Make a Beautiful and Joyful Noise

Sounds and smells have always been a huge part of conjuring up certain special memories that I have of my life.

Today let's focus on the noises of my life...

My absolute favorite sound in the world is the shrill of two babies screaming "Aunt Ishy!!!" when I ring the doorbell to a house in Cedar Park, TX. I can watch through the side window to see these babies run to the front door to greet me. This shrill noise will always melt my heart, and it will probably kill me when I no longer hear this noise as I arrive at their house.

I got to hear two of my other favorite noises this weekend when my mom laughed loudly during the sermon at church and when my dad shouted his typical "Nice shot!" while sitting at the green of the first hole at the Colonial Golf Tournament.

Not to leave out the other two folks in my immediate family...I love to hear when Todd and Candace "Whoop!" during any Aggie event/TV broadcast that I get to watch with them.

I really wish that I had a recording of certain phrases that each of my grandparents said and recordings of each of their laughs. Although both of my grandmothers had Alzheimer's Disease at the end of their lives and didn't know my name or who I was, the few times I got to visit, I loved to tease them so that I could hear their laugh. They both seemed back to their normal selves when I heard their laugh.

Songs of course take me back to certain parts of my life. I probably have burned holes in certain CDs from listening to a particular song over and over and over and over again....it might be my OCD!! I have recently looked at my iTunes song statistics, and I have listened to some songs like 80 times, and only other songs like 10 times. Those songs that I have listened to 80 times were probably listened to back to back to back for at least 15 times in a row at some point in my life.

There are too many to name here, but one song that particularly comes to mind when thinking about memories is Angel by Sarah McLachlan. That song will always take me back to when Bonfire collapsed during my sophomore year at A&M. I heard I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me this morning on the radio and it took me back to the car ride we had as we were going to my Grandma's viewing at the funeral home. I teared up as I thought of her dancing with Jesus or just sitting in awe as she entered Heaven.

Today I added some awesome new sound memories into my brain. Hari, the sweet mother of the Bhutanese family we volunteer with, read the story of Noah. I bought their kindergarten son a hardback children's book about Noah and the ark last year, and they usually bring that book out for us to read. Although my heart breaks that she doesn't know the God that brought the flood to kill all the wicked people but saved Noah, his family, and the animals, I had an opportunity to show her a glimpse of a Bible story. I continue to pray for this sweet family to come to know my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope that a future memory I have is hearing Hari pray to the Lord Jesus Christ because she has accepted Him as her personal savior.