(Written in 2001 for the back of our family CD, We Lift Our Voices. Our kids were 14, 11 and 7)

From the beginning we were singing together. Music made its way into the womb as Beth conducted her college choir rehearsals or sat through another one of my concerts. At the miracle of delivery, I found myself singing to each baby, some made up ditty with their new name as the text. When we brought them home we sang them to sleep, often together. As parents we waited anxiously for the first identifiable syllables to come from our toddlers’ mouths, secretly hoping they would be intoned rather than merely spoken. We matched their coos and learned their words (“tica tica wita star”) and called it ‘singing together.’

Beth and I did not push our children to become musical geniuses, each with their own micro-violin sawing away at Suzuki exercises. But we did strive for family harmony…by singing together. We sang at meals, bedtime, on trips, during housework. Early on Beth used singing to enhance educational concepts. We visited foreign lands and traveled through time…by singing together.

Then there was worship where the music transported us into the very presence of God. Sometimes we played the piano or guitar. The most satisfying worship came from unaccompanied song.

Our kids now range from grade school to adolescence and we still sing together. We often greet visitors or say ‘goodbye’ for the evening with a song. We sing for our best friends and for complete strangers. When we travel doors open to us, people share more openly, we are brought into communities as guests, because we sing together.

This recording recounts all those moments. It is fun to hear and to recall the places, times and events associated with each tune. Most of the music is sacred. Some is not. Part of it is fun, some of it is reflective. We enjoy listening but mostly it just makes us want to lift our voices and sing together. We hope it has the same effect on your and your family.

How Firm A Foundation (from We Lift Our Voices)