Today is my birthday.  The celebration of my birth.  And where I’ve always been a fan of my own birthday {cake! balloons! cards! flowers!}, I’ve become a really big fan of birth-days in general.  A celebration of birth.  A celebration of a miracle.

If you’ve contemplated, researched or even looked into the face of a newborn, you know that birth is a miracle.  Two things, not even visible, coming together, multiplying cells over and over and over again to form a tiny human.  It’s pretty amazing.  And then to see that human for the first time on his or her “birth-day” is overwhelming.  Your heart explodes with joy, love and thankfulness (also a little fear?!).

So on my birthday, I’m thinking about my parents, who brought me into this world.  Who loved and nurtured me.  Who taught me right from wrong.  And who taught me about Jesus.

I also think about my children and their birth-days.  Two very special days for Andrew and me.  To see Reynolds for the first time (he was huge!!) was beyond incredible.  He was our first child and he was completely perfect.  Then, on Eliza Jane’s special day, I laughed at the craziness of the day and then to see her in her perfect little body….she was breathtaking.

The world {the FB world at least} explodes when a child is born.  Friends, acquaintances and even strangers hear the news and rejoice.  The number of “Likes” on an announcement or photo of the new baby are by the hundreds.  People who never comment on anything express their excitement for the new addition.

Birthdays are special days.

I hope that each year on your birthday, that you feel as special as I know you are.