On Children
 Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Tonight I share this poem with you as it occurs to me that my children are very much on their own paths, and that it is not of my making, but the making of a Power much greater than I - And this feels very good to me, as I know in the center of my being that I am merely a guide along the way, and they have Real power behind them- There is just no way that I could have created the good (or the bad) things that have occured already in their short lives- Since that is abundantly clear to me, it is a great relief to be able to sit back and smile at the wisdom of the Universe- And to wonder what that Great Power has in store for them in the years to come-

Tonight we had a major realization in our house-Our friend Heide Randall is creating posters of our BT kids for the newest edition of the Pediatric  BT Wall of Courage, and Lexie's poster says "11 year survivor !!!"  When Lexie heard this and saw the poster, she realized we had never celebrated her 10 year survivor mark !!!

So I had occasion to mention this, and our friend Kristin suggested Cake !!!! Lexie immediately asked if she could run out to the kitchen and make a cake.... and Make a Cake she did !!!!
Emily even wrote "Congrats on your 10 years!!" on it-

So tonight we ate cake, and tomorrow Lexie will eat a cupcake for lunch to commemorate year 11, as per Kristin(the Cake Goddess's) suggestion !!!!

We may just celebrate this milestone all Summer !!!

Tomorrow we will do laundry, wash the dog and pack the car, as we ready ourselves for our first summer adventure, a week in P-town, with the extended family !!!! We are hopeful that they love the place as much as we do !!!

Before we head off to the beach, Emily and I will go to see "My Sister's Keeper." as we have read the book and are excited to see a movie which is all about a "Super Sib !!!!"

When we return from the beach, we will celebrate the 4th with Auntie and Grandma  and Auntie Patty, before heading to our beloved Camp Sunshine for the BT week !!! We were asked to serve as mentors for the new families for this week, and we said Yes !!!! My kids are very excited to see themselves as mentors to the new BT kids at Camp for the week !!!

Our summer is off to a wonderful start, and I hope that All of you will be planning something special and fun to get your summer going !!! (we have even seen the Sun here today !!)

PEACE, MY DEAR FRIENDS !!!!