Our Mom was awesome

Let me take a minute to just say thank you to our Mom, Betty Landes. She was definitely the coolest mom ever. I have sooooo many great memories about mom from when I was a kid. Some noteworthy ones are being chased around the couch until my legs fell off and I wet my pants from laughing so hard, being held down by her and dad while the remaining food from my bowl of hash and grits was ACTUALLY being rubbed on my belly and Buttons (our dog) licking it off, playing tennis in the street with mom, playing smashball with mom, playing catch with any ball I so desired with mom....you get the idea. Well, today, as I was spending a few minutes in my Bible, I came upon a verse that stirred up a vivid memory of mom for me. In fact, I realized that everytime I read the verse, I can never even make it half way through before I am no longer following along on the page but am, instead, singing it. The memory is of mom putting us to bed each night when we were really young, and the verse is 1John 4:7&8. This verse apparently was formed into a short song somewhere along the way, and mom knew it by heart. So each night she would sing it to us just before we went to sleep:
"Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God and everyone who loves, has been born of God, and knows God. He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love. So, beloved, let us love one another, first John four seven and eight." Those of you who do not know the tune, just ask one of us three boys (I would guess that Matt and Gabe remember it). Anyways, if she ever forgot to sing it, I would stop her before she left and ask her to sing it to me. What a great memory, and a great way to learn some scripture. She also recited Psalm 23 with us and would pray for us every night...and yes it is true, she also prayed for our future wives outloud with us, even when we were to young to like girls.