

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Last year, when I heard the news that Pat Sajak was retiring from Wheel of Fortune , I knew I better prepare Faith. When season 41 began, I told her, "This is Pat's last season. Next year, there will be a new host."  Faith's favorite show ever! Faith and I have faithfully watched Wheel of Fortune every night since she was about 5 years old. It's how she learned that AEIOU were vowels. The show was also a great way to reinforce the rest of the alphabet. Counting was reinforced, too. When Vanna turned the letters, she counted how many T's, N's, or other letters there were.  She also learned some geography skills with the different trips they were giving away. Upon winning a trip to Aruba, she would ask, "Where's that?" Sometimes I honestly didn't know and had to look it up. More often than not, the prize was somewhere in the Caribbean!  I have tried through the years to get her to watch other game shows, but she has only been interested in
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Faith's Summer Recap

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One of the reasons I look forward to summer is to finally feel the warmth of the sun. Oftentimes spring in North Dakota is a little on the chilly side, and we still have to don our jackets, and sometimes even our boots, depending on how much snow is on the ground. We were blessed this year with a beautiful summer that began in May. We ended up getting lots of rain, so it remained nice and green the entire season.  This summer kicked off with a visit to auntie Dawn's. She had just bought a new house, and Faith couldn't wait to go visit her. Dawn has a really nice back yard, and it ended up being a nice day to just hang out on her back porch!  Faith and Dawn hanging out!  As June rolled around, we made a trip to the zoo, which we hadn't been to in a couple of years. It was nice to walk around in the sunshine, but we noticed the animals weren't really that active. All Faith really wanted to do anyway is take a train ride.  Instead of looking at the animals, though, she kep
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50 Years Ago Today: My First Open Heart Surgery

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I'm tired today. And a bit stressed. I've been dealing with trying to get approved to go to Mayo to get my pacemaker replaced and it hasn't been fun. But today I'm also thinking about how it was 50 years ago today that I had my first open heart surgery. It was called a Waterston shunt and was supposed to improve blood flow and cyanosis. It didn't help my cyanosis much, though because I still had blue lips and fingernails afterward.  Me as a baby with my parents and brother.  Me at 5 1/2 months old, 2 weeks before my first open heart surgery.  It's amazing that my parents were even able to navigate the medical world at that time. They lived in rural Montana and then western North Dakota. Somehow, they managed to find a pediatric cardiologist in Bismarck who referred them to the University of Minnesota. Up until I had a heart catheterization, they had no idea what was going on with my heart.  The doctors just thought that I had a hole in my heart, which is why I w
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A Marvelous Mother's Day Weekend

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Previously, I wrote about how we have had some challenges this year with Faith's health. Those challenges persisted as she came down with influenza B, which turned into RSV. As a result, she missed two wheelchair dance practices and the performance. She was very sad about it, but I was proud of her for how well she handled her disappointment. She had fun watching the video and said she was "imagining herself being a part of the performance!" Along with missing that, she missed two weeks of therapy and 6 days of her day program.  At the Belle Mehus for "Snow White" (photo by Millie Hyatt)  Last week, she finally got back to somewhat of a normal schedule, going to therapy and half-days at her day program. Thankfully, she had fully recovered so she didn't have to miss going to "Snow White," the spring performance put on by Northern Plains Dance .  She's always so happy to go to these shows, not just for the entertainment factor, but to see her bal
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