Faith's Mom's Blog

Ever since I began this blog (back in 2009), I've always had the faith verse from Hebrews 11:1 on the header. But as of late, I feel the passage from 2 Corinthians 5:7 better reflects our current season of life. This past year has been one of the more challenging ones we've had in light of caring for our daughter. As she has gotten heavier, I found lifting her has presented opportunities for straining my back. Thankfully, I’ve been able to receive healing through both prayer and the hands of a wonderful friend who is also a massage therapist. At the same time, I know I can no longer lift Faith as I once used to. Faith hanging out at the eye doctor. She received a good report and still does not need glasses!  Another huge change is that this past spring, Faith officially became a woman. While this is usually something for girls to celebrate, for us it provided a new set of challenges, including major PMS symptoms. Her sensitivity to loud noises heightens during this t

Twelve years ago in late April, we were given the dreaded news that our daughter had spastic quadriplegia - the most debilitating form of cerebral palsy.  I will never forget looking down at my six-month old baby, fast asleep in my arms, while her doctor talked about the possibility of her being in a wheelchair as she became older.  At the time, it was not like me to show such public displays of emotion but on that day I couldn't hold back the tears. In the days that followed I had so many questions.  Of all the questions though, there was one that I asked more often than others. "Can God heal my daughter?" I came to believe that He could, even though I knew it would take a miracle.  Faith shortly after we brought her home from the NICU where she had a 73-day stay By definition a miracle is, " an unusual or wonderful event that is believed to be caused by the power of God." When a true miracle occurs, there is usually no scientific explanation for

For the past couple of years instead of making New Year's resolutions, I have instead chosen just one word to focus on throughout the year. (I got this great idea from my friend, Fran Dwelle of JOY International.) Last year my word was strength and my corresponding scripture was " The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). This year, without even realizing it rhymed with the age I would be turning, I chose the word, "RENEW." The corresponding scripture the Lord gave me was this one: Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me . (Psalm 51:10) First and foremost the one thing I wanted to renew was my relationship with the Lord. Not that I felt I had fallen away or anything but because I wanted to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him than ever. I have a strong desire to hear Him more clearly and to operate more in the realm o

It has been a truly amazing weekend! I am feeling tired but have so much peace right now. Today we had the honor of meeting Cal and Michelle Pierce, directors of the Healing Rooms Ministries. They were also the speakers at the Love Unleashed conference held by the Healing Rooms of the Northern Plains. Me, Rob and Faith with Cal and Michelle Pierce Yesterday, Rob, Faith and I ventured to the Belle Mehus for a couple of sessions of the conference. We knew it would take some coaxing to get Faith there as she generally isn't too sure about new ventures. It helped she's been to the Belle Mehus before so at least the venue was a little bit familiar to her.  Faith received a very warm welcome when we arrived. She was happy to see so many volunteers from the Healing Rooms all gathered together at the same time! She also seemed to enjoy the worship. That was familiar to her too since the members of the worship team were from our church! We were delighted to hear Michelle P

It seems the only time I've been updating my blog lately is when the seasons change! This time, though besides the season changing from summer to fall, there are some changes happening with us as well. Faith in her new chair - another recent change for us! Many of you know I quit my full time job in the spring. My last day of work as a customer service representative for a health insurance company coincided with Faith's last day of school. I have been focusing on freelance writing full time. It has certainly been a time of depending on God to continue to supply for our every need! As a new school year approached, we decided not to send Faith back to school. After praying about it all summer, we made the decision to home school her instead. As I dropped off our paperwork to inform the school district of our intention, I felt an incredible amount of peace. To me, this is a sure sign that we made the right decision. Faith and friends at a library event Faith with

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

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

One of the main reasons we sought chiropractic care for Faith was to help her with her startle reflex. Most people startle when they hear a loud, sudden noise but for Faith her startle can be debilitating. When she was younger if she startled often in a short amount of time, she would break down in tears. Her startle made it difficult to do things like being in a school program and something like going to the movies was totally out for her. It was hard to watch her startling constantly during a church service when someone spoke into a microphone. Her whole body would tense up making it impossible for her muscles to relax. Besides her startle, we were also having a tough time dealing with her emotions and behavior. She would have screaming fits that left me and Rob feeling helpless, not knowing what to do to help her. We thought as she got older, things would get better. But last year during school, her tantrums escalated and we chalked it up to pure exhaustion. Her pediatrician e

Today marks Faith's 8th day of school and we are all adjusting to a new schedule. Faith has made huge strides this past summer in sleeping better and having more energy so we decided to have her go to school from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 5 days a week. This is a change as last year she did not go Tuesday and Thursday afternoons due to how tired and worn out she would get. Faith's first day of 4th grade School starts at 8:30 a.m. but we asked if it would be okay for us to get her there at 9:00 instead. This allows us to more time to get her first feeding into her before she even gets to school. Her aides noticed last year that when we brought her to school without any food in her tummy, she was pretty sluggish and tired upon arrival. Sometimes, after getting her to school she wouldn't start getting her feeding until after 9:00 a.m. which meant, that because she gets a feeding every 3 hours, her last feeding of the day didn't end until 10:00 p.m. Another advantage to

Not too long ago, someone at church commented to me, "Your daughter is so full of life." I have heard lots of positive comments about Faith throughout the years, but this one brought tears to my eyes. To think that my daughter - a nine-year-old girl bound to a wheelchair was full of life - meant the world to me. Faith's disability causes her to be different from her peers and others around her. She understands this and although she can get frustrated, she doesn't let it get her down. She has a very positive attitude about life. I give a lot of the credit to those who pray without ceasing for her and to Jesus who helps her on her journey each and every day. I truly praise God that someone who sees my daughter sees that she has a joyful life despite her special needs. Full of joy I know too well this isn't always the case. Usually, when someone pictures in their mind a nine-year-old who needs to use a wheelchair for mobility, gets her nutrition from a feedin

The month of May is already nearly over - it makes perfect sense why it went by so fast as this month was jam-packed. It's hard to believe that June is just around the corner. I can share in our pastor's sentiment when he said the year is half over but it seems like 2013 has just begun! On the first Thursday of May, JOY Internationa l had its last Java JOY of the season. We had a great get-together as we celebrated moms and discussed the powerful prayers of a mom. We had a wonderful panel of three amazing moms who shared their hearts on praying for their children. We also shared testimonies of answered prayers for ourselves and our children. As Java JOY coordinator, I am relieved to be taking some time off but I already have lots of ideas for our next season which starts up again in September! Me with our mom panel at Java JOY Me and Faith on Mother's Day Me and Faith playing our favorite game - Wheel of Fortune At the beginning of the month we had another ro