A couple of years ago, when we used to go places, I was speaking at a conference in Houston. It was holy and beautiful. And I experienced a deep sense of the beauty of the world there.

But, more than anything else, beautiful people.  People seeking God, seeking truth, seeking community.  Seeking how to be the best parents they can be.  Beautiful people.  

Being a speaker is an interesting thing.  You put yourself out there, you share your message.  Ideally you lift and inspire, and call to action.  Sometimes you never know if what you are trying to share is being received.  

And sometimes you know it in spades.  Your people interact, ask questions, show emotion, agreement, disagreement.  Sometimes you really know where they stand.  People come and talk to you afterwards…share their stories, their successes or pain.  They want you to elaborate on an idea.  

This conference was like that.  I got to know people, share my deepest concerns and successes and failures with them.  They taught me.  We lifted each other up. 

We happened to meet up a couple of days after the conference with a darling mama in Galveston.  We were holidaying where she lives.  She shared that moms were talking about the conference message.  She shared this particular comment that struck me deeply.  So deeply I wrote it down in my little notebook that goes everywhere with me:

I thought I was going to the conference to pick the 

right math curriculum.  

Instead, I learned how to keep my household in order 

and love my family.  

Well.  If I can inspire you to do that, I’m so grateful.  

If I could sum up the message I most dearly wanted to convey in just seven words, it would be this:

Maintain intimacy, so you can maintain influence.

All that we do, prayer life, activities, family time, discipline, homeschooling, order, simplifying our lives should be to that end.  To maintain intimacy with our loved ones so that they choose to remain in our sphere of influence.  That's not an easy way to live. 

But it IS simple.  All the best things are simple.

Two days after we got home, we had a wedding reception in our back yard.  

Five days after that, Little Delphine was born and we began making plans to go to Ottawa to lend a hand to the blossoming family.   And watch them develop their intimacy as a family.  

And that’s what I’m doing now.  On a plane.  Reading and writing.  And watching Rosebud draw things with her hands in amazement that I have yet another artistic child.  

A thousand, thousand blessings to you all.