Monkey See, Monkey Do

Besides all the obvious changes that having a child brings (less sleep, a heightened appreciation of silence, and an alarmingly high comfort level with poop, to name a few), there are some changes that you don't really think about until your little one has arrived. I think that one of the biggest changes for me is that everything that I do is now an example for how my son should live his life. The way I communicate with Brenda, the things that I do in my spare time, the language that I use... I want my son to be raised in a caring, God-loving atmosphere, and to do that, I need to demonstrate those qualities myself. Now that Joshua is here, I have been forced to look at those areas in my life that I have, up until now, been okay with being "just alright" in. I don't really swear too much anymore, but I really don't want my son's first words to be "crap", so I am trying to cut words like that out as well. Most of the time I am a little too tired to pray in the morning, but the last few days I have been making time for it anyways; this should be a habit in my life, and I want it to be a habit in his as well (of course he probably needs to learn to speak first!). I know that Brenda and I will do a great job as parents, and it all starts with working on ourselves.