Here it is almost 3:30 a.m. and I can not sleep because my daughter comes home today. I have so many mixed emotions about her coming home because I do not know what the next few days or weeks before she goes to a theraputic group home will bring. The last few conversations with her from the juvenille detention center have gone well, but still I shudder at the thought of the first time I tell her "NO" she can't do something and what her reaction might be.

It has otherwise been a rather peaceful 21 days. My son feels the tension in the air as the time draws nearer and I can not help but just hold him and tell him that everything will be ok. I know this because I have laid it all in the capable hands of the good Lord above. A little over two years ago I would have wrapped myself up in a blanket and cried. But now, because I know He has it in His hands, it will be ok just as I have told my son.

Now true, the very human side of me can not sleep because well, I am human. Despite the fact I know He is handling it, I still have some apprehension. Because I know how slick the devil is and he will slip in when I least expect it. That old devil knows how to use my child. He knows how to make her push all the right buttons. Well I declare it gone in the name of Jesus!

So here in the wee hours of the morning she is to come home I lift my prayers ever upwards to the Heavens. That in the time that my daughter is home that she will be wrapped up in the arms of Jesus and covered in the blood of His protection. The time home will be peaceful and we will be able to prepare for the months we will be apart in love with the Faith that God will conquer all. My prayer today...That God will keep a band of Angels around our home and our family to protect us from the attacks of the evil one. That He will pour His blessings upon us so that we can be kind to one another no matter what it takes. That my daughter will be responsive and obedient to the requests made of her no matter how much she does not want to. I pray these things in the name of Jesus our Savior.

Believe me when I say that I know how tough it is to raise a troubled child. That I know the heartache of having to take a tough love approach in order to reach them. But most of all, having to make the decision to place her in a theraputic group home so that she can get the help that she needs in order to grow into a productive and stable young woman. But I did it only after I had taken it to the Heavenly Father and asked Him to open the doors we needed in order for her to get the help she needs.

It will break my heart to say goodbye to her for such a long time. But I know she goes in the hands of God. Please keep her in your prayers.