When I turned 2 years, Mom quoted me as saying I “made ‘hot dogs’ at Sunday School.  She added that at home, I “took orders like a waitress, suggesting foods and writing them down.”   My mom also said I would “take a round stick and play it as a guitar, or anything else she imagines.”  I had many musical instruments to choose from – “guitar” (banjo), piano, recorder, harmonica, violin – I called it “sawing” with the bow.   My favorite was the piano which I took lessons until my 9^th grade in High School when I replaced piano with voice lessons.

 I was born with a creative mind and mom said, I was “definitely an original!”   At 12 months, she wrote that I was “very aggressive in play.”  She continued by adding that I “loved other children and sometimes wanted their toys!”  I would “rush up (to the child) and say, “Hi-dy”.  That sounds just like a friendly tiger, right?   From an early age, I had my own way of doing things and mom wrote, “At 1 year, she says ‘no-no-no’ and keeps right on doing what I told her not to!  When I spank her leg for it, she bursts into tears as though her heart would break!”   I always have taken criticism hard and still shed tears when I have disappointed someone important to me.  This is probably something I will have to work on my entire life, and that is why I am constantly needing God’s mercy and grace. 

 At the time I was born, the most popular song was “Talk With The Animals” and the most popular dance was The “Boo-ga-loo.”  Mom said I “memorized any song I heard – like the ‘alphabet song’ at 2 years old; and I could recite “The Lord’s Prayer” emphasizing “… deliver us from eagles”.   At 20 months, I could count from 1 to 10 and at 24 months I could count up to 5 in Spanish and sing parts of “La Cucaracha” and “Frere Jacques”.  I always loved Spanish and learning other languages.   A funny fact, I could suck on my big toe at 6 months.  Remember the nursery rhyme, “Eenie Meenie Miny Moe – catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollers let him go.”   Mom said I loved “to take a bath” but I disliked having “to go to bed”.  I also love to “ride anywhere in the car” and at 13 months I was speaking sentences and saying, “Go bye bye.”   At 24 months, Mom wrote that “I would kneel by my baby bed to say my prayers and sing the chorus of “Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus”.   The song, “God Is My GRRR” is not just Pookey Tiger’s song, its my personal theme song.   Written in the spirit of the 23^rd Psalm where King David recounts all the ways that God has provided him with food, shelter and protection throughout his entire life.   In a similar way (sung by Pookey Tiger), God has provided for all my needs and sustained me when I was weak and in need of His provision and strength.  That is the GRRR that Pookey Tiger is singing about, which can only come from a personal Lord and Savior who is acquainted with our spirit and nourishes us as only He can.