As we’ve talked with many people over the last year about our adoption process, we’ve received two primary responses: 1) excitement about the prospect of an addition to our family, and 2) certainty that our lives are going to be turned upside down. 🙂
Well, with our adoption process nearing the end, much of our attention now turns toward preparing for parenthood. As we do so, we are committed to developing strong character in the little person God entrusts us with. Parenting is heart-shaping work!
I’m sure one of our most important challenges will be maintaining this focus on character building. With all of the distractions available today (media, sports, music, hobbies, etc., none of which are bad in and of themselves, necessarily, and all of which can be part of character building), we hope to do our best to keep the main thing (i.e. building strong character) the main thing.
Parenting is a form of leadership. Whereas a primary responsibility of Christ-following leaders is building Christ-like character in others, parents are also entrusted with the responsibility of developing character in their child/children. We trust that God will help us to build strong character in Baby Willis (yes, we’re still working on a new name!).
We’re beginning to collect helpful online parenting resources. If you have a good resource to suggest, or if you have some personal advice you’ve learned along the way, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section!