When my husband and I got pregnant we knew we wanted our children to have godparents. I have godparents (although their “responsibility” ended when I was 18) so it was important to me that our children did too.

We first thought about why we wanted our kids to have godparents. I knew it was important to me but I had to figure out why it was important. For me it was more than just “I had them so the kids should too”. It was so important to us because we wanted to know that if something happened to us someone would raise our kids, take them to church, and make sure everyone in their family still got to see them.

When it came time to pick someone we had a list of people we talked about. Our list included our parents, our siblings, and a very close friend of ours. Once we started talking about it in depth we decided that our parents had already raised their children and, although they would’ve accepted without hesitation, we wanted to let them be grandparents. We discussed each of our siblings but they have children close to our children’s ages and they would’ve had their hands FULL if anything happened to us (one sibling has 3 and the other has 2). We also discussed our very close friend who we knew would love our kids like we do and would take care of them.

These discussions didn’t last long simply because I knew in my heart our friend was the right choice ( family if you’re reading this I hope that doesn’t offend you). We made this choice over two years ago and I have no doubts that it was the correct choice. Our dear friend agreed without hesitation to be the godparent for our children.

When we asked her we did tell her what being their godparent meant to our family. I’ve learned that based on family and religion the expectations of godparents may be different. This is what it meant for us though. If anything happens to us she is to:

• Love them as her own and take them in
• Take them to church
• Make sure they see all their family members frequently
• Make sure they remember us

Our list for our children’s godparent wasn’t very long and we made sure she was ok with all of it before she agreed to being their godparent. She has been a very big part of their lives before they were even born. She loves them so much and it’s very obvious.

Knowing that our children have someone who will raise them and love them like us helps me to not worry about what will happen to them if something happens to us. I know not everyone does the “godparent thing” but for us it was one of the best decisions ever.

Do you have/want godparents for your kids or is it not for you? Let me know in the comments!

With all that being said, I do want to take a moment to thank Shelby for agreeing to love and raise our children. I thank you for your great friendship and the love you give to our family. We love and appreciate you more than you’ll ever know.