Trading Tea for Elephants

All around the world today children will wake up to a father's day with no father to celebrate.  This fact is significant.  I lay awake last night, my heart breaking, thinking of all the children with no one to call Daddy.  Our current society tries desperately to convince us that fathers are not necessary.  I wonder if this crusade was birthed out of a desire to numb the pain of loss.  If I can convince myself that a father is not needed then I will not feel the grief caused by his absence.  Yet at the core of every human being there is a need for a father.   There is a man who lives in my home.   When he was a boy he dreamed of things like fast cars, big waves and creating new tricks on his rollerblades.  Then he met a girl whose childhood dreams always involved being a mother to lots of children.  He said he would do one.  One child at a time.  This new adventure stretched and challenged him.  It molded him into a man.  A man who is a living example to the world of love and c

Today is the last day of school for my children.  I should say we made it.  And we did.  But the depths of my soul wants to scream, "I DID IT!"  These legs did not experience much actual running these past nine months, but today I feel like I am crossing the finish line of a marathon.  Or at least hitting a significant mile marker.  This portion of my race was long and exhausting.  There were times I hit the top of the mountain and saw the beauty of life.  And plenty more where I was struggling to just keep putting one leg in front of the other and gasp for that next breath. I am looking forward to this summer.  We are desperately trying to slow down our pace.  After the whirlwind of the past few years, the seven of us need some room to breath and to bond together.  A chance to just be before we jump back into the schedule that fall brings.  I am definitely having to fight for it.  In this fast paced society it is easy to have your whole life planned away for you if you a