Feeding of the Five Thousand... Ok, maybe just 12 of us!

Have you ever seen a miracle happen before your eyes? Have you ever witnessed something that you've only just heard of and found it so completely fascinating? Well, it's happened to me.

It happened at Christmas 2010, to be exact. The hubs and I (and kiddos) and gone up to MI to celebrate Christmas. While we were there we had visitors almost every day to see us and spend a few moments. The Monday after Christmas had been the day we'd decided to "celebrate" our family Christmas. We would have Christmas morning all over again so we could do it together as one big family of 9. Mom and Dad had prepared to have roast beef that night, something Dad had been preparing all day with his special recipe and method. Mom would make mashed potatoes and vegetables.

Right as dinner was coming together, there was a knock at the door. My cousin and his girlfriend had stopped by. I hadn't seen him several years and they had come for a visit. My brother in law had also stopped by for dinner. Soon our number of had grown to 12. How did this happen? And was there enough food? As I looked at the roast beef, it was hard to make out that there would be enough for just 7 of us. Dad had originally cut the large cut of meat into 7 thick slices. The little kids would share one leaving one good size piece for each adult. And from the looks of it, it just wasn't enough. But now with 3 more adults to feed, (one of whom is a lumberjack -- figuratively not literally) we would just have to see how it played out...

The plates went around after we thanked the Lord for the food and we were enjoying our time. It was a squeeze at Mom's table in her new dining room, but we made it work. When everyone had served themselves, and had seconds if they wanted, I glanced down at the roast beef plate and saw that there were 3 pieces left on the plate. WHAT?? Literally it was a miracle. Dad had cut all of the pieces in half after realizing that there wasn't enough. But after everyone had had what they wanted, there was still beef left over, and not just the scraps.

Later that night, Dad and I talked about it, and we both seemed to comment about how we were afraid there wouldn't be enough food for everyone, or that we'd run out. But sure enough, it was a smaller scale version of the story, I truly believe that it was a miracle. Not a Christmas Miracle, but a miracle just as powerful as the feeding of the 5000 were on the hill that day.