On the phone, my mother said something that has stuck in my head for days. “When I was pregnant with you, I would have never guessed that I would thank God for you every day.” The news of her pregnancy wasn’t welcome – I was unexpected, and unwanted; she was unwed, and unsure. Soon, she and my father were married, and here I am today, the product of that unwanted pregnancy.

I couldn’t help but contrast that with news of my own pregnancy. I suspected something, and I used a pregnancy test on Mother’s Day, 2004. Walking into the living room, with tears in my eyes, I shared the news with my husband. My pregnancy was unexpected (aren’t they all?), but very much wanted; I was unsure (aren’t we all?) but happily wed. My daughter’s birth and my birth were probably not so very different in the facts.

Both of us are miracles, and that got me thinking about how many everyday miracles happen. My daughter was a miracle baby, not because of anything other than the natural course of life. There’s another miracle baby we await this season, who was as unexpected (though much awaited) as they come, and whose mother was unwed, and likely unsure. He was born into a life of poverty, but rich in so much more. He was born to be different than what people expected, not quite what they had in mind.

And aren’t we all?