Lullaby

I grew up with a very elaborate and wonderful bedtime routine. My mom would tell us to "Go up the golden stairs" (which she was told as a child because of the carpet color, but the command worked just the same even with our blue carpet.) We would put on our PJs - which for me was usually just an oversized big t-shirt, brush our teeth and then we were allowed to pick out a "little stack of books" to read before the lights went out.

Oftentimes our stacks involved Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, The Little Mouse and the Red Ripe Strawberry, and a collection of the books we picked out at the library. And usually the stack was too big and we would have to "put two back". But then she would read. My mom is an excellent out-loud reader. She actually does professional voice over work now, so you can imagine how amazing this was as a child. Every book had drama, special voices, accents and even dull narrative was captivating.

Then while stroking our hair and scratching our back with her perfectly rounded long adult fingernails - our heads would hit the pillow. And in the dark of the room she would sing to us. Lullaby after lullaby as we drifted off to sleep in our warm cozy rooms.

It was a dream. Pun intended.

 Felix has a similar routine. He is still young, but for consistency and to help regulate his nighttime sleep (Which we had such a hard time with for soo long) we followed it to a tee. Bathtime (long or short depending on how sleepy Felix is. A fresh diaper and slathered in lotion/coconut oil. Cozy PJs and then a quick read through Time for Bed book. Finally, family prayer time and then lights out for nursing and of course, lullabies.

Here is a list of the Lullabies I sing. I mix up the order and repeat each song a few times or sing multlpe verses of each song. Sometimes I add a few extra songs that have been playing in my heart to sing over my wee-one, but this is the standard list.

Down In the Valley
Amazing Grace
Irish Blessing
Godspeed Little Man
Baby Mine
Rain Drops on Roses

Actually - better than a list, here is a video of me singing a bit of each song. Unedited, and spontaneously done this morning with no planning and no makeup - eek! Of course, since they are lullabies, they aren't sung full voice.  Hope you find a good song in here that you can sing to your baby as you rock them to sleep while they are still small enough to want you to.

Enjoy!

)

An Artist that Moves Me

I’m a musician. I live in music city. I’ve been here for nearly 4 years. I’ve been to tons of performances. Only count 4 of those performances have stuck with me. One was the 2^nd to last show that Nickel Creek played on their final tour as a band. They are brilliant musicians and the fact that I saw them play one of their final performances as a group made and already gorgeous experience all the more epic.

The other three concerts were John Mark McMillan. Twice at a little church called the Anchor Fellowship and once this past Tuesday at 12^th and Porter downtown Nashville.

Photo Credit my friend and fellow Franklin Vineyard Worship Leader, Mark Young.

I’ve been listening to John Mark since my sister-in-law casually put on the album Songs inside the Sound of Breaking Down during a road trips out west with the Michael clan in 2005. All that I thought I knew about worship and songwriting went right out the 15 passenger window when I heard JM shout/sing “Son of David, Don’t Pass me by. Cause I am naked. I’m poor and I’m Blind!” in his song “Closer” I couldn't stop listening to the album.

In 2007 John Mark played at the Call in Nashville. He told the story of how he wrote the song “How He Loves Us”. The story is intense. And powerful. I wasn’t there in 2007 as it was the day after my wedding, but I’ve seen the raw and gritty video of his performance and was deeply touched. Here's a "clip" (it's 10 mins. long but doesn't have the whole song)




About a year later my sister-in-law sent me a link to a video and said “you have to watch this.” Work was slow that day so I clicked the link. Turns out it was the same song “How He Loves Us” but sung by a girl named Kim Walker. By the end of the song I was sitting at my desk at work weeping (silently…which is pretty awkward... and another story altogether.) overwhelmed at what I had just heard. Rocked to my core I realized what true encounter with Jesus in worship was for the first time that day.

There is massive anointing on this song…and on this girl.



Since Kim recorded the song, John Mark has sky rocketed. He has put out another amazing album, The Medicine, and is working on a 4^th to be released later this year. He is signed to Integrity Music. David Crowder has recorded “How He Loves Us” and the deeply poetic and emotional song with so much truth is sung in most churches today.


The concert on Tuesday was awesome. I’m a little disappointed that he didn’t have his new album available during his tour (so main stream of him to wait till after the tour to release it), but the bits he played during the show proved that it will not disappoint.

John Mark is not the greatest singer in the world, but i've decided thats part of what I like about him. He writes the truth of Jesus mixed with the ugly and gross parts of life that Christians often try and hide and in doing so, has opened up a whole new revelation of Grace mixed with passion. He has changed the way my generation worships and i freaking love it.


What music is moving you today?

45 Mins. of Singing Bliss

There are few things in this world that I enjoy more than musical and movie soundtracks. I tend to enjoy the soundtracks even more than the actual musical or movie themselves sometimes. Last Friday night I spent about 15 minutes singing various songs from all sorts of movies, TV Shows, and Broadway shows to my housemates challenging them to see if they could guess where the song came from (I know, we are a rowdy bunch right?). It was so much fun. Surprisingly, my husband knew a lot of the music from childhood Disney movies. Not from watching the movies himself but probably because I have sang them to him so often.

I also found that singing music from Broadway or my favorite Disney movie (read: The Little Mermaid/Beauty and the Beast) entertains and pleases my little live-in niece Ayla (who is now a cute 8.5 weeks old and a whopping 14+ lbs. Gotta love her!) It was one of the most fun things to see how docile and sweet she can been when I sing these songs to her. I babysat her on Sunday while her parents took a much needed nap. I think we spent a a whole 45 mins of her not crying but smiling at me as I sang some of my favorite tunes from the sliver screen/big stage. Children really do boost self-esteem.

But, never-the-less she eventually got bored and I had to distract her with shiny things (read: her swing, the tan and brown leaf pillows she loves, a wall sconce, boucing around, "Shhing" etc.). And then she pooped...everywhere! (EVERYWHERE!!! read: it got in her hair) I didn't mind changing her though for 3 reasons...

1. She is my cute little niece whom I love.
2. It was kinda funny.
   
3. She let me sing broadway to her for 45 mins and didn't complain...It's hard to find people like that nowadays.

What Do I Want From Them?

I starting "writing" in my head a little bit yesterday. I am beginning to believe I need a tape recorder handy to get this stuff down somewhere. Today I was thinking, what do I want to get out of my songs? I don't want to sell hundreds or thousands of CDs. I don't want to makes tons of money and I don't want fame from my music...

Here is what I have decided want from my songs.
I want to write songs that move people into a deeper relationship with the Lord. I want them to ignite corporate and personal worship. I want them to move me. I want them to move others. I want them to be dynamic and not fall flat like so many songs do. I want them to be gripping and poetic, but not in a "Shel Sliverstien way" where everything has to rhyme. I want them to pull someone into the place where they can meet the Lord in an intimate and powerful way. I want them to be from a heart that is searching but inspired by the creative reamls of heaven so they lead the lost to Jesus. I want them to bring a joyful and pleasing sound to the Lord's ear.

my iPod

So I kinda feel like my iPod has been sending me subliminal messages. For about two weeks now I have had the urge to get back into writing music. I wrote like 5 songs in college, made a weird demo CD in a dorm room and never went back. I did pass a few of said demos out to friends and family just for fun.

Randomlly this week a friend I haven't spoken to in a really long time facebooked me and told me she has been listening to my demo CD for like a week straight and wanted to know if I was working on anything new. I told her not really, but I would let her know.

After that conversation my iPod, which is on shuffle everyday while I am at work, starts to shuffle to MY 3 song demo CD like 2 times a day... Now, the concept of the "shuffle songs" feature is that you iPod is supposed to randomly play through all the songs that are on your iPod. However, I find it ironc that I don't remember EVER hearing my songs on my iPod before this conversation and now it keeps going back to my 3 songs....

It's kinda strange, but, it is effective. I am pretty sure I am going to start writing again...and soon.