Happy Birthday, Jesus!
In just a few days it’s Christmas. You are likely getting ready for Christmas morning, finishing all the last-minute details of wrapping, cooking, and maybe even still shopping. Your house is probably decorated and the music you are playing is likely Christmas songs. You have to admit, this time of year is truly magical.
One of our traditions is to have a birthday cake for Jesus, sing Him “Happy Birthday” and remember His birth. Can you just imagine Jesus wiggling and giggling, cutting His teeth, wrestling with dad, and climbing trees?
As I sit here watching my sleeping newborn granddaughter, my two-year-old granddaughter learning chatting up a storm, my four-year-old granddaughter coloring yet another rainbow, and my six-year-old granddaughter creating amazing pieces of art, I realize that Jesus humbled Himself enough to leave His heavenly throne and learn all those simple earthly things, too. I am simply awe struck at the wonder of the Son of God’s love for us.
Amazing, isn’t it? Here are the words to a song that I hope will cause you to wonder at this Baby, too! Have a blessed Christmas.
This Baby
By Steven Curtis Chapman
Well He cried when He was hungry
Did all the things that babies do
He rocked and He napped on His mother’s lap
And He wiggled and giggled and cooed
There were the cheers when He took His first step
And the tears when He got His first teeth
Almost everything about this little baby
Seemed as natural as it could be
But this baby made the angels sing
And this baby made new star shine in the sky
And this baby had come to change the world
This baby was God’s own son
This baby was like no other one
This baby was God with us,
This baby was Jesus
And this baby grew into a young boy
Who learned to read and write and wrestle with dad
There was the climbin’ of trees and scrapin’ of knees
And all the fun that a boy’s born to have
He grew taller and some things started changing
Like His complexion and the sound of His voice
There was work to be done as a carpenter’s son
And all the neighbors said He’s such a fine boy
But this boy made the angels sing
And this boy made a new star shine in the sky
This boy had come to change the world
This boy was God’s own son
This boy was like no other one
This boy was God with us
This boy became a man
And love made Him laugh
And death made Him cry
With the life that He lived
And the death that He died
He showed us heaven with His hands and His heart
‘Cause this man was God’s own son
This man was like no other one
Holy and human right from the start
This baby made the angels sing
And this baby made a new star shine in the sky
This baby had come to change the world
This baby was God’s own son
This baby was like no other one
This baby was God with us
This baby
This baby was Jesus
Yeah
This baby was Jesus
This baby was Jesus
My Best Christmas Gift
I just got the very best Christmas present I’ve ever received. My fourth granddaughter, Peyton Ava, was born on December 6th in South Africa. When her mom shared the news, my heart soared with excitement and joy! For me, Christmas came early this year.
I can’t wait to see her and meet her in person. When I look at God’s intricate creation in the form of a tiny baby, I can’t help but praise Him for the wonder I behold and think of Him as a tiny, helpless baby. And when it’s my own grandchild, my joy overflows and cannot be contained! A new human life is truly the most amazing part of creation, and as her grandmum, the awe and wonder of it all can be simply overwhelming.
What will her new life hold? Who will she become? What has God created her to do? How will being a kid in South Africa affect her and make her into who she’ll become? So many BIG questions for such a little life, and I’m sure Jesus’ mother had some pretty big questions too.
During this Christmas season, I began to understand why the angels just had to show up and sing when Jesus was born! As a grandma, I felt that way about this new little life. It’s simply amazing.
The world that baby Peyton just entered is not an easy one, so she’ll need lots of prayer to become the person God wants her to be. As one who loves her dearly, I will pray for this child every single day of my life, and I will enjoy watching these questions get answered. Join me, will you?
“Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you,” Jeremiah 1:5 (The Message).
Welcome to our world, baby girl! I look forward to seeing God’s plans for you! What prayers do you pray when you see a new little life? I’d love to know.
Madison’s Rainbow Adventure
Just in time for Christmas, my latest picture book, Princess Madison’s Rainbow Adventure, is now available on Amazon! This bright and colorful children’s book for ages 3 to 8 teaches little ones about the colors of the rainbow and the fruits of the spirit, while enjoying a story of cooperation, friendship, and love.
Princess Madison loves rainbows. She wants her colorless kingdom to be beautiful and vibrant, like rainbows. When Princess Madison follows mysterious footprints into the forest, she meets Rainbow Roy. The two work together to grow an amazing garden, fill the kingdom with wonderful fruit, and bring beauty back to the entire kingdom.
I am asked over and over again, “How do I ever come up with these stories?” This one is quite simple—my second granddaughter, Madison, inspired the story when I was in Cape Town, South Africa, this past May. Madison loves to dress up as a princess, and she also loves art. But almost everything she colors is a rainbow—even horses, houses, and more.
One day I asked her why she colors everything a rainbow and she said, “God made rainbows and I love them.” Well, that got my imagination running wild and before you know it, voilà! Princess Madison’s Rainbow Adventure was born.
And how did Rainbow Roy come alive? Our friends have a six-year-old boy who says that my husband, Dale, is his best friend. They do have special relationship, so when I began working on this project, sweet little Gabriel was the obvious choice to become the rainbow boy.
This storybook would make a lovely gift for a little girl or boy in your life, so please check it out. After you read it, tell your friends about it (as well as my first book, Lexie’s Adventure in Kenya) on Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, in person.
And if you would be so kind as to leave a review of the book on Amazon, I’d really appreciate it. How do you write a review? It’s really quite simple. Go to the bottom of the Amazon page and click on “Write a customer review.” Then, just tell others what you liked about the book…the characters? The illustrations? Princess Madison learning about the fruits of the spirit? The friendship and cooperation between the princess and rainbow boy? The little ladybug? Reviews on Amazon are incredibly important and very much appreciated.
What do you think of this book? I’d love to know!
Happy Thanksgiving
It’s Thanksgiving Day, and in our American culture, we tend to busy our day of thanks with parades and football, family and fabulous food. But let’s not forget the real reason for this special day—to be thankful for God’s many gifts.
We rightly thank God for all He’s done throughout the year. We thank our family and friends for their love and relationship with us. We thank those who have made a difference in our lives. And sometimes we thank those who we have overlooked in the busyness of life.
With all that thanksgiving to do, who can limit it to just one day and make a huge Thanksgiving dinner and enjoy time with family and friends and watch football? Not me! That’s why I am trying to be more intentional about being a grateful person all year long.
But today, I want to express my gratitude to each of you who read my blog or Facebook posts or Twitter feed. And I am especially grateful for you who comment on them, share them, or “like” them. For a writer who puts herself “out there” for the world to see, your interaction is a blessing. For someone doing such isolated and solitary work, it encouraging to hear that you read it and care about what it says. And besides, it’s just plain fun to connect with you.
I am honored to serve you, even a little, with the words I put on this blog or on paper or say to you in person. Like Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:2,4, I want to let you know: “We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers…For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.”
So I pray that this holiday—and the entire holiday season—will be filled with the richest of gifts: life, love, peace, and joy from God’s gracious hand. Happy Thanksgiving!
Read me a Story!
Happy National Family Literacy Month! Yes, there are hundreds of national days, but I think this one is worth celebrating. In this TV, video, YouTube, internet, and out-and-about driven world, bringing back the tradition of reading as a family is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your children.
Reading books together increases a child’s knowledge, develops the imagination, and helps teach concentration and a love for learning. As a parent, preschool teacher, an elementary teacher, and a grandparent, reading to children is and has always been a treasure and a joy. It’s a special, intimate, and memorable time to spend with kids. It also teaches kids to love books, to love learning, and to love being together.
My grandchildren live in South Africa, but that doesn’t stop me from reading to them. In fact, they expect it! Every week we Skype and besides talking, laughing, and loving together, my grandgirls always ask me to “read a story.” I pick four books from my ever-growing picture book library, and then I let them choose one of them.
Some of the books take us to faraway places like Lexie’s Adventure in Kenya, the first children’s book I authored. Some of them are silly like the Dr. Seuss books. Some are poignant and emotional. Others teach about the future or the past or character values or biblical truths. When we read together, we talk and laugh and share and make memories. Books transcend time and space, build imaginations, and bring the world to our doorstep, even when we are half a world away.
So how can you create a tradition of reading together? Just do it! Build a library. Give books as gifts, not only to your children or grandchildren but also to others as baby gifts or as birthday or Christmas gifts. Seriously, don’t they get enough toys and clothes already?
Then read. Read before bed. Read on snowy or rainy days. Read family devotions together. Go to story hour or bring a book and read while you’re waiting for appointment. The opportunities are endless—from reading road signs to recipes to game rules and more. Affirm every effort your child shows to read and listen as they learn. And treat every reading opportunity as the miracle and wonder it is.
Truth is, reading rocks! How do you build reading traditions in your family? I’d love to know!
Time for Change?
The holidays are soon upon us and so are the inevitable changes of the new year. Crazy as it is, change is all around us.
Elections. A wedding. A new baby. School. A heart attack. A honeymoon. Retirement. A new home. Death. A promotion. Divorce. A big inheritance. Cancer. School. A new career. Remarriage. Each of these situations—and a zillion more—bring change into a person’s life.
Some are good; some are bad; some are just plain ugly. Some of these changes we choose; others we do not. But change happens, so it’s wise to learn how to respond to those changes well and move forward.
The challenge in all this is to grow through it and allow the change to do its work in you. Whether you’re a tweenager on the cusp of puberty or a retiree trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life, we must continually deal with change. Though change is a natural process of life and growth, few of us really know how to go through it well. There are the times it can be downright overwhelming!
The reality is that the adventure of change isn’t usually comfortable or fun. And in today’s culture, life is moving so fast and changes happen so quickly that we hardly have time to adjust or respond before the next change comes. How many of us just got used to the iPhone and along comes an iPad with all the new changes? Just buying clothes for my granddaughters slap me in the face with the reality that they are changing every day.
Change can make us feel disoriented, confused, even annoyed. If we know it has a specific purpose, we can usually hang in there and work through the change. But if we can’t see the reason for the change, we can feel distressed, frustrated, even fearful. So we revert back to old and sometimes bad habits to find our safe places to find our balance—our old routines or activities or comfort foods—and that’s okay for a season. But we can’t hide in them. We must move on.
What kinds of changes have you faced, and how did you move through them? I’d love to know!