This week we’ve welcomed our third child, Samuel “Rivers” Holcomb, into the world - our little family is overflowing with love, and it’s got me thinking about sweet lullabies. Working on an album of songs for kids has been so fun because I’m always singing to my kids as we go through our days, so this music feels like a natural outflow of our everyday lives. My precious little girl loves for me to sing to her at night. Reading books, praying, and singing with my kids before bed are some of my favorite moments of the day. My kids know this and so they often ask for me to put them to bed instead of their dad because I am a TOTAL pushover when it comes to “one more book” and “one more song” requests…side note: SO thankful for Drew’s consistency….if I were the only one putting the kids to bed every night , they might never get to sleep! He is so good for all of us, bringing both fun and order on a daily basis to our home. I’m the more flighty/less time oriented one.
A few months back, Emmylou was asking me to sing for her, but I was really sick with a wicked cold and I was in the middle of a run of shows with more to come, and my voice was shot. I tried to explain that I couldn't sing for her that night, and she was sad about it. I was sad too, and then suddenly it hit me! I have made a whole lot of recordings of me singing that I could play for her! Hilarious. Yes, this is my job. So I opened up Spotify and started making a playlist for my girl (which you can find below). I picked songs that were softer and slower from each one of my records, and I started it all off with As Sure As the Sun, because that’s the song I sing to her almost every night. You’ll notice that there are a few other songs in the mix. La La Lu by Peggy Lee from Lady in the Tramp and an instrumental of Moon River played by my husband’s guitar and keys player, Nathan Dugger. Those two songs have made it consistently into the nighttime lullabies that we sing to our kids. I named the playlist “Sleep, baby, Sleep, “ and Emmylou now requests her “sleep music” every night after we finish our bedtime routine.
That night , I held my girl as we listened to my music. She fell asleep after about 3 or 4 songs, but I kept holding her and listened with tears streaming down my face. Most of the songs I’ve written are simply truths and promises from God’s word that I so easily forget. As I held Emmylou, I was reminded that I am held by a good Father who will never let me go, and I thanked Him that even when I have to leave home to go do the job He’s called me to in this season, I can leave my kids with the songs FULL of His truth that He’s given me. What a gift. I can’t believe I haven’t thought of it before, but I think this playlist has helped both me and my girl. She falls asleep hearing her mom sing every night, whether or not I’m in town, and I get to know that no matter if I’m there singing over her in person or I’m far away singing to a crowd in another city, there is sweet truth from God’s word being sung over her precious heart each night.
So I wanted to share this playlist with you ! It’s been a gift to our family and I pray it will be a gift to yours too! Cheers to sleeping babies, and to big and little hearts RESTING in the promises of our good God.
P.S. I also realized a few weeks after creating this playlist that I am totally getting paid to put my kids to bed each night by playing a lot of my songs on Spotify every night! Amazing. I guess that’s one of those perks to the job I’ve never thought about before! ;)