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!