Missing Will

It was just a year ago when I flew to Wisconsin to welcome WilliamTyler to the world. He weighed four and a half pounds the last time I held him. I never dreamed that a whole year would go by without another chance to hold him again.

Will doesn't look so tiny in this picture. Closeups can be deceiving.

But when his Mom, Erin, held him, his size--or lack of it--was evident.

I'm not alone. Social distancing has wreaked havoc with in-person relationships for almost everyone. Often, we speak to other people through our masks, from six feet away. Or, we rely on modern technology to communicate through Facetime and Zoom. 

I have been so thankful for the ability to use Zoom for Levi's parent/teacher conferences and my grandkids' piano and dance recitals, and even for worship services last spring. I get to Facetime with Erin and Will regularly, so I can see how he is growing, and listen to him talk, and observe his wobbly walking. I would have loved to wish Will a "Happy First Birthday" in person, but his Zoom birthday party was the next best thing to being there.

All of Will's grandparents, plus a few other relatives, helped him celebrate, via Zoom. Here, we watched as Reed and Erin gave Will his first taste of cake. 
 
I am blessed to see most of my grandchildren every week. Tobin, Evelyn, Lydia, and Ari spend most Tuesdays at my house, while their mom, Meagan, works at the church. I am longing for the day when Will can join them to play at Grandma's house, but I know I am privileged to be able to communicate with him and his parents in a way that was totally foreign to me just one year ago. 

Like his parents, Will loves music. Go to this link to see him "help" Erin play some Christmas music:  https://www.facebook.com/30001448/videos/10100364358040661/

Our family Christmas celebrations will be different this year, but we will be able to Zoom together as we open gifts. It's too bad that we can't share Christmas cookies and hot cocoa, and hugs, via Zoom!

I was thinking, just last night, how that first Christmas must have been different than Mary and Joseph expected. I am sure that Mary was missing her own mother, and wishing she could have been with her when she gave birth to baby Jesus. Joseph must have longed for some words of guidance and encouragement from his own parents as he embarked on his new role of husband and father. They had no way to communicate with their families back home in Nazareth--no mail service or telephones, no photographs to send to waiting grandparents, and certainly, no Zoom. Bethlehem might as well have been on the other side of the world.

Yet, more than 2000 years later, we have heard the story of Jesus' birth, retold and embellished in so many ways, and readily available to us through God's infallible Word, the Bible. Mary and Joseph didn't have Zoom, but they had angels proclaiming Jesus' birth, and shepherds coming to see the new baby, and wise men bringing precious gifts. Mary didn't have any photos of her new baby, but "she kept all these things in her heart, and thought about them often." Only a few years later, Matthew and Luke wrote about that special baby, God's Son, who was born to be the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world. (See Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2.)

The angel said..."Behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:10-12

For other Christmas-themed blogs from the archives, go to these links:

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2017/12/four-nativity-sets.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2016/12/tumbleweed-tree.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2016/12/tamales-for-christmas.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2015/12/monster-claus.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2015/12/be-still.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2014/01/so-may-we.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-christmas-prayer.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2013/12/music-box-christmas.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2013/12/come.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2013/12/no-more-doom-and-gloom.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2012/12/white-christmas.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2012/12/focus.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2011/12/nativity-music-box-carol.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-lights.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-in-norfolk.html

https://janetbauer.blogspot.com/2011/11/countdown.html

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