Showing posts with label chiropractic care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chiropractic care. Show all posts

Friday, September 9, 2016

Walking by Faith Not by Sight

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 time and her already high tone kicks into overdrive, causing her to be very uncomfortable in her chair.

Because of her discomfort, we have spent a lot of time sitting on the couch together and the benefit for me is I have been getting a ton of reading done. A benefit for her is that my body serves as a dynamic seating system so that she’s not stuck in the same position for long periods of time. (Unfortunately, I have to turn down my husband’s suggestions that I submit myself to cloning.) On the upside regarding her cycle, she has been pretty regular so we can prepare for when she's going to be overly emotional and having physical symptoms.

Faith with me and two of her aunties  - look how big she's getting!

At one time Faith did occupational therapy but after a while it was advised Faith get physical therapy instead. Her OT made a recommendation and after being on a waiting list for months due to the fact they had to hire more pediatric physical therapists, we were finally able to get in. The PT has helped somewhat, and along with that, she also continues to see a chiropractor. We are glad to have made the switch to a wonderful lady chiropractor who can help us with some of Faith's hormonal issues.

Besides everything going on with Faith, we have had the most humid summer I can recall in all my years of living in North Dakota. We have had our wall air conditioner running almost nonstop all summer. Faith has a portable air conditioner (thanks to her uncle Todd) in her room that I don't know what we would do without.

Just as I have been feeling the intense heat in the physical realm, I have been feeling it in a spiritual sense as well. There have been days I have felt as though I had reached my limit and hit my breaking point. I have literally felt like I was walking through the fire. As I thought and prayed about it, I realized that it was my own fault. I mean, I had picked the word "RENEW" for my word of the year. How can God make things new without getting rid of the some of the old stuff first?

Many times I have had the thought I am going through the "Refiner's fire." While this was not always a good feeling, it did give me hope that I was going to come out stronger and that it would deepen my trust in God.

Staying nice and cool at Grandma's - Faith and most of her cousins, including the newest addition to our family.

It has certainly been a time of dying to self and I know that although it doesn't feel very good, it will end up being a good thing. It is also somewhat comforting to know that there are many other believers who are going through some very difficult situations. It has been wonderful to lift one another up in prayer.

Recent double rainbow
All of these challenges have caused us to keep our eyes on Jesus more than ever, and to depend on Him for our strength. And as we do, we continue to walk by faith, not by sight and know that whatever has already taken place in the physical realm will one day manifest in the physical.

As for right now I am really looking forward to the next season. I can't wait to feel the cool, refreshing breeze and see the beautiful transition of the leaves that always comes along with autumn.

This video of the song "King of My Heart" has been very encouraging to me during this difficult season. It's a reminder of God's goodness and that He will never let me down!





Sunday, June 8, 2014

Alternative Therapies for Faith

For most of Faith's life, we have focused on doing some of the more traditional therapies such as occupational and physical therapy in order to help her reach her fullest potential. More recently, though we have been trying some alternative forms of therapy such as chiropractic care and music integration sessions. Honestly, we have seen more progress this past year in trying these different therapies than we had been seeing with years of following traditional methods. You can read HERE to see how Chiropractic Care has benefited Faith and HERE for music therapy. 
Chiropractic care has benefitted Faith immensely
Unfortunately, most insurance companies, including Medicaid does not cover these different types of therapies as they are still considered experimental. One of the local fundraisers does not allocate funds for these alternative therapies for the same reasons. This means we have been paying out of our pockets and it is now getting to the point that we have to decide to quit doing the therapy or keep going with it.

So it is with a humble heart that I am asking for help from the readers of this blog and from those family and friends of Faith to help us in continuing these types of therapy for Faith. If you don't have the funds at this time, can I ask you to pray for us and that God would continue to guide us and give us wisdom on which types of therapies to try, which types might be beneficial and which ones we may need to discontinue? 
Integrative music sessions has helped with Faith's fine motor skills and other areas
Any help you can give in either of these areas would be greatly appreciated. If you do want to help us in our efforts to raise funds for Faith and you would like to do so online please click on the PayPal link on the top right. You will also be able to donate using a credit card. If you don't want to donate online, please feel free to e-mail me. You can find my e-mail address by clicking on 'view my complete profile' and it is listed under my contact into. Thank you so much for any help you can provide and I pray that God blesses you abundantly in return!

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Catching Up

This is my first post of the new year and it is already March - I guess I have some catching up to do! As you can tell by my new blog header, I am ready for spring. It has been a very cold winter here in North Dakota with several days below zero since December. I know though that much of the country has had a tough winter too so I know we are not alone in being anxious for spring and the warmer weather that comes along with it.

Faith especially seems to be struggling with the colder temps - it most likely affects her already high tone. It hasn't helped that it is more difficult to transport her since we can't use our van's ramp due to our door needing to be replaced. Rob has had to get her into the other side of our van which entails him sort of lifting her chair up into the van. We are looking forward to finally getting it fixed this week. 

Now that I've gotten our weather-related issues out of the way, here is an update on what the rest of this New Year has been like for us: 


We kicked off the year getting together with friends at China Star – a place we haven’t been for a while. We used to go there so much that all of the staff knew us by name and loved visiting with Faith. They seemed glad to see us and couldn’t believe how much Faith has grown. Over Christmas break she had a growth spurt and she is up to 48 inches tall! We haven’t weighed her recently but her last weight was around 55 pounds. 

After eating at China Star, our friend, Bob came over to watch Monsters University with us. His wife Lola was in California with her sister and got to go the Rose Bowl Parade.
Happy New Year!

We snuck in eating at the China Star right before our church fast began. The fast lasted 21 days and as part of my goal this year to eat better and get healthier, I bought a juicer. During our fast, I didn’t eat any processed foods or refined sugars and my supper consisted of a glass of fresh vegetable juice. Part of the reason I wanted to try juicing was to get some of those micronutrients into Faith via her feeding tube.   

We recently got a Vitamix blender and I have made some delicious green smoothies and even broccoli cheese soup! We are also going to try to get Faith started on a blenderized diet so she can start “eating” healthier too. 
Getting green goodness into Faith's tummy

Besides eating better, I have started going to the chiropractor which has helped immensely with my headaches. Faith is down to one visit a week but she’s currently trying something new with a lady who comes to our home twice a month for music integration. Faith absolutely loves it and I will be writing more about it in another post. 

Speaking of music, Faith just had her music program at school last week. In the middle of the program, Faith’s music teacher wheeled her to center stage with a group of kids. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on and before I knew it, her teacher was putting a recorder in her hand and then Faith blew some notes! It happened so fast that I didn’t have time to get in place to get a good picture. We were so proud of her! 
Faith working with Jonnica on the xylophone
Last month Rob and I both celebrated our birthdays. I turned the big 4-0 and although I didn’t have the actual day of my birthday off from work (too many people had already requested it off since it was the day after the Super Bowl) I did take the next day off and got to spend it with my mom. 

We went to the East 40 for lunch, went shopping and then relaxed at the spa getting pedicures. We both agreed we needed to do that together more often – we had so much fun! For Rob’s birthday, we went out to eat together and while we were out and about, Michelle and Faith surprised him with a birthday cake.  
Me and mom and my birthday
Happy Birthday to our favorite guy!
That about sums up 2014 for us so far. We are looking forward to what the rest of the year has for us and are believing for great things this year! By the way, besides updating my blog header and layout, I have updated "Our Faith Story" so click on the tab and be sure to check it out. I have also added a list of resources that have greatly benefited our family. Thanks for reading and have a blessed rest of the year! THINK SPRING!

Monday, December 30, 2013

2013: A Year in Review

This past year has held many challenges, many changes and some breakthroughs as well. We have met some new people who have helped Faith make forward progress but have been discouraged as certain prayers continue to go unanswered. Through it all though, there is one truth that remains - God has been with us and He has been faithful.

He has placed many people in our lives who have kept us encouraged and who continue to inspire us each and every day to to "walk by faith not by sight." As I think about our past year, I can't help but feel hopeful that the New Year will be better than the last!

JANUARY - Me and Faith spent the tail-end of last year and the beginning of 2013 recovering from the flu. In fact, she was at the walk-in clinic on New Year's Eve. We recovered just in time to celebrate the NDSU Bison winning their second straight national championship. This year they are once again headed to Frisco, Texas to defend their title as they take on Towson University on January 4th.

In other news, we were without an elevator for almost a week in our building which made our lives very interesting getting Faith and her chair up and down the stairs.

FEBRUARY - Both me and Rob celebrated our birthdays this month - we had fun celebrating with our friends from church at Bruno's Pizza. At work, we had an old-school Valentines Day party and my Valentine pizza box even won a prize!

Speaking of hearts, I had one of the longest pacemaker appointments ever that included being hooked up to a 24-hour holter monitor just to make sure it was functioning as it should. I also received the exciting news that my heart is not pacemaker dependent.

MARCH -  We celebrated the resurrection of our Savior with some friends at their home for Easter dinner. Unfortunately, the snow, cold and wind kept us from our tradition of flying kites.

Faith had her first lessons with Pati Holman who is an Anat Baniel Practitioner. Pati comes to Bismarck about every 2 months from Wisconsin to work with children in our area. Faith had lessons in the summer and fall as well and we are currently in prayer about continuing with the lessons as we have also found some other kinds of treatment that are beneficial.

APRIL - Bismarck broke their record for the most snowfall in one day as over 17 inches fell on the city. School was canceled and even I got a snow day from work. It is a rare occasion for any town in North Dakota to shut down on account of the weather! Besides North Dakota making news because of unprecedented snow fall, we also continued to make news throughout April due to a pro-life piece of legislation signed by our governor in which North Dakota became the first state to ban abortions based on gender and/or genetics defects.

MAY - Spring finally sprung and with the warmer weather, Faith ended her school year as a third-grader. We all loved having Mrs. Ternes as her teacher and were a bit sad to find out she would be retiring. We are glad though that Faith had her during her final year of teaching.

While Faith was finishing up school, Cari finished up another season of Java JOY for which she volunteers as coordinator. Sadly during a season we celebrate new life, we lost a precious person to our family - Rob's Aunt Audrey. How wonderful though is the assurance that she is resting peacefully in her eternal home!

JUNE - Our long awaited summer vacation was finally here! We were so thrilled to be able to go to Winnipeg, Manitoba to meet Rob's parents - David and Jean who flew there from Toronto. We had so much fun at the Holiday Inn, visiting, watching hockey, drinking Tim Horton's coffee, eating, laughing and just enjoying being together.

We also went to the zoo where the highlight was Hudson the Polar Bear. The time went by way too fast but we promised we would not let another two years go by without seeing one another and are looking forward getting together again in 2014.

JULY - My dad had officially retired from the oilfield in March and he and my mom made the move to Bismarck. They found the perfect retirement home north of Bismarck, close to my brother Todd's. We had a fun family get-together in July to celebrate dad's retirement and their  new home.

Faith and I also enjoyed a lot of time outside on the patio downstairs of our apartment which also ended up being a great place for others to come visit her.

August - The last month of summer vacation was full of fun visits with friends including a trip to Hazen to see our friends, the Sagos. Kimberly, Matt and their baby, Gunnar came up from Kansas and I reunited with two of my college roomies when they were in Bismarck for a conference. The month went by too fast and before we knew it, Faith was starting 4th grade at Centennial Elementary!

September - This month we were especially aware of the benefits of the chiropractic care Faith had been getting over the summer with Dr. Steve. She sleeps much better and her startle is not as severe. She has more energy and instead of needing to take two afternoons off a week from school, she goes five days a week, six hours a day. In September, she went on a few field trips for school and all three of us went to the International PowWow.

The last weekend of the month was a little chaotic as we moved to a different apartment and my job transferred locations. I also took a trip to Brookings, South Dakota with my dad where we met my sister, Tesa for the NDSU Bison game - which of course they won! 

October - Faith turned 10 years old this month and celebrated by having not one but two parties! Unplanned by me, one of them ended up being an all girls party which we had downstairs in our lobby. Faith got to share her day with her grandma, her aunts, cousin, friends and neighbors. The next day we had another get together with some of our church family.

November - Faith had a few fun visits at her grandparents in November but unfortunately towards the end of the month she came down with a fever and not feeling well. She ended up missing Thanksgiving dinner at her aunts but we had our own little Thanksgiving celebration writing letters and little thank you notes to people. Faith certainly has much to be thankful for and is especially thankful for all the wonderful people in her life.

December - Faith is enjoying her break from school and she and her Daddy have been having fun just hanging out at home. Bismarck is experiencing one of the coldest Decembers ever so we have all been content spending time indoors. This month she had her first music therapy session which she absolutely loved and can't wait to do more of.

We had a nice relaxing Christmas and are gearing up for an uneventful New Year's Eve!



We look forward to what the New Year holds 
and pray you have a blessed New Year too!