To Be Prepared...

Something that has been pressing on my heart is the idea of parenting. I want to lead my kids as Christ leads me. I know that parenting is a little ways away but still in the near future. I want to be prepared for that day... as much as I can be. I try to imagine what it will be like to have kids and how that will affect our relationship.

Dinner on our honeymoon

First we have started a one date a month plan. These date have to be something special that we don't normally do (we normally go out to eat).  They also have to planned. When we are parents we won't have as much alone time together. I want to make actively dating a priority. This month we went to dinner and bowling (something we have not done in years). Next month our plan is to take a cooking lessons, which I am supper excited about.

Jeff with Elias.
We watch him for extended amounts of time... about a week
I love it!!

Another way we are preparing for parenting is by discussing parenting ideas. I want us to be on the same page when it comes to parenting. Some of the ideas we have discussed have not been easy. We have been looking at how we were raised, the pros and cons.
These are some of the questions:

• What exactly does Christmas look like once we have kids?
• What happened in our lives that pushed us to save ourselves for marriage and how do we instill that in our children?
• We have discussed the great importance Jeff's role is in his family, being a spiritual leader?
• How will we keep our kids involved when they get into teenhood?
• How will we discipline our kids?
• What types of activities we want our kids involved in?
• How we would handle our child wanting to quit an activity?
• How we will support our kids academically?
• What will it look like job-wise when we have kids?
• If our kid is bullied, how would we advise our child?

These are just some of the many questions we have discussed. Some of them are still a work in progress. Some of the questions are tough and idealistic, but we are talking and getting on the same page. Plus I love this topic.

In my pursuit to prepare myself for children, I have researched birthing options. I decided that I want to have my child at home. I been a part of several births in a hospital and I have not liked what I have seen. When I decided to research the topic I learned so much about the unnecessary procedures that occur in the hospital. Maybe knowing to much is not good but I want my birthing experience to be natural and calm. I want to have some say it what by body is telling me. I know that if anything happened and I needed to go to the hospital I would. If you are interested I loved the website http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/ and the documentary The Business of Birthing. Great resources.

Finally my goal is to be a disciplined person. To be consistent in my readings, volunteering, bible study, exercising, journaling, etc. I want to be an example to my children.

Our Promise

I know that it maybe weird my need to prepare for my future. I want to be the best I can and a student of Christ. I want my life to be an example for my future kids!!!!

P.S. I, sadly, look at baby names a lot!!