The other thing I struggle with is wanting her to not experience pain. For her life to be full of love, full of excitement, full of peace.

And then I think back on my life. I remember highs and lows. And I remember that summer night in ’88.

I recall that night every Christmas when I pull this package out with the rest of my Christmas ornaments.

Out of this tattered, twenty-year-old envelope, I pull out a well-worn Ziploc bag, a folded piece of paper and a silver bear ornament.

On August 10, 1988, my family’s house was struck by lightning. I watched from across the street as firefighters rolled up and started at work, putting out the fire. When all was said and done that night, fire, smoke and water had wreaked havoc on our house.

Over the next few months, little miracles would happen. This envelope is one of those bright lights.

The Christmas after I was born, this bear ornament adorned our tree and would forever mark my first Christmas. But after the fire, it was covered in soot and tarnished, almost beyond recognition.

Enter Burke’s Jewelers. After they worked their magic, this envelope came back in the mail.

Dear Dawn,

Looks a little better, huh? The back would not polish up without taking off a lot of metal but the front side cleaned up pretty good.

Hope things will be back to normal for all of you very soon. There is no charge for this.

Fred

Each Christmas, with music playing and the tree sitting in the middle of the living room floor, I open the envelope. I read Fred’s letter, and I pull the shining bear from the bag and hang it on the tree.

Some years, the sight of the envelope or the words of the letter bring a tear to my eye [even writing this does]. Other years, it makes me sit back and think about how God provided for our family through that experience.

And when it comes down to it, what I really want is for baby girl to turn to God in those hard moments of life. They’re going to come, and I hope she learns from each and every one of them and grows stronger.

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. -Luke 2:52

I want the best for baby girl.

When she goes to school, I want her to get the best education she can have. I want her to have fun, and experience the fullness of life. The list goes on and on of what I want for baby girl.

What did Joseph want for his son? What about Mary?

When I think about her future, I imagine her…walking down the halls at church, first day of school, her friends.

I worry about the bad things she’ll encounter in the world. The hurt. The pain. My shortcomings.

When it really comes down to it, I want her to grow strong, grow tall and grow in favor with God. I hope she will always realize that God is all she truly needs.

I wonder if Joseph and Mary really understood how devoted Jesus would be to His Heavenly Father, even from such a young age. I wonder if they ever dreamed about what his life would be like when he grew up.

[to be continued...]

They opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. -Matthew 2:11

Three times in the last few months, Kim enjoyed great parties. Each one honored her, blessed our baby and helped us get ready for her arrival.

I thought we were in good shape after the first party. After two more, I was amazed!

Being part of one party, it was a lot of fun to see everyone come together to share their support for us and for baby girl. What we received will be incredibly useful and helpful as we take care of her and as she grows.

I don’t know if I had ever considered how useful the gifts were that the wise men brought to baby Jesus.

Precious metal.

Perfume.

Ok, maybe I do know how the perfume would have been useful for Mary and Joseph.

We just don’t know. You have to imagine, though, that Mary and Joseph were surprised and encouraged that these wise men, magi, royal astrologers, made the trek from the eastern lands, only to see and welcome their baby boy to the world.

Perhaps most important was the message they shared that would save the lives of baby Jesus and his family.

And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. – Matthew 2:19

I can’t quite call a star to hover over the hospital when Baby Girl is born. And we’ve already been reminded that not everyone is on Facebook, so we’ll have to share the news the “old fashioned way.”

A few times recently, I have looked up at the clear night sky and seen stars shining bright. Imagine the thought of knowing that one of those stars was “speaking” to you!

I have been to the hospital a few times to see friends and their new babies. I get an e-mail, a text message, a phone call. That’s expected today.

In Mary and Joseph’s time, I am sure that a message would take a few days to get to anywhere out of town. Fortunately for Joseph, we can assume that his family had traveled to Bethlehem with them.

I supposed God can use whatever means he deems necessary to make an announcement. And a star is pretty cool.

Baby girl is great and we love her, but she’s not that cool, so a text message or e-mail or phone call will have to do.

She will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. – Matthew 1:21

Choosing a name was hard.

The first baby name book I looked at had some very interesting, and non-realistic, options. Apparently it was the “best ever,” but I seriously doubt that.

In the end, we picked a really cool name, and I can’t wait for baby girl to be born so we can call her by her name (and for everybody else to know!).

In one message this Advent, Pastor Phil mentioned the fact that Joseph and Mary didn’t get to name their baby boy. How could they have picked a better name, though?

“The Lord saves.”

That’s why He came, that’s what His sacrifice was all about. It captured his mission in a word, in a name. His name.

What must that have felt like? One of the joys of the process of preparing for baby girl to come into our lives was to choose her name.

I can’t wait to see how baby girl lives out her name. Jesus did, why can’t she?

Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. – Matthew 1:19

I guess it’s natural for parents to have some kind of worry. I worry about her teen years.

As one friend put it, with a boy, you have one boy to worry about; with a girl, you have thousands of boys to worry about.

Joseph couldn’t even get past the news of Mary’s pregnancy before he started to worry.

I worry about her future, but Joseph was worried about his own. Can you imagine the reactions people would give to his story?

“But it’s a holy child, conceived by God.”

“Uh huh, right. And you want me to believe that?”

It took an angel to clarify his role for him. I’m not expecting that kind of clarity, but I do know that we are committed to praying to God for our baby girl, for our role as parents and for every day of her life.

I will just strive to be the righteous kind of person that Joseph was. Maybe baby girl will pick up that attribute. If she does, we’ll be just right.

And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant. -Luke 2:4-5

Imagine being this close to Mary’s due date, and traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem. [Did they even know when that would be?] By air, that would be 60 miles. But there’s not a straight road from Nazareth to Bethlehem today, so why would we think there was one then?

At best, this was a few day’s journey for Joseph and Mary, and a donkey in tow.

With Thanksgiving behind us, we have made our last out-of-town trek before baby girl comes. The doctor even warned us before this trip about our “Plan B” should something happen while we were away.

Thinking about all of the plans we’ve made, I got nervous when the doctor mentioned the possibility of what a “Plan B” would mean:

• “our” hospital
• “our” doctor
• the car seat [because they won’t let you leave the hospital without it!]
• clothes to wear home
• mom’s bag
• dad’s bag
• a camera
• and the list goes on…

Did Mary and Joseph have any of this to worry about? For starters, they were the parents of God’s child. With all that had gone into the journey so far, did they have any doubts that they would be well taken care of?

Since they laid the newborn Jesus in a manger, I’m guessing they either didn’t have a crib (or they just didn’t pack it for this trip). Was there anything missed in the birth of Jesus because they were miles and miles from home? Maybe not.

We don’t know about their plans or preparation, but I can only wonder. How different this journey must have been two thousand years ago.

This is part 2 in a series of my reflections this Advent Season. To take a look at the series in its entirety, visit the Advent 2011 page.

You will…give birth. -Luke 1:31

It hit me a few weeks ago: after 28 weeks, the “home stretch” of our wait for baby girl is carrying us straight through Advent. The excitement welling up inside of me is not too far off from the childhood anticipation of Christmas morning, but better than only one night, our journey is going on for a few more weeks!

I am so excited for this baby girl to arrive and become part of our family. Feeling her kick, getting her room ready, making sure we at least can take care of her through the first day — all of these plans and to-do lists swirling around in my head.

“If I feel like this for our baby girl,” I thought, “what must Joseph and Mary have felt awaiting Jesus’ birth?”

Two thousand years later and half a world away brings a different kind of preparation to our journey, but as we begin this Advent season, we anticipate not one, but two joyful celebrations this Christmas.

Part II: coming Tuesday

When was the last time you uncovered a potentially groundbreaking new way to harvest solar energy? Oh, you haven’t? Me neither.

But for Aidan Dwyer, he dreamt it and people are listening.

I think solar energy is cool — I want it on the roof of my house, I want to be “green” and I want to save money. But the really cool part about this story: Aidan is 13 [CNN].

Have a middle schooler in your world? Encourage them to view the world with big eyes and great creativity. You never know what they might uncover.

Remember that TV show, Family Feud? [I almost said "old TV show" but the syndicated version is still going strong].

Apparently, in the midst of all the feuding that we hear about in teenager’s homes, there is actually some good happening. A lot of good, really.

Parents, ever wondered how much influence you have? If they’re even really listening? Youth leaders, ever wondered what’s going on at home?

Yesterday, I asked 6 6th graders (good thing I didn’t ask them six questions), “who are people in your life whom you admire?” Top three answers on the board:

• family
• dad
• parents

Wow! That’s awesome.

Parents, don’t underestimate your ability to lead your family and set an example. We want to encourage you, support you and help you grow deeper as a family in your relationship with Christ.

Youth pastors and leaders: don’t neglect families! What an awesome opportunity for the Church.

Did you know: when Steve Harvey began hosting the show in 2010, Joey Fatone, former member of the boyband ‘N Sync, because the show’s announcer.

Want to have family game night with your own Family Feud? Pick up the video game version at Amazon!