Hakuna Matata!

I think I'll just let the videos speak for themselves!

 

Troy singing Hakuna Matata from Lisa Kennedy on Vimeo.

Hakuna Matata! from Lisa Kennedy on Vimeo.

Troy’s Lullaby

I’ve never been very fond of the traditional lullaby that I know. Something about the words isn’t very settling to me.

Rock a bye baby on the treetop

When the wind blows the cradle will rock

When the bow breaks the cradle will fall

And down will come cradle, baby and all.

Needless to say, although I sing a lot to my children, that isn’t one of the songs you’ll hear in our home. Instead, our home is generally filled with spiritual songs ranging from songs about prayer to creation to the Bible (Ella’s favorite right now is a song about Noah, Jonah, and Daniel).

Singing definitely has a calming influence over Troy – he especially loves to hear me sing. Interestingly enough, Troy even has a favorite song – I call it his lullaby. He can be crying and terribly upset, and this song will often calm him down, even when other songs do not. We’ve even encouraged Ella enough to sing it to him that when he starts crying, she’ll often start singing his lullaby to him: “Jesus Loves Me.”

Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong,

We are weak, but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

The Bible tells me so.

Although it is just a simple tune, I appreciate the truths that I presented in it – especially the fact that we know these things because the Bible “tells us so.” I must always strive to do the things that God instructs through His Word, and remember that my knowledge of Him comes from His Word.

Singing to Ella: Bible Songs

This past quarter, I taught Ella's cradle roll Bible class. During that time, I learned a number of great songs to teach her about spiritual things. While the songs are very simple, many have great messages embedded in them, teaching important spiritual lessons. Here are a few of the songs about the Bible that we sang during Bible class, and that I also sing to her on a daily basis.

• This is the Bible, God's written word.
  It tells that God loves us, it tells that God made us.
  This is the Bible, God's written word.
  
  
• The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me
  I'll stand upon the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E.
  
  
• (Tune: Mary had a little lamb)
  Read your Bible, pray everyday, pray everyday, pray everyday.

Forming My Relationship with Ella

Ella and I have both had a cold the past few days, and I've almost completely lost my voice from it. I've lost my voice so bad that my husband can't really hear me sitting on the next couch over from me. This is the first time that I've lost my voice since I've had Ella, and it made me realize something - I sing to Ella a lot. I sing spiritual songs and educational songs to her. Sometimes I sing crazy things to her that probably only a mom can understand (I'm not kidding when I say I sing songs about changing her clothing or changing her diaper, but you do what you do to make a baby smile!).

Losing my voice also made me realize that I talk to Ella a lot. I talk to her about many different things ranging from the silly to the serious. I know you are probably thinking, how serious can a conversation with a 9-month old be? But honestly, I talk to her about things she doesn't understand yet and things she won't understand for many more years to come, but a large part of my conversation with her is a training process for me. I need to be able to talk to her about silly things and about serious things. I need to be able to talk to her about physical things and spiritual things. I need to be able to talk to her not only so I can form a very special relationship with her, but also so that my husband and I can bring her up in the Lord.

In a Christian parenting book I read recently called Your Mama Don't Dance, the authors (Glenn and Cindy Colley) make the point that parents who get the attention of their teens are the parents who gave attention to their toddlers. It is important to me to start forming my relationship with my daughter now, while she is still young. I highly recommend Your Mama Don't Dance- this book has given me many great ideas for raising children in the Lord. One of the authors, Cindy Colley, also has a blog you might want to check out.