Kelli’s Song was written in the winter of 1981 when Kelli was 6 or 7 months old. I love to tell this story because it brings the experience to life as if it happened last night. I can still see her, feel her in my arms, and remember the pain in my lower back and feet.

Normally a sleep-all-night infant, Kelli woke up howling on that winter night and I went right in to get things “changed”. When changing didn’t make a difference, I thought she was hungry so I took her in to lay with Marci to nurse but she wasn’t having that. So I took her in my arms and we walked and walked and walked for literally hours.

A couple of times she seemed to doze off while walking but as soon as I went to lay her down the howling continued. I sat with her in my lap in the rocking chair; and she seemed to calm down a bit only to wet us both.

After the third hour, my feet were sore, my arms were tired but she was still wide awake. It was at that point I have to admit that I had a brief but clear temptation to throw her out in the snow. I did not throw her out in the snow.

Finally, as hour four was almost complete, she fell asleep in my arms and I gently and prayerfully laid her to bed. She was finally out. As I laid her into her crib, even with every muscle in my body aching I looked down at her and thought, “how beautiful you are to me”.

The next morning I sat in the kitchen thinking about the experience of the night before. A passage from the Gospel of Luke 11: 13 drifted through my mind: “If you who are weak can give good gifts as you do how much more will your Heavenly Father give to those who love” (paraphrased).

Within an hour or so, with my guitar in my lap as was my precious Kelli the night before, I wrote Kelli’s Song…You’re Beautiful to Me.