Faith's Mom's Blog

When I received my niece, Sydnee's graduation announcement in the mail, I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to visit my brother and his family for the first time at their home in Spearfish. I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see Mount Rushmore, which I had never seen before!  My nephew in Nebraska was graduating that same weekend, and my sister Dawn and I tried to put together a plan where we could go to both of their graduation receptions. I knew though, that Faith would feel left out and would want to go, too. I also knew it was going to be difficult to find someone to look after Faith over Memorial Day weekend.  Our finalized plan involved Dawn traveling to South Dakota with me and Faith and then her flying to Nebraska by herself. Faith and I would then drive back to Bismarck by ourselves.  3 adventurous travelers  I must admit, as the trip got closer, I started to get a little anxious about how Faith was going to do with so much drivi...

 Lately, I've been feeling very fortune to live in a community that provides so many activities for those with special needs and disabilities. Last year on her 21st birthday, Faith began taking adaptive dance classes at Northern Plains Dance (NPD). They offer five sessions throughout the year. We opted out of the session offered in January and February, mainly just to avoid being out in the brutal weather winter more than we have to be.  Faith working on some dance skills with ribbons.  During the February/March sessions, her class began practicing for their "big performance," which would take place during the student showcase. All of the dancers at NPD participated in this showcase. Her class would be performing to "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake.  Faith was excited not only because of the song, but because both of her dance partners would be on stage dancing with her. During the sessions, her partners take turns with her from week to week, ...