a PERSON?

It's incredible that in less than a year we'll be responsible for a whole person.

I saw a movie once where they said to start out with a houseplant and if that lived, then move on to a pet. If the pet lived, then maybe you were ready for a baby.

We can't have a dog here, and I really don't want cats.
Because they poop.
Because their pee stinks, and if it gets on any cloth, it stinks forever.
Because they scratch things like furniture and my flip-flops.
Because we don't have money to get them declawed.
Because they can't do things like "sit" on command.

Remember the whole schpiel Robert DeNiro gave in "Meet the Parents" about cats and how they can't be 'broken'...that's so true. And I don't want one.
Because I don't want the responsibility.
Because Anthony's eyes look like Christmas after he pets one (eyes are green and then the rest turns red).

Pondering all this I think, "How is it that the Lord thinks I'm ready to be responsible for another human being's well-being?"

I mean. Anthony and I vowed to love, honor, and cherish one another.
But that was easy
He's already potty trained!
And if he's thirsty or hungry he knows how to get food and drinks for himself.
Which makes me, in turn, thankful for my mother-in-law and my late father-in-law for potty training Anthony and teaching him how to do stuff like talk so he can tell me when he needs my help, and exactly what he needs help with.
He doesn't cry.
He doesn't poop in the backyard.
He doesn't scratch the furniture with his fingernails.
In fact, he knows how to cut his own fingernails.
Thank you MamaLou!

This baby thing is a harder thing to handle.
I mean, I admit I'm a selfish person.
Aren't we all?
Even if you didn't verbally express when your first child was coming, "Holy crap it's not about me anymore!"
You at least thought it.
If you didn't think it, you felt it in the tension in your neck. Yes, knots in your neck mean "Holy crap!"

I KNOW in 9 months Anthony and I won't be able to just go to the movies when we want.
It's gonna take planning.
Timing.
Baby-sitters.
Constraints of not being able to do anything we want afterwards, but to return at the time we told the baby sitter.
I KNOW in 9 months my clothes will be stained with spit-up.
SPIT-UP!
Milk that has been slightly digested, thrown up, and souring on my shirt.
I KNOW in 9 months the AMAZING sleep I get on Saturday morning will vanish.
GONE...
and not only gone, but replaced by crying, doing stuff, and giving my attention and care to someone far more helpless than myself.

So what was the Lord thinking giving me a baby now?
He knows I kill plants (yes that's MY plant in the picture)
He knows stuff like poop, pee, and spit-up aren't fun to me.
He knows I'm selfish (He's helped me a lot on several points, but His work is far from over)

His Word helps me know what He's thinking.
He says it over and over...
Children are blessings.
BLESSINGS!
HOLLA!
This baby is gonna be snuggly, not a spikey palm fron (yes the plant is supposed to be a palm).
Statistically, it's probably gonna have dark curly hair.
It won't have pet dandruff that'll make Anthony's sinuses angry everytime he wants to touch it.
It's gonna poop and pee, but diapers for the most part will contain all that.
So at least when it poo's I'll have an idea of where it is gonna be to clean it, and I won't have to smell for places on a rug to find the exact location.

So this precious little (right now it's like only a few hundred cells) person is gonna rock our world in just a few months.
Can't say I'm completely ready.
But if I was completely ready, I probably wouldn't turn to the Word like have been searching for wisdom.
The Lord does all things to receive praise from His creation.
I'm praising him right now that its even possible for there to be a PERSON inside me.
I always thought it was kinda cheesy when people were so amazed at new life...
but it's blowing me away right now.
I'm praising Him for the dependency He's creating IN ME because of the dependency of this little one ON ME.
I'm ready for this blessing the Word speaks of so highly...even though the blessing includes things like changing diapers and making sure it eats.