Faith's Mom's Blog

I’m not usually one to want summer to linger. And yes, I get that as a North Dakotan, this does make me a little strange. Usually, I cannot wait for fall and the cooler weather, the changing of the leaves, the pumpkin spice lattes, and all that comes with autumn. This year is different and even though it has been one of the hottest summers we’ve had in a long time, I wouldn’t mind holding on to summer for just a couple more weeks. Or maybe even another month. I’m finding it truly odd that I feel this way. But I think I’m beginning to understand why. My little family doesn’t normally do a lot during the summer months. We might go the park or down to the river, or go for walks, but that’s about it. And that used to bother me. I would look on Facebook and see everyone’s vacation photos and all the summer activities they’ve been involved in, and I would feel like I was missing out or something. This year though, I became content with not doing much. That’s not really lik

FUN FACT: Did you know that on any given day of the year, 17.7 million people around the world are celebrating a birthday? In my immediate family, my birthday in early February use to kick off the birthday season which would last through May. That's seven birthdays we celebrated in just a four-month time span! By the time we got to my mom's birthday, she was so tired of eating cake that she often opted not to have one. Now that we have a larger family with in-laws, nieces, nephews, and significant others, there are many more birthdays to celebrate, all throughout the year. For those of us who live here in Bismarck, we have a great time getting together (usually at Mom and Dad's) to celebrate. It's kind of funny because after we get done celebrating a birthday, Faith will ask, "Who's birthday is next, Mom?" Unfortunately, this year on my birthday, I wasn't feeling the best but it was still fun to get together with family. One of the reasons I sti

Faith turned 13 on October 25th. We celebrated her milestone birthday a week ago today at my parents house, which has become the official family party place. It still has sunken in quite yet that I am the mother of a teenager. Despite exhibiting some telltale signs, like hormone overload and emotions running rampant, she is still in many ways my little girl. I'm not sure if that will ever change. She has had to endure a lot during these past 13 years and every time we are faced with a new challenge, and wonder how we're going to overcome it, it's always her tenacity and warrior-like attitude that completely amazes us. Though she may be feeling discomfort, she's still able to laugh. Though she might get frustrated by something she can't do, she still has hope. Though she experiences disappointment, she still finds joy. Both Rob and I have learned so much from her, and as we continue to move forward in our journey, I look forward to seeing God's plans for he

One of Faith's favorite things to do is call her Auntie Johanna (Joh for short) and listen to her cat, Ruby purr over the phone. (Faith also likes to hear stories about Joh's dog, Rosie). Sometimes getting Ruby to purr is more challenging than at other times but Joh usually succeeds in getting Ruby to purr at least once during our weekly phone call. Faith and Auntie Joh during our last visit to Ontario in October 2014 You might not be too impressed by a purring cat but this cat purrs like none other (and I've had a lot of cats growing up!) Even over the phone her purring sounds like a small engine. Sometimes Joh will get Ruby to purr several times and the next day Faith will tell everyone, "Ruby purred a million times over the phone last night!" We are convinced we need to get her a cat of her own, or at least one of those stuffed cats that looks and sounds real! Ruby the Purring Kitty Cat Something else Faith loves to do is make up stories. We do some

At the end of the year, I usually do a "Year in Review." This year, however I decided to do something a little bit different. After poring over photos for the annual Lawlar family calendar and also the one I do for Rob's parents and sister, I've realized there have been some great photos taken in the year 2015. I tried hard to narrow it down to ten of my favorites! Me with my parents cheering on the NDSU Bison as they beat Illinois state by 2 points for their 4th consecutive National Championship! Photo taken by Deone Lawlar       Faith, Rob and I celebrating my birthday at our downtown office. Photo taken by Andy Hill Faith was so excited to have a party for her dad on his birthday! Photo taken by me. Fun with family (me with my aunt Gail, mom Deone, niece Justine and sister-in-law Barbara) at the annual JOY Breakfast! Photo taken by Alicia Green Rob and Faith are always sure to bless me on Mothers Day! Photo taken by Robert Bousfield Faith s

For the past couple of weeks I've been asking Faith what she has wanted to do for her birthday. The only two things she requested was a cake with dinosaurs and a party with family only. When I asked if she was sure she didn't want cupcakes, she said, "I want a cake with Buddy, Tiny, and Shiny on it." (Characters from the show Dinosaur Train ). The only way I could get those particular characters was to order an edible image from Amazon. Because this was like five days before her birthday, I had to get expedited shipping. I prayed it would arrive in time. In keeping with the train theme, I thought it would be neat to have her party at the zoo so we could ride the train on her birthday. It took some coaxing but I did manage to talk her into the zoo idea. Unfortunately, the forecast looked a little chilly so I decided to try to reserve a space at the zoo's Discovery Center so we could be indoors for the actual party. If it ended up being nice enough, we could still

It's almost the last day of August and I think pretty much everyone I know is asking, "What in the world happened to summer?" It seems like summer whizzes by faster and faster every year. And at the end of every summer, I find myself feeling sad about not doing the things I had wanted to do once the warmer weather approached. But now as I think about it, there were some very hot days that I was content to stay inside! I think on our hottest day it reached 106 degrees. Meanwhile, as summer passes us by and my favorite season quickly approaches, here are some fun things we did over the short summer.  We kicked off the summer celebrating my niece Justine's graduation from high school We saw an unusual number of rainbows this summer after some very crazy storms While we didn't go on the Riverboat this year, we at least made it to the river to enjoy the scenery! Faith was so happy to go to the 4th of July parade this year in Mandan with Grandpa!