Showing posts with label integrative music sessions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label integrative music sessions. Show all posts

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Faith's Thankful List

Last year, Faith began a new Thanksgiving tradition of writing down everything for which she is thankful. Since she could care less about eating a huge turkey dinner, I thought it would be great for her to have her own little tradition.

Here are ten things she says she has been especially thankful for this past year:

Daddy being her teacher - Faith is enjoying her first year of being homeschooled and although she and her Daddy butt head sometimes, she really likes him being her teacher. He is doing a great job at teaching her how to read. I'm thankful he is her teacher too because although I am usually the "patient one," he is better about not jumping in and giving her the answer when it's taking a long time for her to get it.


Pastor Marc - Faith really does love her pastor. Her new thing is to ask him to pray for her at the end of each church service. He of course is always more than willing even if he is running behind schedule trying to make it to the next service. We are all thankful for Pastor Marc and our New Life Church family!

 
Grandma - Although Faith loves her Grandpa Mike, she is especially fond of her Grandma Deone. While she isn't always too crazy about going to Grandma's house, she loves to have Grandma come over to visit, go the library with her and eat at Perkins!


Seeing Her Grandparents in Canada - Even though there were some tough days due to lots of driving, Faith was still thankful for the time we spent with her Grandparents in Canada. She also liked visiting her Auntie Joh and meeting her amazing dog, Rosie.

 
Her apartment - Admittedly, there are days I wish we lived in a bigger place but Faith really does love her apartment. It's a reminder to me to be thankful for a roof over our heads that helps us to stay warm during these brutal winter months. It's also nice having a smaller place because it's so much easier to keep up with the cleaning!


Her clothes - Faith likes her clothes, especially comfy pants and nice warm pajamas. I have to admit I like shopping for her too and have to try to not get too carried away. I only wish I could find some cute jammies just like hers!


Todd and Barbara - She loves her uncle and auntie and we wish we could see them more often. Even though they live here in Bismarck, they are both pretty busy. When Todd's not working on the rigs, he's trying to keep up with their tree business.


Healing Rooms - Faith goes for prayer at the Healing Rooms at least once a week. It's open every Monday and Tuesday and it's not uncommon for her to go for prayer both days. There are many days in the winter when it's like -10 degrees and we still brave the cold to get there. She loves it that much!


Integrative Music Sessions - Doing integrative music sessions is one of the best things we've ever done for Faith. She absolutely loves it! During her last session, Faith actually sang a little solo while Jonnica played the guitar. Jonnica is impressed with her incredible memory and the ability to memorize lyrics so quickly.


Sid the Science Kid - This is her new favorite show on PBS. It's also on Netflix. I think it's a great show for kids because it really does teach them cool things about science. Some of the fun things she has learned by watching the show is why bananas get brown and mushy and why Sid's ball made out of play dough doesn't bounce like other balls.

I'm thankful that Faith has gotten through another year without any major illnesses, no hospital stays and no surgeries. I'm also thankful for a husband who has been especially encouraging and supportive this year as I have nearly reached my goal of writing my book, Having Faith. I'm thankful too that my parents live close by and for God's amazing provision during this time in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Faith's Integrative Music Sessions

This past Sunday at church I noticed Faith singing along to the chorus with a little more gusto than she has in the past. She seemed a little more confident and really projected her voice once she caught on to the words that were being sung.

I must admit, listening to her sweet voice singing the words, "He is faithful, He is glorious, He is Jesus, all my hope is in Him. He is freedom, He is healing right now" was enough to cause tears to stream down my face. Later after thinking about it, I realized that part of her new-found confidence in singing probably has something to do with the integrative music sessions she has been doing with a music therapist.
Faith playing the xylophone
fun with shakers
Every couple of weeks, Jonnica comes into our home and spends about 30 minutes with Faith singing songs and playing instruments. I know how much Faith likes music so I was pretty sure she would enjoy doing this but an added bonus is that the music therapist also does worship at her church so she and Faith like the same kind of music! While Jonnica does fun songs with Faith like The Popcorn Song, Ravioli and The Shaker Song, they also sing songs like "This Little Light of Mine" and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."

The great part about this music therapy is that while it is super fun for Faith, it also helps her work on things like motor skills, cognition, communication, visual and auditory skills. Besides bringing instruments like shakers, bells and the xylophone for Faith to play, Jonnica also brings flashcards with letters, numbers, words and colors. One of Faith's favorite parts though is getting to play Jonnica's pretty red guitar.
working on more than just music
Of all the cool instruments, this is Faith's favorite!
We've only really begun the integrative music sessions this year but I am already noticing differences in Faith and how it is helping her. I'm just as excited as Faith is about this type of therapy and who knows maybe she'll be helping to lead worship one day at church!

Click on the video below to hear Faith and Jonnica's good-bye song.