Baptismal Class

Five Things I Learned From Attending our Church's Baptismal Class:

1. As much as some people may consider religion "hokey" or unnecessary I have never met a more well-intentioned, genuinely interested group of people than the Parents Of Little Ones (POLO for short) that were our "instructors" for the 4-hour session we attended to allow us to have the Baptisim at OMC. Their stories (both funny and sometimes scary) gave us some new perspectives on things we kinda already knew and opened our eyes to things we hadn't yet considered. (How do you explain to a 2-year old why we go to church, or why mommy and daddy need time alone together on occasion- without using the words "little brother/sister"?)

2. The fact that two of the couples at the class had already had their babies was great. It gave us the chance to experience what we were in for first-hand as they were encouraged to, and did, bring their children to the class with them. They were so cute and small. It scared the holy shit out of me.

I'm not Kidding.

3. To people who have said you need a license to drive a car but any idiot can be a parent- you can add me to the list of the dumbfounded. There was so many positives we were able to take from this class I have to believe there's a way to take the "religion" out of it and make it an almost "mandatory" part of raising a child. I think the best application would be requiring expectant mothers/ parents who would enroll their child in CHIP (Children's Healthcare Insurance Program: for low-income PA families) to take a similar class before being allowed to participate. As a corollary; there were three more shootings in the city over the last 48 hours. The lack of parenting and guidence most city youths receive these days is disturbing and practically non-existent.

4. I love the taste of cookies and coffee on Sunday after Church. There's just something about it.

5. Finally, and most importantly, I learned that as far as preparing for this goes we're definitely on the right track. We know how we want to raise our child, and we know the most important things we can give them are simply our time and example. We're both also, at least on the surface, fully aware that all the plans we make over the next 22 weeks will amount to nothing more than a pile of dirty diapers by the time the LAB (Little Ankle Biter) gets here.

But we know it's gonna be amazing anyway.