Faith's Adaptive Skiing Adventure

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I am usually all for Faith trying something new. Years ago, though, I drew the line at adaptive skiing. I knew that Dreams in Motion does an annual event at Huff Hills (North Dakota's largest ski area), but I was too afraid to let Faith try it. I just didn't know how she would do being strapped down so tightly, especially with her high tone and issues with her left hip.  At her day program, some of her friends had been going for years and Faith thought it sounded like so much fun. So, this year, I decided we should give it a try. Since there are only 20 spots available for this event, I got her registered the morning it opened up.  Lots of fresh powder at Huff Hills  As the event drew near, I knew I needed to get snow pants for her (since she had none) and make sure I had all the right winter apparel to keep her warm. That was also one of my biggest concerns is her getting too cold, which can cause her tone to increase even more.  As the day approached, she was...
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What? No Whip Cream for the Pumpkin Pie?

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Me and my little family of three have a Thanksgiving tradition of going out for thanksgiving dinner on our own. This year, though, we invited another family of three to join as they had done years ago after we first moved to Mandan. We had met this family at a church in Mandan and have recently reconnected with them as we all now go to New Life Church.

So thankful to be reconnected with this wonderful family!

So today we headed out to one of the buffets at a local hotel. I was looking forward to eating a delicious turkey dinner and having pumpkin pie with whip cream for dessert. As we walked into the dining room, however, the first thing I noticed was that the pieces of pumpkin on the dessert tables were not topped with whip cream. I wasn't going to complain though, as I didn't want to appear to be ungrateful on Thanksgiving of all days.

As we sat around the table, enjoying our delicious turkey dinner I couldn't help but notice that nobody was taking the bare pumpkin pies set out on the tables. As I finished my second helping of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, I began to think hard about my dessert choice. Was it even possible to eat pumpkin pie without whip cream, I wondered.

I couldn't hold back any longer, I had to say something. "I'm a little bummed that there is no whip cream for the pumpkin pie." Apparently, I wasn't the only one. All the sudden our friends started getting every server's attention asking if there was any whip cream for the pumpkin pie. They said they would check but nobody came back with any whip cream. Finally, Peg decided to hunt someone down in the kitchen.

Just as she left, a server walked by with a piece of pumpkin pie with whip cream! I almost yelled, "Hey there's a piece of pie with whip cream!" 

I wasn't the only one who noticed. Jeremiah, a college football player, was quick to take action. "Excuse me, ma'am. Could we get some whip cream for our pie?" She seemed to be bothered by his question and curtly replied, "hold on just a minute." (Before seeing evidence that there was whip cream in the building, he had been thinking of using the cookie salad as topping for his pie.)

We thought for sure she was never coming back. But she did return with a huge bag of whip cream and Jeremiah asked if he could just have the whole bag. I think he was serious! He had a piece of pie in front of him and she promptly topped it with a little squirt of whip cream. He was not shy about asking for more. He ended up having three or four pieces of pumpkin pie all topped with extra whip cream. 

She then went over to the table of bare pumpkin pies that were just sitting there, amidst one lonely piece of banana cream pie. As she began topping the pies with the wonderful, white whip cream, throngs of people came over and grabbed their piece of pumpkin pie.
 
Pumpkin pie now topped with whip cream!

It was a great dinner and we really enjoyed spending time with our friends. Faith spent a lot of time giggling and laughing eating mashed potatoes and gravy, cookie salad and even a few bites of turkey. And of course, some pumpkin pie with whip cream!
 
Happy Thanksgiving!

It was tough getting Faith out the door, but once we did, she had a lot of fun!


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Faith's Adaptive Skiing Adventure

-
Image
I am usually all for Faith trying something new. Years ago, though, I drew the line at adaptive skiing. I knew that Dreams in Motion does an annual event at Huff Hills (North Dakota's largest ski area), but I was too afraid to let Faith try it. I just didn't know how she would do being strapped down so tightly, especially with her high tone and issues with her left hip.  At her day program, some of her friends had been going for years and Faith thought it sounded like so much fun. So, this year, I decided we should give it a try. Since there are only 20 spots available for this event, I got her registered the morning it opened up.  Lots of fresh powder at Huff Hills  As the event drew near, I knew I needed to get snow pants for her (since she had none) and make sure I had all the right winter apparel to keep her warm. That was also one of my biggest concerns is her getting too cold, which can cause her tone to increase even more.  As the day approached, she was...
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