The pre-teen years weren’t easy for me (we’re they easy for
anybody?). My family moved from Utah to Virginia
and Jr. High was a challenge. I grew
like a weed and was awkward in my new body. I came
from a large family of nine children and was teased at school for being
Mormon. Some days I just wanted to stay
home with my little brothers and sisters and play dress-up.
When I was 14, my family moved from Virginia
to Mesa, Arizona. I didn’t know anyone and sometimes felt alone. I started playing tennis and ran around the
track every day. I met a few friends and
started feeling like I could fit in.
I meet a friend named Daryl Smith, read more about Daryl
here (Daryl is the editor of
Seeing the Everyday) who introduced me
to the music of Kenneth Cope. Kenneth is
a member of the Mormon Church and writes songs about Jesus. I played his tapes around the house and was
amazed at the message of his songs.
Finding Christ, reaching out to others, being kind and seeing heaven all
around us were so inspiring. I felt my
testimony for the Savior grow.
Kenneth’s music played a significant role in how I felt
about myself and where I was going with my life. It was easier to keep difficult days in
perspective and I would sing along while cleaning my room or doing homework. Soon, my brother’s and sister’s were
requesting I play his music whenever I was home.
I also played the piano and spent hours each day learning
Kenneth’s songs. I saved up babysitting
money and purchased the print music to
His Hands and
Never a Better Hero and
others. My mom would stand by my side,
encouraging me and singing along. This
is how I spent a lot of my time in the evening.
I eventually started writing my own piano music. A neighbor of mine named Crystal wrote poetry. We started collaborating and wrote beautiful
compositions together. When I was 16, I
auditioned to be the pianist for a musical group called Sound Celebration. The group
performed not just in Mesa,
but around the country. Kenneth Cope’s
music was used in most of our performances, as our goal was to draw people
closer to Jesus.
When I was 23, I turned in my mission papers and was called
to serve in the Temple Square
Mission. I played a lot of Kenneth Cope’s music as I
prepared to serve the Lord. His music
kept me focused and the spirit stayed close to my heart.
So . . . you can imagine my joy and utter happiness when
almost a year into my mission, Kenneth Cope came to speak to the over 200 sister
missionaries on Temple Square.
He spoke for about an hour on how he
developed his testimony and what he has learned about Christ from reading the
scriptures. He than asked if we would
like to hear him sing a few songs. I was
the mission pianist, so my mission president asked if I would accompany Kenneth
while he sang. Of course I had been
playing Kenneth’s music for years, but never did I think I would be playing
while he sang. I was nervous, but more
excited. Kenneth was kind and humble and
I learned so much about Christ because of his visit to my mission.
Several years after I married the counselor, we decided to go
to Utah and visit
Temple Square. At the time we had three little boys and stayed
in Park City.
The day we decided to visit Temple
Square, we drove through the canyons down the
mountain to Salt Lake City. My heart was full of joy, ready to share my
mission for the first time with my husband and small children. We drove past This is the Place, a landmark honoring where the first pioneers
arrived with Brigham Young. The story is
when they arrived in the Utah
Valley, Brigham Young
said “This is the place.” I’d always
wanted to see the monument, so we took a slight detour and toured the
grounds. While walking, I heard Kenneth
Cope singing. At first I thought I was
dreaming, and then maybe it was his CD being played over the loud speaker, but
after a few minutes I realized it was live.
He was really him singing. I told
the counselor I had to find him. I was
like a bloodhound, walking from one end of the grounds to the next and finally
found Kenneth, along with his band, rehearsing in a large barn. I stood in the doorway and listened as he
finished a song. My eyes were full of
tears and I explained to my son Chandler
why I was crying.
“That man up there taught me about Jesus,” I said. I cautionsly approached Kenneth (I didn’t
want to interrupt, but I had to!) and a bit emotional, I re-introduced myself to
him. He was so gracious and after
visiting a few minutes, he invited me to stay and listen while he and his band
finished rehearsing. It was the highlight of
my trip back to my mission.
You can see how this man and his gift for writing music
affected me. I can’t think of any other
musician who has ever meant more.
Kenneth Cope is one of my hero’s.
Fast forward to this summer, where I have spent over four
months helping my mom, author
Sarah Hinze write her biography in a book we’ve
titled
The Memory Catcher. More on this to come! Her publisher
Spring Creek Book Company will
be publishing
The Memory Catcher in
October 2012.
Throughout her life, my mom desired to know God and what He
wanted her to do with her life when after a miscarriage, she had a
“pre-birth experience” (PBE). The child she lost came to her as an angel,
reassuring everything would be alright.
After the encounter, my mom wondered if other mothers had seen their
unborn children in dreams or visions before their children were born. She distributed flyers throughout her town and
within a few days, a woman who had seen her own unborn child shared her story
with my mom.
Since then my mom has interviewed individuals from around
the world and chronicled many of these types of communication from
children before they are born.
Years later, she had published several books. Her
work has provided significant evidence that unborn children can warn, protect
and enlighten us from the spirit realm. Most often these children appear
to announce it is their time to be born. This communication can occur between
the child and a parent, sibling, aunt, uncle, or grandparent, etc., as they come
to warn, protect and enlighten.
Her first book Coming from the Light was published
nearly 20 years ago. Later, she
published Life before Life (Pocket
Books) with Simon & Schuster.
My mom's latest book,
We lived in Heaven, was given to Kenneth Cope by a mutual friend. Well, Kenneth read the book and contacted my mom, hoping some day they could meet. Since my mom and I were
already collaborating on her biography and had planned a trip up to
Utah, we meet
Kenneth Cope together. Here we our with his sweet family.
It was a dream come true. I finally had time to tell Kenneth
what his music meant to me. Kenneth is
one of my hero’s and I am now sharing his music with my children. While we were together, he played a few songs on his guitar, one of them being Broken.
I hope you will take the time to listen to a
few of his songs I have linked up.
Thank
you, Kenneth for sharing your talent with the world. It has made all the difference in mine.
we were able to try out the Goo Gone Product and it WORKED. See original post here. Well, now it's your turn! Goo Gone is giving readers a chance to participate in the Goo Gone Passion Contest. All you do is visit Goo Gone's Facebook page here and enter information about your hobby or passion. The winner will receive a gooed up item that correlates with their particular passion and some product to “undo the goo.” One past participant even received a Bar-B-Que! Head on over to Facebook and get signed up Now! Hope it's one of our readers that wins. Good luck. Love, Kelly
