2am and parenting on the brain

Our baby is on the way! There's so much to do, register for all the necessities, design the art for the nursery, paint the walls, make yet another prenatal appointment...and while that's all important, my husband and I have found ourselves talking about something else more, a parental covenant.

When we were engaged, we had fantastic premarital counseling with our wonderful, candid pastor. He walked us through what he called a marriage covenant, a list of sorts where we wrote down our dreams of how our marriage would be and made promises to outline the kind of marriage we wanted to have. Some things were as simple as "make time for dates," while other things were deeper like how we were to encourage each other and forgive.

Now, when becoming parents, determining what is a good parent and how to show Christ to our child has become more important than finding the perfect crib. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about interior design and having the cutest nursery I can create, but discussion lately has turned to what kind of parents are we going to be? What things do we want to carry on from our childhoods? What things would we like to change? How should we handle a tantrum or disobedience? How will we juggle it all: careers, our marriage, our children, and still find time for other family and friends...(and maybe a moment to soak in a bath!)? Most importantly, how will we show what a life of faith looks like to our children and what are we going to do when we really mess up (because we will!)? 

I couldn't sleep last night. Actually, after thinking about all this, I'm surprised I ever get any sleep at all! My mind was up at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., thinking about how to be the best mom and what our life is going to look like in just a few short months. My husband and I have been married 5 years and this baby has been planned to the T. We did everything "right:" went to college, got married, spent time building our careers and traveling, bought our first house, prayed and financially planned to prepare for baby. We are so ready and thrilled to become parents. However, as planned as this is and as ready as we are, you never can be 100% prepared. There will be bumps on the road and mistakes made. So, we'll sit down to make our road map, our parental covenant, and be willing to completely change it if necessary! Like I wrote to my husband on a note with a packet of gum as part of his "daddy's survival kit," as long as we stick together and rely on God, we'll do just fine!