November 22, 2011: Blink, Blink...

Heaveno!

Hiya!

Sorry about that!  My bad.

I took an unannounced week off from posting!  I traveled to Atlanta on Thursday and returned home on Sunday, and posting on travel days doesn't always seem to work out.  I attended the national conference for the American Music Therapy Association.  I was a presenter on Sunday, but as VP of the Western Region, I have to sit in on meetings that begin on Thursday before opening session.  It was great to be with all my colleagues.  There were probably about 1,500 music therapists on hand from all over the country, and a few international MTs as well.

I had lots of fun learning about amazing therapeutic applications for the iPad.  The infusion center I work in was gifted 5 iPads, and they are being underutilized, so I am going to request some funding to load some relaxation and music instrument apps on them.  Then, I will teach the nurses how cool they are for the patients.  Once the nurses realize their potential, I think they will talk them up a lot more.

We had a really great business owner's networking session, too, where I got to meet and hear about other  music therapists who are also entrepreneurs and all their successes!  It was REALLY inspiring to hear their stories.  It also confirmed what I knew to be true in my heart which was that there is a group of MTs who are embracing the business and marketing elements outside the clinic and enjoying that part of their career as much as delivering tremendous value to their clients/students/patients.  I KNEW they were out there!  I have connected with a few out here in the west, but to meet a whole SLEW of them from all over the country at one time... it was really inspiring.

On the home front, we are working away on getting invitations ready for our inaugural PUCK luncheon on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at the Anaheim White House.  If you live in southern California, or have friends or family who do, won't you join us?  Daylon's mom Jennifer is speaking, and we will have either Dr. Wagner or Tolar speaking via a taped video as it looks like they can't make it out.  Since we were gifted the luncheon, they picked the date, so we just have to make do.  In a perfect world, we'd plan it around the doc's schedule, but it's alllllllll good.  We are GRATEFUL to receive such an amazing gift, and will gladly use technology to bring them to us.  If you are interested in more info, shoot me an email at Timothy@puckfund.org.



Thanks to all who have prayed for the end of thrush, because (knock on wood) it seems to have finally left the building!  YAY!  Ang is still using some meds as is Julian, but it seems that he is off the bottle and back in momma's arms!



Turkey preparations are underway here in the house.  Ali is home from school this week, so it's been really cute to watch her and momma planning Thanksgiving dinner, going to the store, already cooking sweets, watching food network together, the whole bit.  It's been a great bonding time for the two of them since I've been either out of town or right back to work at the hospital.



Ali's been missing her daddy, and I brought one of her stuffed animals to GA and took pics of her in various places and texted them back to momma to show Ali.  I even placed her "Chenna Cheeta" on the podium when I gave my presentation.  It was on determining, articulating, and ranking your core values, and since family is so important to me, I gave Chenna as an example!



Chenna looks on while daddy shows off his Fabulous Socks of the Day...

I am looking forward to the break this week.  I'm clearly running on empty.  I don't get sick much, and when I do, it's my body's way of saying, "HEY!  calm down, monkey!  I am NOT keeping this pace up any longer!"  to which I sheepishly reply, "okay... I'm sorry."  I like to have a lot on my plate; it keeps things exciting, but I over-extend like the best of them, and need to pull back on the reigns from time to time.  I really look forward to hanging with Julian on Mondays and Fridays for the next 6 months.  That's gonna be a nice change of pace.

Happy Thanksgiving to you.  I have a lot to be thankful for, and I bet so do you.  The key is to sift through all the noise to find all those blessings hiding in plain sight. God's work is to put them there, and our work is to see them!  Remember, it's not "seeing is believing," it's "believing is seeing!"

God night.