Me and my mom :)

When I was in high school, I was really active in my church youth group, mainly for the fun activities like beach trips and hay rides. But in order to do the fun stuff, we had to do the service projects like visiting a local nursing home.

I remember feeling good about caroling up the corridors and talking with the residents because, as we were told, many of them had few, if any, visitors. That made up for the odd smells and uneasiness of speaking to the people who didn’t seem to notice. And many of them even seemed to enjoy our being there.

Well, I recently had the opportunity to go back to the very same nursing home after all these years. My mom asked me to sing with her on Friday, June 11, at one of her monthly visits. She and my dad, Danny and Nancye Ricketts, are founding ministers at Victory Family Church, and as part of their outreach, they visit the nursing home regularly to speak, sing, and pray with the residents who are able to join them in the activity area.

It was a good experience for the most part. My dad opened the meeting and introduced me. (“She’s an English teacher,” he said, my mom backing him up: “Yes, she’s an English teacher, but we love her anyway!” :P) Many of the people who were there were singing along with us and saying “Amen” when my mom was reading scriptures and talking.

But it was sad, too. The same odd smells . . . and seeing a lot of them looking asleep or otherwise engaged. One lady made strange noises the whole time. And another woke up after we finished, yelling what sounded like, “Hey! Hey! What in the world are you doing?”

Like my mom reminded me, though, we don’t really know how much they hear by the way they respond. We just have to do the best we can to help and hope that they get something positive from it.

Okay, on to the “concert.”

I set up the H2 recorder over to the side (where I could find an available, albeit dusty and hidden, outlet) and didn’t realize until then that there wasn’t enough space left on it to record the whole thing, so I decided to just record the music.

My mom played her keyboard and we sang through microphones plugged into a amplified lectern. The songs were mostly old gospel hymns that we ran through quickly the night before at their church. You may just recognize a few of them. ;)

Victory in Jesus: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/01-victory-in-jesus.mp3|loop=no]
Amazing Grace: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/02-amazing-grace.mp3|loop=no]
Love Lifted Me: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/03-love-lifted-me.mp3|loop=no]
I’ve Got a River of Life: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/04-ive-got-a-river-of-life.mp3|loop=no]
‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/05-tis-so-sweet-to-trust-in-jesus.mp3|loop=no]
In the Name of the Lord: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/06-in-the-name-of-the-lord.mp3|loop=no]
I Must Tell Jesus: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/07-i-must-tell-jesus.mp3|loop=no]
Just a Closer Walk with Thee: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/08-just-a-closer-walk-with-thee.mp3|loop=no]
Something About That Name: [audio:pineyforesthealthcare-2010-06-11/09-something-about-that-name.mp3|loop=no]