CHRISTMAS 2012 GREETINGS

This year, our family is giving big thanks for our new and unexpected baby!

Will came in February and that little ray of delight has been grinning ever since.  He's a chubby lightbrite to all of us.

Mike and I smile to think of our two special honors with Will...

We were asked to the ultrasound and got to peek into the serenity of Beth's womb...and then we got to be in the birthing room most of the day with Beth/Matt/Nate until getting shooed out at the last thirty minutes.

It was a privilege to be in the grandstand for both those events.

There was another baby (the One from Bethlehem) who was expected, but His grandstands were sparse.  The Messiah came silently into the very world He had created...to witnesses who smelled like the outside.  A nightshift of shepherds were in the fields when suddenly the sky became blazing with Shekinah glory and a "BEING" appeared from the heavenlies.  It's easy to imagine why they were sore afraid as then myriads of angels filled the sky. The sheep caretakers bowed low before receiving directions to the long-awaited Messiah.  Don't you know that as they ran, they wondered "why me"?

Here's a possible reason for "why them".  Ever heard of a place called The Tower of the Flock?  In Hebrew words, the place is called Migdal Eber and it is mentioned twice in Scripture.  According to Micah 4:8, the Messiah will be revealed there.  So where is this tower?

We know Bethlehem is six miles from Jerusalem and Migdal Eber is out from Bethlehem.  The flocks in those fields belonged to the temple and the sheep were born to be sold as a sacrifice.  The tower was a watchtower against predators...but it was also used as a birthing place.

The sheep were out in the fields all year long, but when the ewes were about to give birth, these shepherds (responsible for lambs without spot or blemish) brought the sheep into a limestone cave beneath the tower so they could supervise the birth.  If a little leg were to be broken, the lamb would be useless.

While we think of a low animal shelter with smelly service animals to be an unlikely birthplace for El Elyon (the Most High God)...G. Campbell Morgan says this place where thousands of sacrificial sheep had been born is exactly the perfect WHERE.  And the WHO to receive the birth announcement?  Temple shepherds are just the ones to connect the dots and recognize THE Lamb of God.  Then they worshipped Him and went out praising God.

This Christmas, Mike and I are praising Him, too...as we consider our salt-and-light grownup kids with kids of their own.

We adore the two grandboys up here in Fayetteville and the three grandgirls down in Little Rock.

Matt is at his post as junior high principal and this year everyone was reminded of the responsibility of that position.  Brad has finished his first sixteen months of running his own business managing mouths up on ninth floor of Medical Towers I beside Baptist Hospital.  Beth and Laura are staying home with the two youngest, while one is a kindergartener and the other two are second-graders.

Life spins by but we grab onto each blessing, the latest of which was running a six-day GrandCamp for Lily in November when her parents and sisters went to NYC.  God gave us oomph.

Merry Christmas with our love and best wishes to each of you in 2013.  The front door here is open and the upstairs is waiting for any Razorback/Crystal Bridges/leaf peeping traveler.  Or, come for any reason.  And...Happy Birthday, Jesus!

P.S.  Last night after our family Christmas Eve meal/gift exchange, Nate was buzzed.  He hatched a plan to intercept Santa by spending the night in his treehouse/fort that he and his Dad made.  His mother mentioned the plummeting temperature and winds, but his daddy said boys need adventure.

P.S.S.  When you get time, here's a  LINK  to a sweet, three minute Christmas video about our long-expected Jesus, whose story started even before time began.  See how many characters you can name!