Faith's Mom's Blog

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

I can't believe I am the mother of a graduate! It seems I have waited a long time for this. At the same time, however, it has come very quickly.  I still very vividly remember the days of walking her to school from our apartment building to Centennial Elementary. She had some wonderful teachers, but when she was in 4th grade, we decided to homeschool her.  There were definitely a lot of positive things about homeschooling. One was that she didn't tire so easily so she could focus more. The other is that she didn't catch everyone's germs, which meant she was sick less often.  Another benefit of homeschooling was that I could give her one-on-one attention. Faith's biggest goal was to learn how to read. It took a long time, and although she can only read simple words and very simple sentences, she exceeded expectations  One major drawback of homeschooling is that she missed being around other kids. It didn't help that she is an only child. When I found out about I

As I'm writing this blog post, it is currently 25 degrees outside. With the windchill, it feels more like 12 degrees. That's cold for October. Even in North Dakota! Winter definitely seems like it's here.  Earlier this month we had a historic blizzard that dumped 13 inches of snow on Bismarck and over 2 feet of the white stuff in other parts of the state. As a result, the public schools had their first official snow day. I was ready to give Faith the day off from her lessons at home, but she still wanted to do them! First major snowfall of the year - in October! (Thanks Mom for the pic!) It could have been a snow day for Faith, but she still wanted to do school! It did warm up soon after and all the snow melted but the October blizzard created quite a mess for farmers and ranchers who still had crops in the field and cows in the pasture. I was very grateful that we didn't have to go anywhere - for school or for work. I am still freelance writing from home. R

This December has definitely been a fun and festive one for our family! Normally we don't get too crazy over the holidays, but this year we did a few things that we normally don't do.  I have probably mentioned that Faith is in a homeschooling group called Inspire Collective. She has been having so much fun hanging out with other kids and becoming friends with some of the girls in her class. Four of these girls are involved in Northern Plains Dance and this year we were invited by one of the moms to come and check out their performance of the Nutcracker. We had never actually seen the Nutcracker before and the three of us absolutely loved it! The music, the dancing, the acting, and the costumes all made it a really good production. I'm so thankful we were able to experience it. Who knows, it just might be a new tradition! Faith waiting for the Nutcracker to begin Having a fun time at the ballet! The next weekend we had to get ready for the Inspire Christmas pro