Motivation

Joey and I have recently begun a weekly tradition of getting up on Friday or Saturday morning and having coffee at Starbucks together. We are loving these weekly times together and it's been so good for our relationship. Sometimes we go on these dates with an agenda (talking about the monthly budget, goals, dreams, etc). Today, we didn't have an agenda at all and with the birth of our daughter coming any day, it's no surprise that our conversation turned to raising her and what kind of parents we want to be.

Usually it takes a while for men to really engage themselves in a pregnancy and all that it entails. The mother's life is immediately affected with the morning sickness and the fatigue and all that. But Dad doesn't really get it...until they either feel the baby move or see an ultrasound. That's when it becomes real. For us, because of the difficulty we had maintaining the previous pregnancies, it took a while before he allowed himself to get excited about it (once you've lost one...let alone three, it's really had to get your hopes up again...I felt the same way). But let me tell you, once it happened, he got excited...and motivated!

He began to think about being a dad and all the things that role entails. He started looking for books to read to prepare his heart and mind. When he read (well, listened to the audio book) of one called called Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Dr. Meg Meeker, he began to really engage with our unborn daughter and began to make some serious changes in his own life and thought patterns. I think that this book has really changed my husband's life!! And we both think that every father who has daughters should read it!! SERIOUSLY!!

Anyway, my amazing husband has become incredibly motivated to be a good, successful and effective, loving father to our daughter. He has a driving desire to protect her from the crazy influences of this world and to raise her in such a way that she becomes a confident, strong woman; able to make good decisions and to follow the Lord. And he realizes that HE is the one that will have the strongest impact in her life...for good or for bad! And he's taking it very seriously!

One of the results of this motivation is that Joey has become a new kind of leader in our household. He is thinking constantly about what he can do to be a better man and a better husband today and thereby be a good father in the years to come. He started out by losing weight (35lbs so far...way to go honey). Then he began to be motivated to get us out of debt. He is working incredibly hard to provide for us and to make it possible to dump LOTS of extra dough onto credit cards and our seemingly unending medical expenses. He's working 6 days a week, sometimes 10-12 hours a day, but somehow it seems that we are spending more quality time together than we ever have. I love seeing this in him...I love seeing the leader that I know that God has created him to be. It makes my love and admiration for him skyrocket!

I have so much respect for my husband in this time. He is sacrificing his time and his energy, and the things that he would LIKE to do, and doing the things that he NEEDS to do to make our family better. And at the same time, he is more fulfilled and feels more confidence in himself than he ever has.

Thank you Joey for what you are doing for us. You really are an amazing man! I'm so glad that I married you! Thank you for leading your family well and for loving our daughter. She will be so blessed to have you for her dad. You're gonna do a phenomenal job.

I love you!

Entering the Blogging World

So my friend Melodi started blogging recently and it inspired me to jump on board with her into this world of writing and thought consideration that I have only once before attempted to enter. My first excursion into blogging didn't last long...I think I submitted a total of three posts and then got bored. I mean, who really wants to read my random thoughts about...whatever? But when I started reading Melodi's blog and realized that I'm pretty much trapped in my house and need something to do anyway...I decided to give it another whirl.

Let me start out by telling you a little about myself. I am a thirty-something soon to be mom (soon as in like the next couple weeks....hopefully sooner than later...in fact, today would be good) who loves Jesus and loves people...well most of the time. :) I have my own business as a massage therapist, however I am on maternity leave until the beginning of January so I have some time on my hands. I have a husband whom I love intensely and two very entertaining cats. Our sweet daughter will be join our lives here soon and after the long road of waiting to get married, then waiting to have a pregnancy that stuck, my honey and I are VERY excited to get to meet her!

At the moment, the anticipation of this little bundle of joy is causing me to become a little impatient. I tell her every day that we are ready for her to come out now!! And what I really mean is... NOW!!! Of course, she doesn't really listen to me. She just snubs her nose and replies, "Well, I kinda like it in here. It's warm and cozy and I'm never hungry. Yeah, it's a little cramped, but I'm used to small spaces. Although I am a little tired of you poking at me all the time. I think I'll just put my foot under your rib here and push really hard to you know how it feels! How's that?" Then she rolls over and stabs me with her adorable little toes! OUCH!

At any rate, I'm ready to be done now. She's fully cooked, she would be perfectly healthy joining us in this great big world and I just simply don't want to be pregnant any more. So, Aliyah...mommy (and daddy and gramma and everyone else) all want you to come out now...so can we get on with it??? Please??

Well, those are my thoughts for the moment. Maybe I'll post some more later today...if i get bored which is pretty likely since I've been sequestered to my house to avoid the stupid Swine Flu epidmic. But that's another post all together.

Hope you enjoy my blog. Hope I actually write on it. :)