Synopses & Reviews
Despite the gentle warning of her co-workers, music therapist Mary Ann Froehlich couldn't help but enter into the suffering of the terminally ill children she served. As a music therapist at a children's hospital, Mary Ann watched her courageous young clients develop compassion and maturity beyond their years. She observed their remarkable ability to embrace the gift of today. She admired their refusal to be consumed by the grief of "what might have been" And she witnessed the intense anguish of their families.
Mary Ann's years of experience with the "experts" have given her an uncommon understanding of what dying children and their families need--and don't need! Here is help for those who want to help but don't know how.
An Early Journey Home may wound your heart. But it will also show you how to find the wisdom and courage to come alongside those who know too much pain.
Synopsis
"The Bible is as much a book about suffering and grieving as it is about love and salvation", says Mary Ann Froelich, a music therapist who has worked extensively with terminally ill children. Drawing on her experience with the "experts" -- the grieving families who are left behind -- Froelich gives us a seasoned and compassionate look at the significance, hope, and joy to be found in even the briefest of lives.
Synopsis
Author Mary Ann Froehlich provides hope for dying children and the grieving families that are left behind.
About the Author
Mary Ann Froehlich is a board-certified music therapist and Suzuki music teacher. She has worked in hospitals, schools, churches, and private practice. She has published fourteen books, including An Early Journey Home, Living with Thorns, and Parent or Friend? Mary Ann has a doctorate in music from the University of Southern California and an MA from Fuller Theological Seminary. She and her husband, John, have three adult children.
Table of Contents
Introductory Note.................................................................11
1. An Early Journey Home....................................................13
Part 1
The Biblical Journey: Preparing the Helper
2. Helpers Without Answers.................................................21
3. Our Biblical Models: Fellow Grievers in Scripture..............31
4. When Suffering Turns to Gold...........................................43
Part 2
Taking the Journey: Helping Dying Children and their Families
5. Helping Through the Illness and Hospitalization.................53
6. Living with Cystic Fibrosis................................................65
7. Helping Patients and Families Through the Death...............71
8. Zain's Journey: Advice from the Experts............................77
9. Helping After the Death....................................................87
10. Surviving the Unbearable: More Advice from the Experts..99
11. Family Portrait: Terminal Illness......................................105
Part 3
Helping Grieving Families: Sudden Loss and Complicated Grief
12. When Age Is No Factor.................................................123
Miscarriage...............................................................123
Losing Adult Children................................................128
13. Caterpillar to Butterfly: Grief Transformed........................135
14. Helpers or Judges?..........................................................141
Murder......................................................................142
The Killer AIDS........................................................144
15. Pain Upon Pain................................................................155
16. Final Family Portrait: The Garwoods................................163
17. A Final Note to Helpers...................................................175
Organizations.........................................................................179