title: Awaiting the Child: An Advent Journal
author:  Isabel Anders 
description: <i>Awaiting the Child</i> is lovingly written, and my response as I read it was an inner warmth as my own love was rekindled. (Madeleine LEngle)<br /><br />This is simultaneously a journal, a collection of essays on spiritual development, personal meditations, and a program of prayer for the Advent season. Though some of these categories overlap, a writer attempting to accomplish four distinct objectives in one small book is normally asking for trouble. That Isabel Anders succeeds is due both to her ability as an author and to her honesty with the reader and herself. (Arthur P. Livingston)<br /><br />Anders expresses Advent's multiple themes in language that launches into poetry. This is a book to be savored, reflected on, prayed over. It is a wonderful way to move through Advent toward the light in the darkness, the mystery of Christmas. (<i>Celebration Magazine</i>)<br /><br />Written during one Advent when she was expecting her first baby, and including an introduction by Madeleine L'Engle, this meditative text is intricate, paradoxical and inspiring. Anders is also the author of Soul Moments and The Lord's Prayer for a New Millennium. She lives with her family near Chattanooga, Tennessee.<br /><br />This book is a good reminder to everyone of the power of waiting, and receiving. (<i>Armchair Interviews</i>)
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  ![Title Page Image](image/title.png)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For my son, Michael
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](image/hat.png)
  
  
  Prologue
  
  
  December 1866
  
  
  Awakened before dawn by the clop of horses’ hooves and the clatter of wagons
  that signaled the start of a London workday, the young woman immediately
  pulled back the tattered piece of blanket from her son’s face, lay her cheek
  an inch above his mouth, and tensely waited to feel his breath. This had
  