Fast and Slow

This week marks the 10th week of pregnancy. It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a month since the first pictures of the baby in the womb. Time is moving so fast!

The next hospital visit is on February 8th. Kandis and I both will be taking the day off for the hospital visit and to do some more shopping for the baby. I can hardly wait to see the latest pictures of the baby. Time is moving so slow.

And it’s finally Prayer and Fasting month at my church. I’ve been looking forward to this month every since the nurse called and said, “Congratulations”. One reason is because I’m soooooooooo thankful for everything in my life. And the baby is the icing on the cake. We’ve been waiting for this moment for years, but when the announcement came, … well, it all happened so fast!

So this month I will read more, pray more, fast more, and give thanks more. I just wish the baby was here now. It seems that time is moving so slow.
But like everyone else, we have to wait nine months for the baby to develop and arrive. So I continue to be patient. Some days nervous and some days excited. I anoint Kandis’ belly every night, say my prayer, and keep telling myself, “God is always on time, never too fast, never too slow.”

Practice Makes Perfect

I have to admit that I don’t know a lot about being a father. I know about the “natural instincts”, but there are simple things that I should know like how to change a diaper.
And the only thing that would make me feel comfortable before the baby arrives is to practice. I feel funny about putting a diaper on a doll (I mean, playing with dolls is girls stuff, right?) But if I don’t practice how will I expect to perform when it’s “Game Time”.

I could wait to see if “instincts” kick in and I can naturally do a little girl’s hair (if it’s a girl), but I want to practice. Practice makes perfect.

And my most recent attempt to practice came at my parent’s house. My mother purchased this “baby bag”, for me to carry my child around. You know the ones that can be worn forward, backwards, to the side. (Any way but upside down) So I tried it on…No problem. I guess this “instinct” thing is real, right? Maybe I don’t need to practice.

Maybe I can take the Allen Iverson approach to the whole subject of “practice”.

In a 2002 press conference a young and pretty confident Iverson stated, “If I can't practice, I can't practice. It is as simple as that. It ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about practice. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're talking about practice. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice…I know it's important, I honestly do but we're talking about practice. We're talking about practice man. We’re talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you've seen me play right, you've seen me give everything I've got, but we're talking about practice right now.”

Yeah,…well,…maybe not… because with a new life, it’s always “game time”. And if I don’t practice now, then I may not be able to perform at my best. Plus, what Allen should have pointed out is that for years and years and years before he became the “franchise player”, he practiced night and day. He worked hard to become the player he is today. He worked on his game when there was no one around. When there was no one there to push him, he pushed himself. He practiced hard to be the best…

And so will I…because practice makes perfect.