This is probably one of my favorite songs we’ve ever written. Usually the worship songs we write are inspired by a psalm or come out of our own personal worship time, but this one came out of a really moving picture the Father gave me while Tim and I were leading worship at a fellowship in Boulder, Colorado.

My kids–well, Ellie–insisted on being a part of this one, so we put her on a chair and let her dance and be a kid. And, you know, since it’s a mommy blog and all, I figured you’d probably like it that way.

I hope you enjoy it. As always, feel free to share it on Twitter or Facebook or whatever and spread the love. Happy Good Song Sunday, my favorite day of the week!

If you like this song and want to listen to it all the time, you can download it here for free. Yep, for free.

Mud Song

Isn’t it just like you to invite me in to a warm bed
Isn’t it just like you to stroke my hair as I fall asleep

Father you made me yours
Found my orphan heart, brought it home
And I’m safe here and I sing

Isn’t it just like you to make a slave into your daughter
Isn’t it just like you to make wine out of dirty water

I used to live in chains
My wounds bled to the ground
My bed was out in the rain
My hair in knots and soaked in mud
But you took my hand
And you led me in
You combed my hair
And you kissed my skin
You gave me food
And you made me yours

Mud Song by Laura Elizabeth Thornton, Timothy Floyd Thornton copyright Bricklayer Music Publishing (ASCAP) 2009, registered with CCLI

Tim thinks it should be renamed “the going back into the womb wrap,” because that’s exactly what happens.

Here’s the thing about me: I don’t like double strollers. They’re huge, they don’t fit through doorways and if they do, it feels like forever before I get the whole thing through the door. So before Emma was born I did some research into different wraps and slings and things so that I could keep pushing just the single stroller.

After much research, I settled on the Moby. I’ve never been sorry.

When Emma was a newborn, she’d settle in to the thing and after a couple of seconds, she’d be out. And not like 5 minutes out–we’re talking 2 hours out. I could walk all over town, sit down for lunch with friends, clean the kitchen at home with her tucked away in the wrap, all the while taking care of Ellie, too.

And now that she’s older, if she’s in it facing me, she falls asleep. If she’s in it facing out, she’s having fun looking at the surroundings. It’s so versatile, so easy, so fabulous.

And not only that, for all those hours I spent walking with her strapped to me there was hardly any body pain to speak of. I can only think of one time on an all-day trek through the farmer’s market and beyond that I started to ache a little in my lower back. Maybe that’ll change the older and bigger she gets, but it hasn’t yet.

Really the only downsides that I’ve found are that it’s a little tricky to get the baby into by myself, and it takes some practice getting used to wrapping it the different ways. And that people around town started getting a little frustrated that they never saw the baby…she was always so cozy and happy in the wrap I never took her out!

If I could, I’d buy one for everyone I know. You can buy it here:

This is the part of the season where my heart breaks. Not so much for the bachelor, who is surrounded by 25 beautiful women with complete permission to make out with each one as much as he wants to. And not so much for the catty, back-biting female relationships that develop between the women–I mean, they went on a national television show to compete with 25 other women for the same man, what do they expect? Nor does my heart break for the lost love as each one is sent home. Again, what did they expect?

What breaks my heart is the depth of the wounds that are exposed as the season gets more intense, feelings get more intense, and both the women and the bachelor are prodded and poked and broken open for the whole country to see. It doesn’t take much spiritual discernment to see the lies of the enemy that some of these women and their shared man have agreed with for, who knows, maybe their whole lives? Isn’t it usually at emotionally stressed times that our beliefs about ourselves start to surface? It’s hard enough to be confronted with that stuff when you’re not on national television. But these ladies stand in front of the camera, mascara smeared from tears, and confess with their mouths what they believe about themselves and what they expect from their futures: that their relationships have always been this way and they will always end up rejected.

We saw it last week with Gia, the most recent girl to get the ax, whose sweet spirit and kind heart I really came to love, as she drove away in the limo. We heard it as she rolled her experience with Jake in with the rest of her ruined relationships: “I finally open up; this is what always happens.” Such a sweet heart believing such terrible lies, making such a damaging judgment against herself. That once she lets someone really see her, once she puts herself on the line–once she puts herself out there, in Bachelor-speak–rejection is right around the corner.

It’s at this point that I yell to the TV, “You are meant for so much more than that! Don’t believe it!” Then I swear I’ll never watch the show again, again.

Without fail, my husband pipes up behind me asking his weekly question: “Lolo, what do you expect from a show about a bizarre, unnatural televised courtship between one man and 25 women?” But by this point, it’s too late for me to break away, I’m friends with the women, I’m in too deep, and I must know what happens.

Here’s my prediction for next week: it will happen like it always happens. Most of these guys, and our Jake is no exception, choose two very different women. The first, we’ll call her Woman #1, is the young, carefree, unpredictable girl who makes his somewhat immature, irresponsible, risk-taking, she-makes-me-feel-like-nothing-else-matters, wild side come out. She ignites the emotions, the fireworks, the whole nine yards. This girl, unfortunately, usually doesn’t know who she is and needs a man to make her feel okay. The second, Woman #2, is, as far as we viewers can tell, the girl whose relationship with him might actually have a chance. This one has usually lived some life already and knows more of who she is and what she wants. Usually, though, she’s a little more predictable, a little less wild and a little less exciting. And Jake, I think, like the other Bachelors before him, will choose the excitement of Woman #1.

Oh, Jake. What will you do with such a decision? Well, whatever you decide next week at the finale, me and my girlfriends, dressed up like our favorite Bachelor babes from the season, will be watching.

Welcome back, me.

Sorry I’ve been noticeably absent . . . that’s what sick kids and a bunch of traveling, house guests, and concerts will do to a blogger. But here we are again–you the reader, and me the writer. We need each other. And I’m remembering that this blog is one of my favorite things to do.

This Good Song Sunday song is written by Aaron Strumpel. If you don’t have his music already, you’re crazy and you need to go buy everything he’s ever done. I’m totally serious. You can do that here: www.aaronstrumpel.com

Oh, and I’m going to tell you, too, that you can block off your calendars for June 25-27 for Worship@8500 in Divide, CO where Aaron, Tim and I, and many of our other music-playing, worship-loving friends will be having fun worshiping the Father together with you in the Colorado sun.

Twenty-Three

Arise O Lord lift up your eyes don’t forget I’m helpless

O you lead me to waters and pastures so green

O you pour out your oil and choose goodness and mercy for me

No I will not be in want

You’re with me. I will not fear. You comfort me. I will not fear.

I’m really excited about this Good Song Sunday post because I get to introduce you to three of my beautiful mommy friends! Amy Dale, Michelle Patterson, and Cathleen Hobson wrote this song together and the video was shot on Friday night, when they debuted as the band “Yer Mom” at an open mic night here in town.

Here’s a note from Michelle (the one in the middle) about the song and how they wrote it in the midst of 11 kids between them:

We were sitting around watching kids together on Sunday afternoon while the husbands watched a football game somewhere else.  We started talking music and I played this half-baked song for Cath and Amy.  We decided to try and finish it right then, amidst kid chaos and husband absentness.  We hammered it out in an hour and it was a blast.  In retrospect, it seems like a mistake because now our husbands will expect that kind of creativity out of us when they leave us alone with all of the kids again.

Trust me. You want absolutely every piece of music these ladies have put out. And you can find them together at  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/wwfellowship and you can find more of Michelle at www.barryandmichelle.com.

MAKESHIFT

There’s something makeshift about you baby
I don’t mean shifty, I mean improvised
barely hanging on

There’s some kind of need in your eyes
I don’t mean needy, I mean longing for
a partner for your crime

There’s some kind of danger in your wake
I don’t mean danger for it’s sake
You’re just too glad to be alive

You might not have a plan
Deal me in cuz
Baby I’m your man
Even if you lose another hand
Love is not a game
All the same
I’m all in

There’s some kind of careless in our tracks
I don’t mean aimless, I mean wandering
and never looking back

There’s some kind of desperate in our eyes
I don’t mean grasping, I mean clinging to
each other for dear life

There’s something insane about us baby
I don’t mean crazy, I mean raisin’ hell
and breakin’ all the rules