The pastor at our church campus is a young guy. He and his lovely wife, who snapped back into pre-pregnancy shape in something like 10 minutes (I like her anyway. I do. I do. I like her anyway.), are new parents to an adorably chubby-cheeked baby girl. I love it when our pastor carries her around and sometimes he brings the baby up on stage for one reason or another. Today being Father's Day, he had her with him.
He described their night time routine to us. He prays for his daughter's eternal life in the Lord every night and for God to help him and his wife be godly and good parents. This larger point was not lost on me nor on Mr. Wonderful. We were both teary as our pastor had all the dads stand and led them in a prayer and left them with a charge toward their children.
Mr. Wonderful's dad role is what gives him the capital in Wonderful. The guy is a great, great dad. This is indisputable.
Please don't take it as any slight to my pastor that his admonition toward prayer and his charge to the dads was not was caused my husband and I to have whispered conversation in the middle of church. No, it was our pastor mentioning that bath time began the nightly routine for his daughter. My normally reticent husband turned to me with wide eyes:
"Every night????"
"First born," I whispered back to him.
I guess we probably bathed our first little baby every night. Honestly, I can't remember, but it seems like the type of thing a good first-time parent would do. Or at least should do. So I hope we did.
What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that that did not happen with our fifth baby. Not because we love him any less, but along the way, one's sense of what is important or essential or--let's face it--logistically possible changes as a family gets larger.
Parenting is an evolution. I guess it's an open question whether we're on an upward path in matters of hygiene, but Mr. Wonderful gets all the big stuff right. Happy Father's Day, honey!
He described their night time routine to us. He prays for his daughter's eternal life in the Lord every night and for God to help him and his wife be godly and good parents. This larger point was not lost on me nor on Mr. Wonderful. We were both teary as our pastor had all the dads stand and led them in a prayer and left them with a charge toward their children.
Mr. Wonderful's dad role is what gives him the capital in Wonderful. The guy is a great, great dad. This is indisputable.
Please don't take it as any slight to my pastor that his admonition toward prayer and his charge to the dads was not was caused my husband and I to have whispered conversation in the middle of church. No, it was our pastor mentioning that bath time began the nightly routine for his daughter. My normally reticent husband turned to me with wide eyes:
"Every night????"
"First born," I whispered back to him.
I guess we probably bathed our first little baby every night. Honestly, I can't remember, but it seems like the type of thing a good first-time parent would do. Or at least should do. So I hope we did.
What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that that did not happen with our fifth baby. Not because we love him any less, but along the way, one's sense of what is important or essential or--let's face it--logistically possible changes as a family gets larger.
Parenting is an evolution. I guess it's an open question whether we're on an upward path in matters of hygiene, but Mr. Wonderful gets all the big stuff right. Happy Father's Day, honey!
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