Sing and Make Melody in Your Hearts (Making Words Up As You Go Along Optional)

Our new Growth Groups started two weeks ago and they meet every Sunday night of the month except the fourth Sunday, at which time we all meet together at the building for an assembly. When we came to Woodland West in December the groups were already in full swing, and while we did visit around several times, we ended up settling on the group that was specifically designed for families with children, for reasons so obvious I assume I don't need to spell them out for you.

Over the summer, though, a few key people got together and put together a proposal to assign groups designations other than merely "Bible study." For instance, now we have a Marriage Enrichment group; we have an Outreach group; we have a Parents & Teens group; we have a Singing group; we have two textual study groups; and I feel like I'm leaving someone out and I feel terrible about that but the clock is about to strike 10:00 and my brain is addled. Also, listening to all these catchy tunes in my playlist isn't exactly conducive to framing cohesive thoughts. Especially when I have to stop typing so I can really throw myself into my singing. And who can blame me? My playlist is randomly playing all my David Cook tunes--I still really like that guy and am ready for his album to come out, aren't you?

Where was I?

Oh yes, Growth Groups. Well, I'll give you three guesses as to which group my family chose this time around, and the first two don't count. I'll wait while you make your pick . . .






Did you guess right?




That's right! Anyone who knows me knows the choice was a no-brainer--we're singing, baby! I was tickled and not at all surprised to see a long list of names joining mine on the list of sign-ups, and this past Sunday was my first opportunity to participate and see how the whole thing was going to work. (If you are very astute then you will recall that back in Paragraph One I said groups began meeting two weeks ago: Darcy up and got sick on Day One so I had to keep her home while Randy went and warbled for the both of us.) Does anybody else love this song by FFH called "Lord, Move Me?" That was the first FFH song I can remember hearing on the radio and I was like, "Whoa, who is THIS??" Jeromy Deibler rocks!

Where was I again? Oh, Sunday night.

Okay, so I gathered the kids together and gave them the weekly pep talk, which basically consists of me twisting their arms to do something they think they're not going to like. Essentially, my kids (and I guess I'm mostly referring to the girls, who are still young children but nevertheless old enough to make certain decisions for themselves) are in that rightly-labeled "tween" stage--they're not little kids anymore but they're not adults either. Last year Tyler had already made the transition from hanging with the other kids to taking part in our Bible study so this was old hat for him, but the girls and Sawyer were accustomed to participating in adult-led activities with the rest of the children. But since the focus in our group is on learning new songs and just spending an hour in praise and worship, I saw no reason ALL of my kids couldn't join in.

The girls were slightly reticent but agreed to give it a try (not sure where they got the illusion that they had a choice but, whatever), and I came armed with a bag of books and puzzles for Sawyer since he is an excellent multi-tasker and can sing and read at the same time! Oh alright, I admit it--I was totally prepared to bribe him in case there was a big passel of kids in attendance and a suggestion was made to put them in another room. I wanted all of my kids praising God right along with me!

And even now, a couple of days later, I still smile at the memory of Sunday night. Tom, our leader, had us sit in "parts" so Tyler sat with Randy and the other tenors, the girls sat with the sopranos (who were conveniently seated right next to the altos where I was), and Sawyer plopped down on the floor next to me on a big pillow. And for the next hour it was pure bliss, listening to this tight little group (well, not so little but you know what I mean) raising the roof with our voices and all of it going straight up to heaven. Good stuff. Tyler and Darcy both requested songs--Tyler didn't surprise me because he's never afraid to request songs, but I was thrilled that Darcy felt comfortable speaking up and letting her voice be heard. Peyton told me when we got home that she "loved" our group, and Sawyer went around the house all day today singing "We're Marching to Zion" (albeit with the wrong words--one rendition had him singing the proper tune but repeating the word "beautiful" the whole way through) which is the song Tyler requested. Somehow that seems slightly ironic to me--here Tyler is a child growing up in the midst of the contemporary movement, but he LOVES a lot of the "oldies but goodies"; in fact, I was shocked that he didn't request "Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah."

All too soon our time of fellowship was over but man oh man, what we have to look forward to next week!

Okay, I was trying to figure out how to finish up this post and I've just found it--Gary the Gecko is back! C'mon little Gary, come out from under that chair--nothing's going to happen to you--unless you crawl on me while I sleep. Then I just might have to hurt you.