Birthdays

It was our girls first birthday yesterday... I can hardly believe it! What an awesome, adventurous, challenging, sweet, fun, amazing, exciting, silly, and memorable year it has been!!! Natalie and Kennedy are truly one of God's most precious gifts to Joel & I. They are one of the many miracles that have taken place in our lives and we are incredibly grateful each day for the privilege to be their parents!!!
Of course, Joel and I had to reflect on that special day, December 17th, that we went in for our routine doctor appointment, only to be told by Dr. Yu, "Let's have some babies today!" We were giddy with excitement and could not wait to meet our daughters. The entire thing went so smooth and I knew that God had gone before us and covered the whole place and each person and we felt so peaceful. At 9:24 p.m. Natalie Joy was born and one minute later, her sister Kennedy Faith joined us. It was so fast and so wonderful. One great blessing was that even though they were four weeks early, and little over 4 1/2 pounds each, they were healthy enough to go to the well baby nursery! We are so thankful for that. It was a perfect day. Our girls were the most beautiful people we ever laid eyes on, and God was so gracious to us, to hear our prayers, and allow us these two tiny miracles! I can hardly contain my emotion as I write this now... it is overwhelming to even wrap my mind around it... how much God loves them... how much God loves us... how much God loves ME.
Joel & I went to the Ryman Auditorium last night, to see Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb of God." I can't really call it a concert, but there are many Nashville songwriters and musicians there. What it really is is a group of people who sing songs that tell the beautiful, mysterious story of the birth of Jesus. I can't really put it into words, you best go and hear it for yourself, this creative way to sing the story of Christ coming into this world. You can do that here
And then this morning I stumbled upon a link for a ministry in East Nashville, called the Front Porch Ministry. As many of you know, I worked for almost 7 years at an elementary school in East Nashville, and I just loved it. I loved the uniqueness of the community, the diversity represented on the streets, and the change that is taking place there. Anyway, this family lives on one of the popular streets in East Nashville and have a heart for the broken hearted people who are their neighbors (most of them low-income families) and have a ministry from the front porch of their house. So I clicked on their blog and found this story. A birthday story. I read it and just cried. Please take time to read it here
So, all of this really does tie together. My mind was on birthdays... the very first birthday of my girls... this little boys "best birthday ever," and then the main birth day of all birthdays... Jesus' birthday. It changes lives. That day that a little baby, God's son, the Savior of sinners, the spotless Lamb was born - offered us such grace, and hope, and joy, and love, that we might spend forever with Him. It's so powerful, that these words still seem so small to describe it. But in this time of hustle and bustle, of Christmas cheer and presents and lights and all the other festivities, I have to stop and ponder. I don't want to forget the message of this season. The power this story has to change lives. So I will share a little bit with you - that if you are taking a few minutes out of your day to read this post, you can remember too... Christ was born so that you might live. Hallelujah! Come, and let us adore Him...