Good News!

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…Luke 1:30-32.

Our family has received several announcements of great news the last several years!

These blessed announcements have also provided a wonderful opportunity for our family to grow over the past several years!

In 2006, my oldest son married his high school/college sweetheart and we added a daughter-in-law that year!

My daughter married one of her best friends from high school!  Though they didn’t really date in high school, they attended several homecoming dances and proms together and most thought that they were the perfect couple…and they were.  So in 2009, we added a son-in-law!

My youngest son met his future bride during his first week in college.  They dated throughout college and were married in 2012!  And our family was blessed with another daughter-in-law!

We didn’t just add daughter and son-in-law’s to our family…we begin adding grandchildren soon after the weddings!

Our first grandson, Hudson, was born in February, 2011 and four months later, our second grandson, Graham, was born!

In November 2012, we were blessed with another grandson, Beau…the younger brother of Hudson! 

In June of 2013, Emmett, the younger brother of Graham, joined the family!

We continued to grow in 2014…when my daughter blessed us with another grandson, Gabe…the younger brother to Hudson and Beau!

And this year, we have been blessed with two more grandsons!

My youngest son and his wife were blessed with their first child in July!  Wyatt joined our large family this summer and is so blessed to have so many cousins to look up to!

And just to keep it exciting, Zach and Rachel were blessed with their third son, Joel…the younger brother to Graham and Emmett!

And if you are keeping up with the math…that is 7 grandsons that have been born into our family the past four years!

We feel extremely blessed and love the precious moments we get to spend with each grandchild and their family!

Get-togethers are quite the adventure!  And seeing these little boys so happy and excited when they get to spend time with their cousins melts this Gammy’s heart!

Though we have been blessed with several grandsons in a short period of time, each time one of my children has shared that they are expecting a child…it is just as exciting and precious as the first time I heard that we were going to be blessed with a grandchild!

It’s hard to describe how deeply I love each member of my family…but those intense feelings of love…doubles when grandchildren step into your life!

Not only am I blessed with watching my grandchildren growing and developing…expressing themselves as they grow and mature, but I have the privilege of watching my children parent these precious little ones!

Often, I just stand back and take it all in…realizing that I have the pleasure of watching both my children and grandchildren playing and having fun…interacting with each other…and the love I have for each of them grows deeper each day and is more intensified than I could ever imagine!

I’m not sure I can even adequately explain the great love that I have for my children…grandchildren…this group of people that I am blessed to call family!

And when I think of how excited I was to learn that I was carrying each of my children…when I think of how excited I was to learn that my daughter and daughters-in-law were 

expecting…I think of another young mother who learned she was expecting a child in a slightly different way!

Mary…a young girl…not yet married…received the news that she would conceive and give birth to a son from an angel!

Mary who was pledged to be married to Joseph was probably more focused on her upcoming wedding than starting a family!

I am not sure she had even thought about having children yet!

I can only imagine how Mary must have felt when she first learned that she was expecting a child…God’s child!

Scripture tells us…

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of 

David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”…Luke 1:26-28

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…Luke 1:29-31

Mary wasn’t just giving birth to a son…she was giving birth to God’s son! 

She was to name him Jesus and He would be called the Son of the Most High!

Scripture tells us that she was greatly troubled at his words!  Yet the angel reassured her that she had found favor with God!

Did Mary have questions?  Absolutely!

Scripture tells us…“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will 
overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God…Luke 1:34-35.

Mary learned that she would soon be with child…from an angel…and that child was going to 
be God’s son!

The way this news was delivered to Mary would have overwhelmed any of us, yet her response was so humbling!

Scripture tells us that Mary responded to the angel with these words...”I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered.  “May your word to me be fulfilled.” …Luke 1:38.

Without further question, Mary accepted this news!

The greatest news that any of us will ever hear!

And several months later…our Lord and Savior was born!  It was…and is today…a joyous occasion…reason to celebrate!

I am so thankful for each of my children…and each of my grandchildren…they are such 
precious gifts to my husband and me!

But the greatest gift of all…a gift that was meant for each of us…was born over 2,000 years ago!

Have you received this gift?  If not, how I pray that this Christmas you would read the Christmas story…the story of the birth of our Lord and Savior…and ask Him into your hearts!

Truly…there is no greater gift in this world!

Dear Heavenly Father…thank you for the greatest gift of all…your one and only son, Jesus Christ!  Lord, help each of us to share this story throughout the season!  Help each of us to remember to celebrate and rejoice in His birth!