Many years, on my birthday, I have received "presents" from God. For example, one year I was really upset because it was evening and my birthday had passed with no real celebration. I had prayed before my birthday that the night would be clear, because I had fallen in love with the starry skies of Texas and I missed them. I thought it would be neat to look up at a starry sky for my birthday, even though it would be a much smaller bit of sky. Instead, it had been a cold, rainy and uneventful day. I was getting ready to go to bed for the night, and was quite upset. My mother came to my door and asked if I wanted to go out for ice cream. I thought it might be a way of cheering up, so I agreed to go. When we got outside, the skies were totally clear and full of stars. Isn’t that just like God? He answered my prayer when I least expected it.
I have often prayed that God would give me something special for my birthday, something just between me and Him. This year, I asked a little late, but realized that I had a really cool present from him this year.
Did you know that today is the first Sunday of Advent? Yep, it is early this year because Christmas is on a Saturday. Up until last year, I don’t think I would have known anything about that, but Advent has come to be really special to me. I heard a podcast series last year from Homemaker’s by Choice that was helping Moms create traditions with their families that helped to keep Christ at the center of Christmas. I got some books on Advent and got a few things to help us begin building traditions together. The one thing I liked that I didn’t get was an advent wreath. It was decorated in each section to announce what that week of Advent was to celebrate. I was so excited to learn that the first Sunday of Advent was on my birthday that I hadn’t thought until yesterday to look and see which area it was supposed to focus on. I decided to look for the advent wreath and see if I could find out. Well I did find it, and the focus for week one is on the Prophecies and promise of Christ coming, the Hope of his birth. That made this “present” from God even more special. I have struggled at times with believing Him with hope and expectation. How cool is it that I learned so much about advent last year? It is almost like it was preparing me to be able to enjoy this gift from God. The fact that it involves hope and expectation is so encouraging to me. I really want to believe Him with hopeful expectation at all times, and it is so nice to have this day of my birth celebrated with this reminder of hope that comes from the day of His birth. What a gift!
Some other fun stuff from my birthday:
Pookie – “I yike (s)prinkles!”
Princess - I'm the love! – Little Man was talking with Ryan about being the “We” on the cake, not the “Mom.” Princess decided she was the heart.
Little Man – “Gazumpa!” trying to say “gesundheit”
Ryan said he was proud of the cake he made. Princess said, “It was the best you ever made because of my help.”
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