In just a few hours I will be the parent of a high school graduate.  Of course I knew this day would always come but now that it's actually here, it's almost surreal.

This morning when I woke up I was thinking back to an incident when she was a toddler.  She had stepped in an ant pile in our back yard and I could hear her screaming "Bite you!" "Bite you!"   That's when  I knew my daughter would have the gift of communication

Getting to this point hasn't been easy by any stretch of the imagination.  We've gone through a lot as a mother and daughter.  We've endured divorce and a deadbeat dad/husband.  She was a latch key kid for a number of years.  We've struggled through serious illnesses and teenage pregnancy.  We've even had to make adjustments to a new blended family.

These are just some of the challenges that life has brought our way but, as I've told my daughter more times than she cares to hear, it's how you rise to those challenges that will determine your character.

Without a test, you'll never have a testimony.  Today we both have a testimony of God's love for us IN SPITE OF US and now it's time to march on to the next phase of the journey.