And Baby Made Three........

Eleven years ago our lives changed forever on December 29th at 7:47 in the morning. After years of monthly highs and lows, science projects, pills, frustrations and the most devastating loss we had ever experienced, God blessed Lee and me with an incredible gift: Margaret Winters Black. In a moment's time, our family grew by one and my heart felt like it could not possibly contain all the love I felt for this tiny new life. What an amazing thing a baby is! And what a huge rush of emotions such a tiny thing can cause! Love, joy, wonder, pride, optimism, exhaustion, fear, doubt, depression. But the greatest of these is love.

We did as all new parents do......... we prayed, we read books, we asked trusted friends. But ultimately, we simply did the best we could. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn't and when it didn't, we tried to learn from our mistakes. Despite our messes, God is gracious, and he has taken that helpless newborn baby girl and grown her into such a beautiful young lady. She loves God. She loves us and her brothers and sister. Of course, we are still very much in the process. There are still good days and bad days...... mountains we've made it over and mountains yet to climb. But I am so thankful for the blessing that we call Maggie. And I'm praying that the next 11 years don't go quite as quickly as the first ones have. 

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old (The Saga of Macaroni Man)

Once upon a time, long, long ago, my youngest sister made a Christmas ornament. A Gingerbread Man-shaped piece of cardboard decorated with glued-on macaroni. Because we were such a creative family, we named him "Macaroni Man." MM became an integral part of our Christmas decorating each year and even though he lost a little more macaroni every year, no tree was ever complete until he had been hung in his place of honor....... front and center on the tree. This tradition continued for almost 15 years until, alas, one Christmas, MM was nowhere to be found in our decorations. We seriously grieved. And every single time one of us looked at the tree, "How in the world could we have lost Macaroni Man?" was the cry. The next two Christmases had a gingerbread-shaped hole. When the third Christmas season rolled around, I was working as a nurse in our local hospital and was asked to make some kind of festive table display for our waiting room. I was busy that day at work trying to finish up some charting, so one of my co-workers offered to unpack the boxes of decorations and supplies that I'd lugged in from home. I will never forget what happened next. From the Nurses' Lounge, I heard, "WHAT IN THE #$@% IS THIS THING??" I did not even have to wonder. Every fiber of my being knew exactly what I was going to find when I ran into that room. Macaroni Man! He had come back to us. Apparently, he had gotten mixed in with some older, unused ornaments and had been in with our Christmas decorations all along. I immediately called my mom and dad and sisters and we all got together that night for a special "Hanging of MM" celebration. All was right with the world again. That year, as we took down the tree, we found an old ornament box and made it the official storage place for MM forevermore. Over 15 years have come and gone and still MM is the most-loved ornament on my mom's Christmas tree. He will be the first thing my kids look for when we have Christmas there tomorrow.

All that rambling story was to set the stage for this. I have always looked forward to our family's having a Macaroni Man of our own. With four children, we've definitely had our share of wonderful, hand-made ornaments over the years, but nothing that has screamed, "I am the one." Until yesterday, that is, when Maggie brought home the winner. About a week ago, Mags told me that she needed an empty soda can for to make an ornament at school. I gave her one and never gave it a second thought. Who would have imagined that an empty Diet-Pepsi can could be transformed into this beauty? I introduce what will forevermore be known as "Can-ta Claus."

Hark!

Those angels, that multitude of heavenly hosts, had such an timely word for us today: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men......."  I think God must have looked forward in time to see what a crazy, frenzied mess we would make of such a holy time. He gave those angelic messengers the perfect phrases to remind us where our focus should be. Looking up........... giving glory to God. Looking in............ allowing God's peace to calm us. Looking out............ offering goodwill to others. I know for me, though, during this last week or so before Christmas the challenges seem to hit from all sides. At school, the final week before the holidays is filled with so many projects and parties that it can seem all-consuming. Church musicals and services intended to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas still require a great deal of time and work in the middle of an already much-too-busy time. And shopping....... well, that's definitely an outright challenge to that "goodwill," isn't it? This season, however, I am determined to show my kids that the instructions given to the shepherds still apply to us today. Merry Christmas!