My sister wrote the poem below about the wise men, such a fun kids poem I had to publish it. OH, she is also the girl in the picture, with my brother David and our parents, when they were living in France, before I was. She is a bit older now. So am I.
with food, clothes, and blankets rolled up into lumps.
as they twisted through mountains with bushes in clumps.
of the beasts they were guiding and keeping on track.
Over-excited, they could not relax.
They were searching for Someone and would not turn back.
The light that first startled them was quite a sight.
It grew bigger and brighter than comets that night.
It must be a prophecy, what a delight!
It must be a new king. Those Wise Men were right.
They stopped at King Herod's place, causing a stare.
Their questions upset him. He stifled a glare.
The Jews have a new king? You must find out WHERE!
In Bethlehem was the child. Wise Men went there.
Oh, how they honored Him. Oh how they praised.
And the joy that surrounded them lasted for days.
It lasted for years and it won't go away.
Just listen to carolers singing today!
1: The Virgin Birth is not simply a sweet Christmas story. . . The Virgin Birth is scary, because if we understand what is going on here, we will see that in the uterus of this little Nazarene virgin girl, God is declaring war.
2: God is saying to you exactly what God said in the Virgin Birth to the entire human race: You cannot fix this.
3: Perhaps what all of us need this holiday season is to cry out with gratitude to a God who fought our Enemy for us. Perhaps we need to say, "All I want for Christmas is a crushed snake skull." That is the gospel.
I've learned the easiest way to blog is to steal the best blogs on the planet, and re-post them. It's even better when the best blog is written by your daughter.
"Once I finally held a positive pregnancy test, I felt elated… but what shocked me, is that I also felt disappointed. We'd tried to conceive for four years. I'd just returned from one of my many volunteer trips to Haiti and was excited to start nursing clinicals in a few months, but I always wanted to be a mom. A week later my husband's best friend passed away. He was devastated. When we found out we were having a boy, we decided to name him Memphis (abode of the good) and Matthew (gift of God), after my husband's friend.
After Memphis' birth on April 5, I experienced intense postpartum anxiety and self-doubt. I was convinced I would unwittingly hurt or fail my son. I wasn't good enough. I wasn't ready. I also felt guilt that I missed my old life and freedom. I grieved it. Surely, this meant that I shouldn't be a mom. This doubt and guilt delayed our bonding for three months.