On Being a Dad: 02.02.06

Okay, I am not patting myself on the back here. I genuinely mean what I say here. I really do feel it is an honor and a blessing to get to take care of my wife while she is pregnant. I am so happy that we are having a baby and I know it is only going to lead to more and more sleepless nights and lack of rest. I have been doing more of the cooking and cleaning already. And she is barely into the 2nd trimester.

I put her to bed, kiss her goodnight, pray with her, and then go to get some work done at the kitchen table. I have to lead some youth worker training sessions in Tyler and El Paso at the end of the month. (Any suggestions you can add to my topics would be nice, just post your comments here on: Effective Small Group Strategies and/or Leading Students to Make an On-Campus Impact.) It's now 11:15, I tucked her in around 9:55. I finally realized I wasn't gonna get much done before I myself was too tired to work on my outlines. So I am writing this instead. Mostly because I find it amusing and also even though it is a hassle I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I am no saint, mind you. I still sigh occassionaly when she calls me 10 times in 10 minutes. She calls me in from the garage where I am helping out by doing some late night laundry to email a friend about inviting someone to the upcoming Superbowl Party. So as I am finishing up the email she calls me to ask if we have stamps. She is in bed, what does she need with stamps?

"Have you fed the dogs?"

"No, I thought you did when you got home. I will do it now."

Then she calls for "Gatorade, only about this much (indicating about 2 inches with her thumb and index finger) in a glass-glass, not a plastic-glass," she says. When I return with the glass-glass of Strawberry Gatorade, she asks "and did i see some rice cakes on the kitchen table?"

When I return with the rice cakes (yeacth!) I wait for her to finish and wash them down with the gatorade. I ask if there is anything else. "No" she replys. And I head for the door. I hear her mumble and turn to see what she wants. "Turn off the hall light." Which is what I had planned to do, once I was actually in the hall.

Sometimes I think she is milking the pregnancy thing and I am just a sucker. But whatever, I am happy. I would not trade this for the world it is such an honor and a priviledge to wait on and serve the woman of my dreams, the one who is carrying our child. I am tired and going to bed. Why don't you send me those ideas and help me catch up on some rest?