To My Parents...Thank You!

So obviously most of you guys know that Antonio and I are expecting our first child in a little over 7 weeks. As time gets closer and actually all throughout the pregnancy, I have constantly been thinking how we will raise our children, what we will do, what we won't do, how to dicipline, how to teach life lessons, etc. The more I think about these things, the more terrified I am that we are going to do something wrong, or make some huge mistake that is forever going to haunt me because I won't be able to undo it. Thinking about all of this has brought about discussions between Antonio and I as to "How did our parents do it?", "How did they afford to raise us financially?", "How did they always have the right answers for everything even if it wasn't what we as children wanted to hear?", "How did we turn out so well?"

I can't ever remember a time waking up on a Sunday morning and wondering if we were going to church, the answer was always YES! There was never a time when we didn't have food to eat. There was never a time when I felt unloved. There was never a time that I thought my parents didn't love one another. There were times that I didn't appreciate and fully understand how well I actually had it, but finally I can see how easy I had it and how blessed I was to have my parents!


Antonio and I are teaching a Sunday school class at church. It is about how we as Christians should handle God's money. Today's lesson specifically was how to teach your children to handle their money according to the Bible. After watching the 15-20 minute video every week, we then have class discussion. Today, I guess it really hit me again how well my parents raised us. Even though we obviously don't have children yet, I started sharing how my parents would give us money and it would be put in little envelopes in my mom's purse and that was our spending money. If we went to Wal-Mart and wanted a toy, my mom would say, "Do you want to spend YOUR money on this?" If the answer was yes, that is what happened, and if it was no, then we realized we didn't want the toy that bad. It seems as though today all many kids have to say is "I want..." and they get it. My parents quickly figured out a way to say no without having to say "NO!" and have us throw fits and temper tantrums in public. (Don't get me wrong, I am sure they have great stories of us throwing fits in public anyway, but I am sure this cut down on it a bit.)

I also told of how we could help around the house and get paid for chores. (mowing the yard, etc.) My parents established a real work ethic in us all. We also talked about how some children are handed everything growing up and even through college and now that we are grown, they are lost without their parents, or they don't know how to manage their money, or they are still actually dependent on their parents. While I was 16 and everyone around me was getting a new car for their birthdays, I WAS jealous, and didn't understand. But, now I do.

Long story short, I want to say thank you to my parents for the way we were all raised. You guys did your best and it worked! I am thankful we are such a close family. The best thing these days is when we can ALL get together and hang out. It never fails, this turns into us all telling stories from "back in the day" and they are always GREAT stories. We always laugh and it is so funny to see what we each remember about events and each person's perspective on what happened.

I hope and pray that Antonio and I will be as great at parenting as my parents were. Lucky for us we have great role models to look up to in my parents, his parents, and the Bible.

Thank you Mom and Dad for everything!! I love you!