cha-cha-changes!

So Brandy has finally allowed me to write a blog about Ryleigh....just kidding. I have been wanting to write but Brandy always beats me to it.

I can’t explain how excited I am to have a baby. I had a good friend who was about to have his first child put it this way, “I am overjoyed and nervous to know that my entire world is about to change but still have no clue how it’s going to change.” That’s really what Ryleigh is, change. Change in myself, change in my wife, change in my laundry, change in my shopping, change in my house, change in my cloths, change in MY DRIVING, change in my dog, change in my diet, change in my shaving, change in my video games, change in my movies, change in my selfishness, change in everything.

Most of the time change comes quickly, but it is so different with a little one of the way. 5 months ago, I wouldn’t have thought much about changing these things in my life. Slowly though, everything changes.

I love the TV show “Family Guy.” It is really funny, really entertaining and reminds me of my best friend Chris. The other night Brandy and I were curled up on the couch watching it and Brandy very sweetly looked me in the eyes and said, “you know when Ryleigh comes, Family Guy stops, right?” In case you’ve never seen an episode and I led you on to think Family Guy is the ultimate family show, it is probably one of the most crude and perverted shows on television. When Brandy said this, my heart wanted to defend a show I had grown to love, but I couldn’t help think that I would give up the world to help my daughter grow and learn what is right.

Which leads me to the biggest change...

It may sound funny to talk about the gospel when writing a blog about my coming child, but it’s christmas time and Jesus’ birth is right around the corner, right? I want my daughter to know the gospel. I want her to see it being lived out in her parents. I want her to know that we all sin and we all fail, but that’s why Christ came. There are so many things to change when preparing for your first child but the biggest change I desire is that the gospel would be more alive in my life than ever before. When my beautiful, sweet, innocent, and “perfect” daughter looks me in the eyes, I pray that she will see Christ in me. That Brandy, Ryleigh and myself would fall in love with each other more and more and that Christ would be at the center our love.

-Ethan T Perkins