1) The importance of family: being close to, confiding in, supporting, praying for, and showing love for family. I didn't live close to my grandparents or cousins and regret not seeing them as much.
2) The Cosby Show. Thinking of buying the series on DVD. I want to be exactly like Mrs. Huxtable and solve everyone's problems with witty humor and perfectly timed cake. I won't give JT too much grief for licking the frosting before it's served, either.
3) Eating dinner together as a family. Not every night, because that's pretty much impossible, but much as humanly possible. Hopefully, they will prefer to be there!
4) I want to be able to teach my kids (at least the girls) how to sew and play the piano, two domestic essentials I don't have in my arsenal.
5) Love of playing outside: I once spent an entire afternoon tracking an ant from one side of my backyard to the other. I was always in a tree, jumping on the trampoline, and used to beg my mom to let me eat my pop-tarts on the driveway on summer mornings. I know life happens, but hopefully my kids will spend more time getting dirty than in front of a screen. Then again, look what happened when this mother let her kid play outside for too long :)
6) Christy Miller books. Everything I learned about growing up was from Christy and Todd.
7) Going to church together every week. JT and I have never skipped church unless we were sick or out of town. That aspect of family is important, too!
8 & 9) Music and Laughter: two important essentials I want to always be floating through my home. It will keep JT and me young and our kids worry-free as long as possible.
10) Bayton. I have a quilt named Bayton (I could not say "blanket") made by an old great aunt when I was born. It's pink and has all kinds of vintage fabric squares. It's the softest thing I've ever touched, even a baby's bottom. It's somehow the perfect size for my full-grown height -- I can tuck it under my toes and pull it under my chin. Even though I'm married, I still sleep with it. I want to make my kids one, because they sure as anything cannot have mine :)
11) Boy Meets World. Three words: Corey+and+Topanga.
12) Curiosity. I hope beyond all hope that I will not stifle my kids' curiosity by getting annoyed at their questions, but hope, explore, and believe with them and be inspired by them. I think my mom was great at that!
13) Not just before meals PRAYER, but a constant life of it. Something we depend on. I pray for him/her/them already, but I hope my kids will knock my socks off in this department as it's such an important part of life and I haven't been the best at it.
I think this is a wonderful list - and I think it's wonderful that you are being intentional about such things *before* becoming parents. Life goes by so fast, I sometimes look back and wish I had done ____ . Great to have a plan for such things! Miss you!
ReplyDeleteLaurie,
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear form you! Thank you for your sweet comment and for praying for me :) I really appreciate it!
Here are some links I used to spruce up my blog:
HT widen your columns
http://johndeeremom.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-widen-your-columns-on-blogger.html
(I found this by googleing "ht widen your blog")
Here's a great tutorial on changing the fonts on your titles
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/how-to-use-a-cute-font-for-your-blogger-post-titles.html
I deleted the code section for changing the date font.
Here is where I found my font http://www.dafont.com/
It's called Never Let Go, but there are a lot of great fonts to download.
Hopefully this helps! I can't wait to see what you come up with! If you need any help just let me know and I'll see if I can do something :)
-Jess