How Great Thou Art

So we are in a stage where our youngest is teething and our older two have decided not to really do a thing that mommy and daddy say. Patience is indeed a virtue. When you do not have kids you laugh at parents in the mall saying "Jimmy I'm going to count to three and you better - Jimmy I'm serious! Let go of the - JIMMY -- FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY GET DOWN FROM.....Jimmy I'm going to count to three. One, Twoooooooo - JIMMY GET YOUR FINGER OUT OF YOUR SISTER'S NOSE THIS INSTANT...."

Well you get the picture. I swore early on as a childless father that I would never be "that guy" at the mall. "Kids should just obey you when you tell them to do something" was my belief and mantra.

Enter the kids - toss the mantra out the window. I now understand that the parents were not counting for the benefit of the children. The parents were counting so that they wouldn't unwind like a spring on an overwound clock.

Timeout is a joke, spanking doesn't work. Parents are forced to become "that guy" at the mall.

Therefore I am in the process of writing a song to the tune of "How Great Thou Art". This is probably the most beautiful gospel song ever written. It has been a part of my life as long as I can remember which is back to the age of about 3 or 4 when I sang it in church. To this day I find myself singing it or whistling it as I work through a stressful moment in life. If you don't know that song, listen to the great Elvis singing here >> LINK.

This song is initially titled "Then Screams My Child..."

THEN SCREAMS MY CHILD
By: The Dude

When I lay down
at 1:30 in the morning,
my bones weary from
working all day long.

You start to cry
and scream and shout
real loudly, my ears
begin to bleed real
badly from deep within.

So I get up and
stumble to your bedroom,
I pick you up and
hold you close and
start to sway.

--CHORUS--
Then screams my child
My God you are so loud.
The neighbors wake and
our pets run around.

It never stops -
from 6 am to
7 or 8pm I pray that
you will stop and
give my ears a rest.


I'm going to count
to one and two and three-
and maybe four or five
if I am really tense.

It's not for you
that I count so clearly -
It is for me and
myself all alone...



That's all I got so far but hopefully I can get the lyrics cleaned up and get Josh Groban to sing it...