The other day Faith and I were standing in line at the pharmacy, and someone asked her, "How was your 4th of July?" She responded quite honestly, "Terrible!" Yes, it was definitely not a very fun 4th. In fact, this whole week has been one challenge after another. The only thing we really did for the 4th was go to Art in the Park in Mandan, which was last Friday. Faith found a new tie-dye t-shirt, and I enjoyed a yummy root beer float. Art in the Park in Mandan on the 3rd I had actually gone with the goal of getting an Indian taco, but it was so humid, I didn't feel like eating anything hot. Because it was so warm, we only stayed for an hour before heading back to Bismarck. That night, I noticed that Faith seemed uncomfortable in her chair, almost like she was having pain. She told me she needed to get out and lie down. I thought maybe being out in the high humidity had been too much for her or that she was having muscle spasms. After she lay down for a bit...
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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 perform 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 early birthday celebration. As the event grew closer, she became more and more excited. The only thing I was apprehensive about was how long of a day it was going to be for her.
I knew she would still want to go to church, then we would have to leave right afterward to get to Fargo at 3. There, we would check in at the hotel and meet up with her dad.
During church, the guy leading worship knew Faith would be going to her first concert and also knew which artists we were going to see. Because of that, he chose to have us sing a few songs by Matt Mahar, one by CAIN and one by Zach Williams. It was so nice that he did that!
Right after church, Faith and I swung through McDonald's for a quick lunch and then I connected her to the feeding pump so she could have her lunch as well. We only stopped once so that I could disconnect her feeding and get her repositioned in her chair. We got to Fargo shortly after 3 and met her dad in the parking lot. We had a few hours to relax and grab supper before the concert.
The plan was to have Rob drop Faith and I off at the entrance of Scheel's Arena. I wheeled Faith inside and we found someone to help us to our seats. I had never been to that venue before, and honestly, I found it a bit difficult to navigate as there was no signage telling us that we needed to take an elevator to get to the floor seating.
We then had to work our way through a bit of maze just to get to the floor. After finally reaching the floor, I discovered we were on the wrong side, so it took us a while to get across the floor (not to mention get her chair over several power cords). I was trying to hustle as I wanted to get to our seats before they dimmed the lights.
While there was no accessible seating on the floor, they said we could just take a seat away to make room for Faith's chair. Nobody really did this for us, though, so I just sort of parked her in the aisle. This worked well so she could see better and so that she had plenty of room to move around and dance. When she's excited, she kicks her legs and her arms go everywhere!
About five minutes later, Matt Mahar was on stage opening up the show. I was surprised by this, as I thought for sure Ben Fuller would be the opening act. It was great though, because he was the one that we wanted to see the most! He ended with one of our favorites, "Alive and Breathing."
Matt Mahar is first to take the stage!
After he performed, everyone had to turn around to look at the backstage for Ben Fuller. He sang 3 or 4 songs before CAIN took over on the main stage. While Faith had been doing great, I could tell she was running out of steam. I don't think she was quite prepared for how loud it was in there. (I'm not sure how many people were in attendance, but it was packed!)
After CAIN performed her all-time favorite song (Friend in Jesus), she was ready to go. I did love how she belted out the lyrics to that song! (I can't listen to that song without crying, which made it hard to record, so I didn't get video of that one. You can listen to it below, though!)
I wasn't too disappointed that we didn't get to see Zach Williams. My whole agenda was for Faith to enjoy her first concert experience.
CAIN had a really fun stage!
I figured out how to get out of the concert arena and back to the front doors. We called her dad, and it took him less than 5 minutest to come pick us up. (I had purposely picked a hotel that was nearby). As I got her into the van she yelled, "We rocked out!"
Another reason I wasn't disappointed that she wanted to leave early was so that she could get to bed earlier. She was very tired after such a long day.
We came, we laughed, we danced, we sang, we praised Jesus. Now it's time to go home!
The next day, she said her goodbyes to her dad, and we hit the road once again. On the way home I asked if she would ever want to go to another concert again and she said, YES! All in all, I would venture to say her first concert experience was a complete success!
Last Wednesday I had my yearly doctor exam and when she said I should get my tetanus shot updated, I didn't think twice about it. The nurse said my arm would be sore for a couple of days, gave me a handout and stuck the needle in my arm. The next day my arm was sore and although I found it a little harder to pick up and carry Faith, I was glad the pain wasn't going to last long. Boy was I wrong! But not only was my arm sore, my whole body was. I felt achy and extremely tired. According to a medical site on the Internet, these were mild side effects of the Tetanus shot. If these were only mild side effects, I would really hate to have them at a moderate or severe level. My arm is still red and sore on day 2 after my tetanus shot. On Friday, two days after getting the shot I felt so tired that I took a four-hour nap after getting Faith off to school. Then on Saturday I took a three-hour nap up until 7 o'clock, but still felt tired and was able to go back to sleep around 10. ...
The other day Faith and I were standing in line at the pharmacy, and someone asked her, "How was your 4th of July?" She responded quite honestly, "Terrible!" Yes, it was definitely not a very fun 4th. In fact, this whole week has been one challenge after another. The only thing we really did for the 4th was go to Art in the Park in Mandan, which was last Friday. Faith found a new tie-dye t-shirt, and I enjoyed a yummy root beer float. Art in the Park in Mandan on the 3rd I had actually gone with the goal of getting an Indian taco, but it was so humid, I didn't feel like eating anything hot. Because it was so warm, we only stayed for an hour before heading back to Bismarck. That night, I noticed that Faith seemed uncomfortable in her chair, almost like she was having pain. She told me she needed to get out and lie down. I thought maybe being out in the high humidity had been too much for her or that she was having muscle spasms. After she lay down for a bit...
I must say, after the long weekend, I am feeling a bit guilty. We didn't have too much going on, so we mainly stayed indoors, and I let Faith watch way too many videos. When Sunday finally rolled around, she was bored and a bit cranky. Before having kids, I always told myself I would not be one of those moms who lets the TV babysit their kids. Things sure turn out differently when you actually have kids! When Faith comes home from school, that is all she feels like doing. She is so tired from her long day, which not only includes classroom time but also working hard with her special education teacher, driving her power chair and any other therapies she might have for the day. By the time she gets home, she is spent. I don' feel as guilty letting her watch so many videos after school but over the Thanksgiving long weekend, I am going to try hard to limit her video-watching time and find other things for us to do. I don't mind Faith playing on her iPad but it's too eas...
If I were to ask people who know Faith what one of her favorite activities is, I am pretty sure they would all say the same thing: socializing. Faith absolutely loves people. She has been a social butterfly ever since she was little. She has always enjoyed going to therapy because she loves meeting new people, even those in the waiting room. Doctor appointments are also great because she gets to meet new nurses. She pretty much makes friends wherever she goes! Faith and friends blowing out birthday candles when she turned 7 During her first years in school, she easily made friends with her classmates. Sadly, though, as the kids got older and since she was limited in her mobility, these friendships faded. When we pulled her out of school altogether in order to homeschool her, the hardest part was not having any friends. Thankfully, we lived in a building that had a community room. Faith and I would often hang out there for a change of scenery. She would sit and wa...
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Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThis is so wonderful! I'm glad Faith had such a good time!
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