Happy Holidays....and the Anticipation of Miracles!

Right now, we are all anticipating the arrival of Baby Girl #2. Nicole is scheduled for a C-Section on Tuesday, 12/20 and is very ready to have this baby. So far, Josh and Nicole have kept the name a secret....even with all the family trying to trick them into revealing it! I plan on sending out Christmas Cards with a picture of Sofia (3) and new baby. Sofia talks a lot about what she is going to teach Baby Sister to do and what Baby Sister is not able to do yet. I have been thinking about anticipation lately as I wait for Baby Girl #2. We tend to think of anticipation as a negative and I find myself always waiting for "the other shoe to drop!" Anticipation can be lovely - waiting for a friend to arrive, a planned trip or a new job....or waiting to open Christmas presents! During the last month, there are 43 different religious and spiritual holidays...all of them celebrating turning darkness into light, celebrating family and friends, doing acts of service and finding joy in the life we have. Those of us who celebrate the spiritual Christmas, the birth of Jesus, bringing grace and redemption to the entire world, tend to forget about anticipation being part of the birth. There were only 5 people who knew how important this birth would be before the miracle in the manger....Mary, Joseph and the Three Wise Men. They all had to journey to get there! A physical journey, enduring hardships and danger, but all knowing at the end of this journey was the physical representation of God's love for the entire world. Advent shouldn't be just getting a piece of chocolate out of a calendar....Advent is meant to be a celebration of anticipation; a celebration of us expecting a Miracle of Love. May we all be anticipating miracles this season! Love and Blessings, Shannon