"The strongest oak tree of the forest...


is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun.


It's the one that stands in the open...


where it is compelled to struggle for its existence...



against the winds and rains and the scorching sun."

Napoleon Hill

It took me nearly five and a half years to finally begin to understand the child that I deemed as the true testament of my faith.  The infant child that I frantically rocked back and forth in the wee hours of the night while speaking in tongues, desperately trying to manipulate her into abiding to my strict schedule.  The stubborn toddler child that fell asleep at the dinner table in utter exhaustion after refusing to eat organic green beans.  The preschool child that disobeyed all loving warnings only to end up with (on separate occasions) one broken leg, one severely burned palm, forehead stitches and several ambulance rides to the ER.

She was born to compose her own song. I will conduct her, teach her and begin to listen.  I just hope we have the same taste in music.