Down memory lane

While growing up, the Moyer kids were greeted with the voices of Ranger Bill and Uncle Charlie as we descended the stairs on Saturday mornings. It was food for our mind and soul as we munched on Cheerios or Rice Krispies, the two cereal staples at 1324 [West Main]. Dad sat in his rocking chair by the open radiator with a newspaper, laughing loudly every once in a while so I'd know he was listening. Mom stood by the counter with the mixer running and spatula in hand whipping up a homemade bakery item. With the heat of the oven on my back, my favorite spot at the big kitchen table on a winter morning was "Dad's seat" at the head. It's a scene I can relive in my mind's eye with no trouble -- it was every Saturday morning. While I sipped my orange juice, the radio blared with exciting adventure stories and upbeat, children's music. Even though it's years later, I wouldn't be surprised if Saturday mornings at 1324 are still filled with the same sounds from the radio.

The boys and I have enjoyed some books on tape we were given through freecycle recently. And, it reminded me of these programs from my past. I even found some of the old Children's Bible Hour and Patch the Pirate cassettes that I was "keeping for my kids". Weird that the time has come to share them. This morning as we were listening to CBH's program from 1988 and the cassette screeched and struggled to play correctly, I had to wonder what happened to Uncle Charlie. A little google search landed me on their site and now I know all about Down Gilead Lane -- it looks like I have six seasons of episodes to listen to if I want to catch up on the storyline. (Oh, yeah - this was about the kids!) Another search landed me on the Ranger Bill Fan Club, where you can listen online to the latest episode through HisKidsRadio.Net. WOW! I was pleasantly surprised that these shows have made into the next generation of kiddos and that they've moved into the technological age -- DGL even has a podcast. Awesome. After a quick online order of Keys for Kids and a little listen of Ranger Bill (gotta love Stumpy and I could still repeat the opening word-for-word with all the right tones), I'm so grateful for these ministries in my life as a kid and thankful that our Saturday mornings were filled with these voices. A little something to pass on to my kids.