Every now and then I have an experience with my children that takes me back to the days when my mom had a fabulous wardrobe of leotards and large, geometric earrings and drove a sweet, earth toned stay wag that was named after a dinosaur.
Yesterday morning on the way to the kids’ school, we were listening to the Passion: Awakening CD. “How He Loves” was playing when we pulled into the parking lot and I brought the car to a stop right when the song was getting really good. Some of you musical people know the name for that part of the song and are saying it to me like I can hear it through the computer screen. Anyway, y’all know which part I’m talking about.
It seemed like such a shame to turn off the car before we got to sing “And we are His portion and He is our prize! Drawn to redemption by the grace is in His eyes. If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking. And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest. I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves us…” Jackson threw off his seat belt and climbed in the front seat and we sang it together with all our guts.
I remembered being only yay big and in the back of that station wagon, sitting behind my mama’s big 80’s hair and belting out some Amy Grant and Larnell Harris. Nothing in life was so urgent that we couldn’t finish “Angels Watching Over Me” before we got out of the car.
*****
This old church directory photo from FBC Victoria, Texas, came into my life this week. There is no end to how much joy it’s given me. When I look at it I feel loved.
Amanda – thank you so much for sharing! My boy, Brady, is about to the age where we are starting to sing songs together too, so I absolutely love this story! There is nothing better than listening to your little ones lift up His name in praise – it truly is a blessing and brings tears of joy to my eyes to think about it!
what an awesome pic! absolutely LOVE that! thanks for sharing.
Sweet and hilarious all at once!! I was introduced to many of those “christian oldies” as a new believer years ago and can still sing some when I hear it. I know it is not really that old (it is not like a song from the 40’s or 50’s), but it just seems that way.
I love the song, “How He Love Me.” It does something to me. It usually provokes some kind of physical reaction from me when I hear it. “My heart [does] turn violently inside my chest” when I listen to it. At times I find myself doing the motions of a tree that is being overwhelmed by a hurricane. At other times my hands just goes up and waves back and forth. Powerful song! Oh how He really loves us (1 John 3:1)! Thanks for “stopping by,” Amanda!
That picture makes we want to sound like my “MawMaw”…Ya’ll sure are some perty people! 🙂
Amanda, I love your sweet stories and I can totally relate to many of them!
Rayna(my youngest)was in the back seat and we were driving down the interstate on our way home. Music is playing, we’re all relatively quiet (there’s 6 of us and 4 of those are kids…so relative is a key term there) and we pass a state trooper, who has pulled someone over.
Rayna says in a conspiratorial tone: “Ya’ll be cool. It’s the Poe-Poe”.
(me) “Where in the world did you here THAT?!”
(David, her father) …snorting so he doesn’t just roll with belly laughter…
(Rayna) “On TV…I’m pretty sure it was Patrick”. (Sponge Bob’s sidekick)
(me) =/
You struck a chord with me! I’m telling you, singing in the car with my kids (and now my grandkids) will forever stand out as one of life’s greatest joys. My 5-year-old granddaughter knows all the (verse) words to “Shackles,” so she has to solo that part!
Fun Memories…especially, since I went to FBC in Victoria around 1988-1990 (I had to call my mom to get some dates). I was about 7 years old and was baptized there by Brother Shamburger. What a great church and some fun memories. What years were yall there?
How sweet! I always thought jamming to some good tunes in the car with my kids would pay dividends in the future.
Thanks for sharing!
I read this post on Baby Bangs! Love it! My son (who will be 5 in February) and I jam out to “Where you go, I’ll go. Where you stay, I’ll stay. When you move, I’ll move. I will follow you!” Or even sweeter, sometimes at bedtime, he starts to sing it to me. My how my little guy makes my heart melt!! Thanking Jesus for all of these sweet moments!
I don’t know what it’s called either, but that’s my favorite part too!! It just gives me goosebumps!! Thanks for the post and your mom is just too sweet!! Love the picture!!
Just one word: priceless! The story and the pic! It brought back beautiful memories of a hot Texas day… I was driving, and my sister was in the passenger seat. Of course the windows were rolled down, and we were singing Amy Grant’s Sing Your Praise to the Lord at the top of our lungs. And, when we got to the climatic ending, we played our air pianos right out the window of the car. We got some serious stares, a few laughs, and a loud Amen! from the car next to us. God is so good!!
Thank you so much for the post and the picture! I am so thankful for those songs and Scripture songs that were planted in my heart and in my children’s hearts when they were little. His Word never returns void and what a blessing when those familiar words return to us and we can’t help but blurt them out at full volume for our Lord and His goodness to us!
I loved the 80’s hair and my children were mortified by the largeness of it…thanks for photo, it made my day!
That is such a cute story and I know exactly that situation because it happens all the time to me. In fact it was just yesterday I was listening to “In Christ Alone’ having a merry old time singing it along in my car when I reached my parking spot. I just sat in the car and sang for a few more minutes so I could savor the song.
So sweet that you are carrying on a legacy with your children and sharing the love of Christ with them! Also- that is an awesome picture of you and your Mom and Dad. Don’t you just love digging out the old family album and laughing at the styles and various looks we had during the years!! Too funny 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Kind Regards,
Nicole
DITTO SISTER!
On BOTH sentiments…got me praising God for His loving reminder of His provisions both past and present!
I love that CD and I love that song!!! When I have the opportunity to go on short term missions trips, God always seems to give me a special song or CD just for that trip. Well, I got that CD just before I went to India last Sept with Eagle Projects International. It was the perfect fit!! The song Awakening was so relevant to my prayer for the people of that country. It was a very difficult trip physically. On the way home God did something wonderful for me and my friend. We got upgraded to business class!!! You know that area that has the seats that flatten out into a bed? We were so tired and the steward came and took us to our new seats. I was listening to that Passion CD and just as I started to get comfortable and drift off to sleep “How He Loves” came on. Tears of gratitude slipped down my cheeks as I realized that He loved us enough to give us an upgrade on our seats so that we could get some much needed rest. The steward told us that he rarely can do that. I felt so blessed and loved by my Father.
Nice story Karla, God is so good.
I will be taking Dailey Rae to see Amy Grant and MWS in concert February 19. She has no idea what will happen to her mama if MWS sings “Friends”. LOL!
Tracy L.
Richlands, NC
oh I so want to go to this! and yes, i too will be a puddle of weeping goo if/when they sing Friends.
And THOSE are the moments life is made of!
That song gets me every time. And I love LOVE to hear my kids sing “Beautiful One (I Love… Beautiful One I Adore…)” – they won’t let me turn the car off until it’s over. And with one who can’t say her L’s… well, it’s priceless.
And speaking of priceless… thank you, church directory picture, for proving to us that Beth’s hair is indeed the 8th wonder of the world. Love.
BWAHAHA @ the 8th wonder of the world. I would mark it as the actual 7th for the maintenance required.
Amanda oh how we’ve missed you so what a nice surprise! I am loving the story of the sing along in the car and letting the world just wait while you praise Him at the top of your lungs. My favorite of course is your church directory, could it be an Olan Mills portrait, of your family. How loved you were to have the 80’s big hair like your mom…did you sleep on rollers or was this a curling iron do? When your mom sees this she better have on some depends I’m just sayin’.
Hey Amanda,
First of all, that song has been banging around in my head since Birmingham when my sweet friend, Julie, tore it up on Saturday!! The lyric “I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us” slays me every single time. I guess because I’ve spent so much stinkin’ energy “maintaining regrets” in the past. Thankful for His love that covereth!
But anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that since I’m a little farther down the road of parenting than you :), I think the most important thing I have ever done with my kids is sing to them — songs of the faith! The modern praise and worship, the hymns, even Kirk Franklin. And now when I catch my 9 year old singing “This is what it means to be held, how it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive!” or “Nothing in life, nothing in death, no mountain height, no ocean depth, no power below, on earth or above, can separate me from Your love” or “Jesus, Messiah…Name above all names…Blessed Redeemer…Emmanuel…” I fall to my knees and thank Him for the creativity of the Word set to music.
Sing with those babies every chance you get!!
Blessings,
Dori
Amen to that, Dori!
LOTS of Christian music sung with/to your kids is such a blessing and brings great rewards. There may be no sweeter sound on earth than a child singing praises.
Also…FORCE your kids to listen to a variety of music when they are young (or trapped in the car ; ) Our kids came home saying, “Only 4 kids in class knew what a “March” sounds like,” or “We heard something at a concert that you used to play,” or “My dance audition was easy because I already knew the music,” or “My friends think this is weird, but I like it!”
I just feel the need to let you know that the part of the song you were referring to is called the bridge. ahhh, there I got it out! 😉 I love it when my girl sings, I know Jesus especially loves it too, mispronounced words and all! 😉
I don’t even know why, but this makes me so happy!! Has to be the Holy Spirit, as well as that your Momma taught you well. That you recognize and appreciate the important stuff, such as singing with Jackson with all your guts.
Shew-ee, that makes me happy!
amanda, i seriously loved that story (and the picture). i don’t put my hand up much during praise and worhsip in church (its a more conservative congregation) but i do it a lot during praise and worship alone in the car. i have often looked in the rearview and caught my little miss (age 2) with her hand raised too – just lookin’ out the window. it makes me cry almost every time i see it. miss you on here <3 amy
We miss you Amanda. So great to read about your family experiences. Love the pic. Hope to hear from you again soon. Wonderful story!!!!
Amanda,
It’s like hearing from an old friend. I so respect your decision and am so glad you stopped by to say hey and share. I so wish I had memories of praise songs with my kids. Its more like, another one bites the dust, etc…
Good memories but they didn’t glorify God. Ya live and learn and He is so merciful as we go. Seriously funny story about my lil sister. When she was around 5 years old, she and my dad were on there way into town on a weekday. My dad was singing rather loudly, This is the day the Lord has made…she blurted out to him, “stop singing that song, its not Sunday”. She’ll be 22 on Sunday and this story still cracks me up!
Your Momma’s hair is beautiful no matter which decade.
Sending siesta hugs!
So sweet! Amanda, it’s great to hear from you again.
I remember belting out Amy Grant’s “Father’s Eyes” in my car….don’t you think God loves watching us do this in traffic? (Never mind those people in the car next to you.)
But what was the stay wag’s name? Dinosaur?
Love the 80’s imagery. I’ll bet there were shoulder pads involved……
OK, You caused me to go on a search…well, Jesus did and low and behold, I found a LIVE cd from Leon Patillo that my mom and I would play on roadtrips.
The most precious part is that there was a part of the tape (yes, tape) that was Leon telling Bible stories, in his way. I have remembered them all these years and love them. And when I pressed play on itunes today and heard those stories, it was like I was back there and 5 years old and hearing GOD’S Word again. Looking back now, where Im at and realizing GOD has given me a purpose in teaching. I CANNOT tell you how thrilling it is to know, I loved it then!
I literally stood there in front of my computer, hearing it and it was Jesus was saying, “do you remember,”
YES LORD I DO! HALLELUJAH PAPA I DO!
PRICELESS!!!
So glad to hear from you. I didn’t have the pleasure of sharing such precious moments with my one and only as a child… do so now that he’s grown. However; I have 2 awesome nephews (8 & 11) and we’ll belt out:
“We lift our hands in the sanctuary” as loud as we can.
Missed you.
Sweet, sweet post.
Great picture, Amanda! I, too, marvel that your mother manages to have such great hair on family picture days.
I don’t have kids, but when I first started doing children’s ministry with my BFF, Lori hit upon an unorthodox method of quieting our rambunctious group. She would put in a Christian rock CD, turn it up, and yell, “Everybody dance!” We would watch the very entertaining dance that ensued for a couple of minutes before Lori hit the off button and took advantage of the moment of silence to corral everyone into our story corner.
Believe me, this was NOT a church that does worship dancing, but we sure did it in the children’s ministry.
that photo of ya’ll is just precious!
And yes, I can even still recall the tone of voice in which Sandi Patti introduces Larnell Harris on her album.
I was convinced that I could sing just like Amy Grant….till some kind soul let me actually hear a recording of my voice. *blushes of shame* now-a-days I know better. I was born to sing back up to Travis Cottrell. *grin*
Deirdre
Yes–I think that was the album where she sang “Jesus Loves Me” a whole bunch of different ways…then Larnelle came out to sing with her. That was the first Christian album I ever remember hearing. I think I was 4. Amanda looks about 2ish or 3ish in that picture, so 4 sounds about right for me. 🙂
And as I sit here reminiscing, I hear my 8 year old in the next room singing, “…loves like a hurricane, I am a tree–bending beneath the waves of His wind and mercy…”
YES! Oh, how He loves us! Giving thanks with you today for a Godly heritage!
first of all the picture is hilarious! second of all why am i not surprised that your mom named her car! third, so glad to see you on here! and finally, even though i’ve never met you, i feel like i know you! 🙂 blessings! hoping you can stop by more in the furture (maybe during naptime!) p.s. great hair beth!! ha! ha!
1. “yay Big” – I’m mad you wrote that! That’s HYSTERICAL to see on a blog
2. Everything about your mother is gorgeous. You are a china doll.
3. The hair on these heads ! THESE WIGS ARE the highlight of this portrait!
4. My 4 year old nephew consistently calls david crowder that mustache man. He ran to my room when I was streaming Passion 2011 from two rooms and he yelled “Jessica, that mustache man is on!” He loves him! He and Jackson belong in a worship band..like now.
also. $10 if you can tell me who this is…
http://m.gmgrd.co.uk/res/739.$plit/C_71_Articles_204056_BodyWeb_Detail_0_Image.jpg?10%2F02%2F2006%2010%3A11%3A21%3A645
please click on it because i’m laughing at the thought of you clicking on it.
Is that Ken? If so, I can’t imagine Barbie’s harido. Thanks for the laughter.
yes, but it’s keith without the scarf.
i love turning the music up and singing as loud as my voice can hold! i often wonder how ridiculous i look to passersby… 🙂
Okay after my cat nap and afternoon coffee. Is that Melissa in the pic and where is Amanda? I don’t know enough about “Moore birth order” to know the age difference of you and Melissa, I think she was first but how old was she when you were born?
That’s Amanda, Yanna. She’s the eldest. 🙂
Thanks for the Moore Family geneology lesson. I can sleep now. 🙂
I love to hear my four year old boy sing along with Chris Tomlin. “Where you go, I’ll go. Where you stay,I’ll stay. I will follow you”
Dear Amanda,
I’m so glad you shared this post here. You are pouring Jesus’ love right into your precious children, who I know are going to do amazing things for the Lord when they grow up! I have that cd in my car, and my 17 year old son sings with it all the time. Keep doing what you’re doing and cherishing every minute of it, and sharing it with us when you get a chance!
Oh Dear Amanda, thank you for the post. It was delightful and I so loved the picture. YOur sweet mama is definitely a Texas gal…gotta love the hair.
Love singing in the car and my 15 year old twins still do it. I am amazed by that.
love to you all
Love this story! We used to sing “Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord” as a round in the car. Good times!
I am going to become a first-time grandmother come July and so look forward to singing in the car with little ones again!
Thanks for the story and the darling picture! Loves!
Love it! I needed to smile today!
Beth and you have very similar hairdos. Did you notice that? It’s so great to hear from you and I know you are enjoying your time with your family. I was able to do that for 2 1/2 years and I wouldn’t trade it for anything (even though financially if was a challenge). Take care and thanks for sharing the picture. It’s great.
Oh this makes my heart smile. Love this photo Amanda! Love this story. You and your mom are such good “mommas” and such a inspiration to us all!!
My 2yr old daughter and I sing Christian music in the car everywhere we go. Nothing brings me such sweet joy as hearing her little voice singing at the top of her lungs: “OH NO HE NEVER LETS GO, THROUGH THE HIGHS AND THROUGH THE LOWS…”:-) Now we have discovered Jana Alayra’s “Totally Transformed” dvd. Almost every day we dance and sing (and sign) our way through each and every song. Love it!
A Great Big Hello to Ms Amanda! How good to see your post 🙂
I do believe car radios/cd’s were invented for us “singers” to belt out – on key or not- with all the gusto God has given us! Praise is not a quite event around me!
I kept looking and looking at that picture – does your momma know?!
I am thankful there is no chance of my past images (70’s/80’s) reaching the many siestas that got a glimpse today!
Wait til that baby girl of yours brings out your yesteryear photos one day … may she be forgiven as I am sure you will be too 🙂
God Bless the Moore extended family!
The songs reminds me of my grand daughter Madi. She is 7. Her parents do not take her to church. I get her one day each weekend since she has been born. It used to be every friday night was grandma-Madi night. Now I am insisting of alternating so I can have her on some Saturday nights so I can take her to church with me on Sunday morning. I have a set of children’s music DVD’s and there are times when she wants to turn off the TV and wants to play her JESUS music. She will dance around the room and just sing and praise God!! She has such a precious tender heart!! You should hear her her say her night prayers. She blesses everything from her pets to every person she knows!! it is so precious!! She is going to be used by our Lord to make changes in her family!!
My daughter Naomi (6yrs) and I sing LOUD to the new Casting Crowns CD. We too have a wonderful time singing in the car! Thanks for posting this. Love the pic too!!!
What a sweet picture. All three “Moore” girls are beautiful, but Mama Beth just jumped off that page at me. She was and still is so beautiful. I wonder if she had any idea back then how much she would mean to all of us today. What would we do without our Siesta Mama? Thank you, Father, for putting her into our lives. We love her so much! AMEN!
I have to sit and listen & sing to the end of the song if it’s the Revelation Song by Phillips, Craig and Dean. I usually have to sit and compose myself if it’s Mercy Seat on the Travis Cottrell CD. When we have the privilege of grandkids in the car (they live in another state) it is Sing, Sing, Sing by Chris Tomlin.
Hey Amanda!
You and Jackson singing together with all your guts takes me back a few years to me and Tommy singing the same way (lots of Steven Curtis Chapman). Keep exercising those guts as long as you can ’cause it’ll take good, strong guts to be patient and calm when you get to the “sass and argue years”. We are there now (15 years old)and those wonderful memories keep me from utter despair some days as I wait for the alien ship to return my kind,good-hearted son to me some day soon!!! Hee-hee!
Enjoy every precious minute!
Amanda–this just put a big ol smile on my face. I think it’s the most awesome thing to know that your son knows these praise songs that reveal the truth of how much our God loves us. Soooo cool! Blessings to you!
What a precious time to remember. My husband use to play guitar. He and my son and daughter used to sing gospel music
together. They are 33 and 34 now. My daughter is estranged for right now. I will cherish those times.
My husband can’t play anymore due to arthritis but the Lord
blesses me when I think of those wonderful times.