Doctor Visit Day

Today we visited the Doctor's office for the second to last time here in Japan. The whole process took about two hours, and included among other things taking Melissa's weight, measuring her belly, drawing some blood, sitting through some exams, and having an ultrasound. The word from the Doctor is that Callan is going to have a little brother. That's right, another boy. The good news is that we won't have to buy much for this baby since Callan can just hand down everything he used, and the bad news, well there is no bad news, unless you were hoping for a girl.

Now that we know the sex of the baby, the reality that we are going to have another little person in our home in a few months is starting to gel for the first time. There will not merely be another mouth to feed, another bum to change, another body to bundle in the cold Utah winter, but there will be another personality, another little person who will depend on us for everything, another little boy who will want to play from sun up to sun down, who will call me daddy, who will giggle with delight when I walk in the door. We'll have another spirit child of our God sent to us from the Spirit World, a soul on loan for us to raise up, and to grow with. I am reminded of the parable of the talents in the New testament. The wise stewards used there talents to cultivate an increase, and the unwise steward of the Lord took his talent and hid it, afraid that by using it, by letting it out into the world, he might lose it. In the end the wise stewards where added upon, and the unwise steward had his talents taken away. Aren't our children just like the talents? We have been given them from the Lord, as a loan of sorts, to see how we will invest in them. The Lord has entrusted us with his children and he expects to collect on his investment. If we are obedient and do all we can to invest in our families, then the Lord will grant them to us for eternity. However, if we, like the unwise steward choose not to invest in our families, then we can be sure the Lord will do with us as he did with the unwise steward.

My father-in-law sent me this quote about child rearing. You know it is a good quote when it not only cuts you to the core, but inspires to things divine.

"In the ideal home, each child would be given every possible opportunity to develop his own personality without too much domination. Discipline is organized love, and children develop properly in an atmosphere of love, with adequate guidelines to shape their lives and their habits. More children are punished for mimicking their parents than ever for disobeying them. We should be what we want to see." LeGrand R. Curtis, "Happiness is homemade," Ensign, Nov. 1990

My two favorite lines (also coincidently the two most condemning) are

'discipline is organized love'

and

'more children are punished for mimicking their parents than ever for disobeying them.'

Thank Heaven (literally) for modern day Holy Men who speak inspired words like these. And thank Heaven again for the repentance process that allows us to become better parents inspite of our own mortality.