A whole lotta music

I knew that I wanted to have music playing during parts of the labor and delivery of our sweet Jolene. I knew this at the start of the pregnancy and thought long and hard which songs I wanted to play. Music has always been really important to me and I usually remember different seasons and times in my life based on the music I was interested in during those times. For instance a few days before Jolene’s birth I got caught up in listening to a new, live album that Denison Witmer is soon releasing. You can listen to the entire album on his bandcamp and that’s exactly what I did. And I cried happy joyful tears because his music reminds me of falling in love with my husband, Jordan.

Several days before her birth I settled on a play list I was happy with and burned it to CD. Labeled Baby. Some of my most favorite music was on that disc – all calm, mostly instrumental (but good instrumental from the movie soundtrack Sweet Land). Patrick Watson, Enter the Worship Circle, Bon Iver, Andrew Belle, Joanna Newsom. Perhaps one of my favorite songs was this:

To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra (sang by Patrick Watson)

I would hear this playing during labor and know why I was doing what I was doing. We were building a home, something richer than any physical house could be. “Out in the garden where we planted the seed, there is a tree that is as old as me” – ever since hearing these lyrics I’ve wanted to plant a tree when each of our children are born. Now to see if my in-laws will let me plant a tree in their yard on this first year of Jolene’s life.

When I hear the music that played on Jolene’s birth day I remember everything that was so wonderful about that day. I also like to think she feels a bit more settled and calm when I play these songs for her to hear. I never want to forget these little parts of her life. I never want to forget which songs were playing when she was born either. I added the music on to CD in random order. Turns out, at a time of a lot of pushing and her birth so close the song Winnowing the Wheat by Mark Orton (Sweet Land soundtrack) was playing. The song is a bit more intense then the others on the soundtrack. It plays during my favorite part of the movie that has a lot of meaning to me. I could describe it to you but I somehow think it best for you to just see the movie. Here is a trailer:

Then when she came the song Woods by Bon Iver came on.

In my mind there was one song that I wanted to play when she was born. I’m not sure why but maybe because it’s one of the most meaningful songs to me. It didn’t play right when she came out BUT at the time where Jordan and I were admiring her and so thankful for this new little girl that we FINALLY were able to meet and see with our eyes the song played. Your House by Enter the Worship Circle was the song. Not a big deal to many but to me it had and still does have meaning.

We sing as people God set free
You dream the very best, You dream
and then we know, we know
a home is what we make with You
You love Your children, yes You do
we are Your house, Your home

There are things I want my daughter to know, to care about. I want her to care about the poor and the broken. I want her to know that her home is in God. I want her to know that loving God and loving others most times looks very different than just “being a christian”. She will be her own woman with her own passions, desires, and dreams but I want her to know what loving others looks like and man do I still have a long way to go.

Then…

One great thing about Jordan’s job at the school is that he had Spring Break completely off and with the knowing that we wouldn’t be lacking any paychecks. We’ve never had that before and it was so nice – even better that his spring break landed a week after Jolene’s birth. It was such a huge help to have him up with me at night and helping rock her to sleep. Much more than that it was a sweet time of bonding as a family for us and a time where I would look at Jordan and know exactly why I love him so much and why this man was and is the only man I ever wanted to marry. We kinda got into this groove of him keeping me company at night while I nursed and to keep us both awake we’d watch tons of you tube videos and talk about our passions. One video that we found during that sweet week was this by Jenny & Tyler called Faint Not. It’s currently a favorite and yes, I listen to it over and over again until it’s words are burned into my memory.