Fatherly thoughts: searching for 'the formula'

Hey, every parent with a 20-month old can dream, right?

My determined and lovely wife walked into Barnes & Noble today and purchased the book, "Early-Start Potty Training." Now before some of you write in with your thoughts on how Laura is too young, you'll be interested to know that before the 1960s -- when disposable diapers came into the picture -- more than 80 percent of children were potty trained before the age of 2. Get this, before the 1900s, children were potty trained by 3 months. I'm not kidding. It was in the book. Stephanie can fill you in on the details if you are really interested. Anyway, wish we would have known sooner about the 3-month-old program.

So we're still learning about this whole potty training thing, and we'll see where we are in a few months.

I bring all of this up because it seems like moms and dads are always looking for the perfect formula to raise kids and make parenting easier. A week ago, Stephanie and I attended a parenting conference at a local church. The focus was on raising kids in a Godly home. We both enjoyed it. It also was great to see so many parents there. I would imagine that most parents -- whether they believe in God or not -- are looking for ways to master this parenting thing. It must be every parents worst nightmare that their kid would one day show up on Oprah's couch to talk about what horrible parents they have.

There was a recent article in Christianity Today on how there are so many Godly parents who do all the right things -- or at least try to -- and most kids still stop going to church when they leave the home. So what is a parent to do?

Ultimately, what I'm learning is that all we really can do is pray each day for Laura -- and pray with her -- teach her, read the Bible with her and show her to the best of our ability how to trust and follow Christ. Stephanie and I have to accept that Laura belongs to the Lord ... and only the Lord has the perfect formula for raising her. And that's better than a million trips to Barnes & Noble.

Laura playing on the family rocking horse that her PePa made for his grandchildren many years ago. I sure wish he could have met her. They would have had some good times.

Here is Laura hard at work at her Nana's. Stephanie and I could use Laura's vacuuming skills at our house.