Queen (or King) of the Castle:

For those of you playing along...(if you've just joined us you can get caught up a bit here) we are on week 20 of the book Queen of the Castle: 52 weeks of encouragement for the uninspired, domestically challenged or just plain tired homemaker.

Chapter 20 is "Mother's Day". The author writes about our motherly duties and that children get the trophies and rewards and while we rack up the mileage to practices, etc. She also touches on the fact that God gives us what He thinks we need. "You may have ordered polite, athletic, intelligent, beautiful children. (Who didn't?) You may have wound up with kids who have physical ailments you've never heard of, a stubborn streak a mile wide, a revulsion to music you love, and Great-Grandpa's nose. You may may have longed for a large, boisterous family. You may have wound up with one child and a hurting heart. When we take on the o of mother-hood, we have no idea what's coming."

She shares this commencement speech of Barbara Bush, wife of then-president George Bush, gave to Wellesley College in 1990. I leave you with that today...to think about, to act on.

"For several years, you've had impressed upon you the importance to your career of dedication and hard work. This is true, but as important as your obligations as a doctor, lawyer, or business leader will be, you are a human being first, and those human connections -- with spouses, with children, with friends -- are the most important investments you will ever make.

At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spend with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent...

One thing will never change: fathers and mothers, if you have children...they must come first. Your success as a family...our success as a society...depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house."