it may not seem as supernatural as water being turned into wine, or a dead man being raised from the dead...but each of us are witnesses to miracles every day.

i drove down to pittsburgh earlier this week with the boys. kenny was already in town (at the office) and i was going down to meet him for a gathering of our pittsburgh-housegroup for a potluck dinner.

i was driving from a lightened sky into a dark one when my cell phone rang. it was amy, telling me that our friend nikki was going to be induced with their first baby! amy and i were just talking this weekend about how excited we were to find out if nikki and brian's baby was going to be a girl or a boy...what this little baby would be like...and dreaming about all of our kids running around our yards in just a few years time. we hung up and it was all i could do to keep my attention on the road.

adam started fussing, so i reached back to give him my finger for comfort and he grabbed it and immediately fell back to sleep. and then it hit me: the miracle of birth. the miracle of life. the miracle of babies and growth and development. this little hand was squeezing the life out of my finger (babies are born with the tightest of grips!) while just 4.5 months ago he was living without air in his lungs all tucked up nicely inside of me.

nikki and brian are a part of our housegroup. we have known of the life of their baby since they were 4 weeks pregnant. just a week or so shy of him having a thriving human heartbeat! we have been praying for this little baby for longer than he's been breathing and now he is on his way to being born!

during a pregnancy, we trust that a baby's growth and development happen as it should. we have no eyes to see what is happening, but we have faith that it is happening. and when we are finally able to meet our children, we are witnessing a miracle with our eyes.

at our dinner gathering that night, we learned together that nikki and brian welcomed a son into their incredibly loving arms: daniel andrew was born monday evening to a mom and dad who have been praying for him. what a gift to be born into a family who has prayed for you since before your conception!

and what a miracle it is to be a part of the life and growth of a child since their conception.

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful...."
Psalm 139: 13-14