Thursday, March 1

Thoughts on THREE

My wife, Lisa, and I are having our third child this June. Our doctor told us that it will be a third son (probably named Levi)... and that's got me thinking.

Two children is sort of the accepted number of kids for a married couple to have. There are two parents (the logic goes) and if they have two children they provided themselves with replacements.

Three kids is different. Three is agressive. "I see the problems in the world, and I think what the world needs is more people like *ME*." Wow.

Three kids is brand new territory.

ZONE DEFENSE: as parents with two kids, we can play more man-to-man defense with our boys. "I've got Ethan," I tell my wife. "You grab Owen." With the third kid, it's only a matter of time before they figure out that they can each run a different direction, and one will get away free.

VEHICLES: no one told me that having a third kid just about completely sealed my fate in having to buy a new car. My wife and I happily drive OLD cars into the ground. We're almost over 300,000 total miles on our two cars which are both running fantastic. The only time we've ever traded in a car was because it *NO LONGER WORKED.* Now, however, I'm going to trade in an awesome car with only 130,000 miles on it (it will go to over 200k EASY) and only get a little money back because I have to have a mini-van. The mini-van also signals me "losing my edge."

RESTAURANTS: no more booths for the five person family. Also, our days of having the kids split a "children's meal" and having our whole family split a scoop of ice cream is coming to an end. I say with pride (sorry Landon) that I took my family out to eat last night at Wendy's for under $8.00.

I know the verse about the full quiver, and I know someday that I'll be glad to have lawnmowers, landscapers, and (most importantly) no weddings to pay for. . .

. . . but I just wish I could have seen some more of this coming. :-)

6 comments:

Unknown said...

congratulations! many hopes you play the zone defense better than the bulls do!

Brett said...

Dude, that is good stuff and so true. Because of our twins we went straight from 1 to 3. We ate at Wendy's this week for under $12.

Regarding booths at restaurants it's still possible if it's a big booth, and we even if it's not, we still make it work by putting one of the kids in a high chair at the end of the booth. But now that our fourth is coming, I'm afraid booths will be totally out.

Welcome to the van club. It is truly an essential once you have three kids.

Beloved said...

So, if you stick with the name you're thinking of, would that make any decendents of his "Levites"? How cool.

From a fellow brother who also had to commit the chief evil, I sympathize with this difficult decision. It ended up being in our best interest to trade in two vehicles (whose combined mileage was around 320k) and buy a "new" one. The old Rover was hogging gas, and the 10-yr-old Accord was nickel-and-diming us to death. But we ended up getting about $10k worth of trade in on 'em, so we were happy! Sorry... I'll stop rubbing it in. Best wishes as you mourn the loss of one of your faithful traveling companions and celebrate another blessed addition to your quiver. If there's any way we can help...

;-)

Dee said...

Mwaaa hahaha. You will soon be outnumbered!
That is my main reason for stopping at 2. Although...it's not something I have definate absolute control over.
Congratulations! I think Levi is an awesome name. I have a friend who has a Levi. Along with 7 other children...all under 13 years old.

Matthew Westerholm said...

Dawnelle,

Thanks for stopping by! I returned the favor, read some of your blog, and prayed for you and your husband this morning.

[r]

Anonymous said...

I have an adult son named Levi-- a name we have never regretted choosing. At the time everybody was trying to read all kinds of biblical insight into why we chose that name. The truth is I was reading a novel at the time which featured a Mennonite character named Levi Zendt. I thought it was cool then and still do many years later :) Congrats on number 3!