I got the best surprise in the mail last week! No, it wasn’t a fat check for hundreds of dollars, elegant clothes, or a request from a major company to publish my book. It was the sweetest letter from my missionary son, who has been gone since the end of November. Total payday for me! He thanked me for homeschooling him and acknowledged what a sacrifice that is. He thanked me for letting him go to the college of his choice, and he thanked me for not letting him go to and have sleepovers.

I posted the letter on my wall to remind me that there is light at the end of tunnel as I continue in the trenches with his younger siblings, some of whom will remain nameless as they continue to insist that they are never doing chores again or should be allowed to spit whenever they want. May all my children and yours thank you someday for homeschooling them! If not homeschooling, then something you have sacrificed for.