A captive audience - by Megan
Last week was our Spring Break, and I was bound and determined to get out of town for a few days. My parents have a condo in Florida that they graciously offered us for the week, and I immediately told the kids that we had plans for a few days in the sun and sand. We think of their place as our “home away from home,” and we started planning all the things we wanted to do while we were there. It was going to be a blast. What I wasn’t counting on? Going it alone! My husband is a wonderful man…an awesome friend, partner, father, spiritual leader, and provider. It turns out he had too much going on with work to take any time off (I’m considering that a blessing in these hard economic times)! At first I considered bagging the whole thing, but I couldn’t bear telling my 3 kids that it wasn’t going to happen. I prayed about it, and had a peace that going it alone was better than not going at all. Hey, at least it would be a change of scenery and a great excuse to not have to cook or do laundry! There was no turning back!
As I was packing, my greatest fear became the long ride down. I had never taken such a journey all by myself, and I was anxious about driving such a distance (not to mention the inevitable squabbles, frequent pitstops, and tears). I filled my front seat with loveys, snacks, movies, and various other “toss-able” entertainment items, and off we went. We did pretty well on the first leg of the trip, and after a brief stop for dinner, we slipped into PJs and fastened our seatbelts clutching our blankets and pillows (well, everyone but me!). The kids were sleepy and I decided to slip in my new Praise Baby CD to set the tone. Let me tell you, that turned our simple car ride into one of the greatest bedtime devotions we have ever had.
We are new to Praise Baby. I never knew about the music when my older two were little, but my baby girl and I have been listening to it together over the past couple of months. She adores any music, and is especially drawn to the sweet Praise Baby melodies. I thought the older kids would find it “too babyish”, but I was amazed when they immediately started singing along. They recognized the familiar songs from our own worship experiences and the “adult” versions they had heard on my iPod. They started asking questions and asking me to “play that one again, Mommy!” We talked about the wonders of God, and Lucy even made up a few motions to go along with her favorite parts. She made me promise to choreograph an entire song once we got home! On the dark, windy roads of south Alabama, we talked and said our prayers and just listened. Before long they were all fast asleep. It was then that I had my own nightly devotion and I praised my Father in Heaven for giving me these precious souls. I thanked Him for the opportunity to teach my babies about all the wonderful things He has done for us and I was so thankful to have beautiful music to help illustrate His love for them. I look forward to having a “captive audience” again soon…with the sound of Praise Baby filling the air.
You can read more posts by this author at http://holdituptothelight.com.
This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 6:50 am and is filed under Baby, Education, Growth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
