Another child?

I have two wonderful children, a 7 year old boy and a 2 year old girl. They are both true gifts from God. I grew up as an only child and my wife, Jen, has a sister. I always thought that I would be happy having a single child. I was very happy as an only child growing up. I thought that way you only go through everything once, the middle of the night feedings, the diaper changes, college tuition etc... My wife has always had a vision of what her family would be, and that included 2 children. I have always said that I did not want to have more children than parents in my family. That would naturally limit the amount of children to 2.

With that being said, I am starting to think that I would like another child. At this time I think that my desire is caused by my realization that my 2 year old is growing up and this could be the last time that I will experience the toddler stage as a father. My daughter is so much fun at this age. She is learning constantly and always smiling and laughing. My son adores her and they play very well together. She thinks that her brother is the funniest thing she has ever seen, and he might be.

Jen and I have talked about the possibility of another child. She brings up some excellent points as she always does. It took her 30 months to get pregnant with each child. Another child would exceed the 1 parent to 1 child ratio that we like. Twins run in her family. It would be interesting to say the least to have twin babies at 40. I have prayed asking for God to show me his will in this area of our lives. So far, I get the feeling that we are done having children. I have recently taken out the video camera to capture some of the toddler behavior that I so enjoy. I should have been doing this all along, with my son as well. Oh well, at least we have a ton of pictures. The great thing about the video is that you can hear them laughing. There is something amazing about a child's laugh, especially when it is your child. I could listen to them laugh all day long.

I have faith that God is in control and He knows what is best for me and my family. I am confident that whether we have another child or not, as long as we keep God as the center of our lives, He will take care of us.

Finding our place

My beautiful wife (Jennifer) and I have been members of our Baptist church for over 12 years. We have served as the directors of our weekend Bible study class (Sunday school) for 8 years. During that time God used us to bring organization and stability to our class. We both really enjoyed serving in that role. Jen did the majority of the work and I took care of some of the behind the scenes logistics, which is to say I did not do very much. Jen did the heavy lifting. At times we became frustrated with a perceived lack of commitment on the part of other members of our class. We thought that everyone should be as committed as we were. At times we lost sight of the goals of our class, church, and Christians in general.

During the last three years, Jen or I at different times had decided to step down as directors. The spouse that was not discouraged at the time always lifted the other one up. We would pray together and God encouraged us to carry on. Finally, we were both discouraged at the same time in the summer of 2007. Again we prayed, and this time we felt God was calling us in another as yet unknown direction. We decided to step down and began to look for a replacement. We finally found a replacement in the Spring of 2008. As only God can do, as He lifted up a new director for our class, He showed Jen and I our new role in the class. About half of our class either takes care of or teaches children during the Bible study hour. Our class was in desperate need of someone to take care of in-reach. That is to keep in touch with our members and visitors and to not let anyone fall through the cracks.

Jen and I took over in-reach in the beginning of June and it has been a blessing. The excitement is back. We like the challenge of keeping up with everyone and making sure that everyone feels like a part of the group. People are what matter and this role provides us the opportunity to minister to our class. We both feel very strongly that this is exactly the role for us in God's kingdom at this time.