40% of all chidren woke up this morning without a father in the home.  I wanted to share it with you to remind you that you are not alone.  Many children are living in fatherless homes.  Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Tulsa with a group of ladies from one of the local churches.  We had a really good time.  It was a Friday evening and all day Saturday event.  We started the evening by listing to Angela Taylor speak; she’s a very dynamic speaker and spoke openly about things she’s said to her children to embarass them like “Be the Sunshine”.  Ask me about it, I’d love to tell you how she unknowingly embarassed her teenage son at a sporting event.  Friday evening we listened to Casting Crowns sing their songs that they use in their youth ministry; that was awesome.  I brought some CDs back for my son who will turn 13 this month.  I think he’ll really enjoy them.    It was a great time!  To find out more about upcoming conferences or to connect online visit Extraordinary Women site.  On Saturday we heard from Carol Kent talk about her son being in prison for murder.  It’s her only child and now her only way to spend time with him is through prison visits and letters.  It’s given her and her husband an incredible ministry to reach out to other families in similar circumstances.  We heard from Michelle Hammond who spoke of her recent loss of her father and the devestation (loss of work, home, etc.) that had occured in her life prior to his passing.  She’s an incredibly dynamic speaker and I enjoyed her immensely.  We got to hear a more humorous side of life from Chonda Pierce; it was hysterical to listen to her talk about family relationships and sex.  There were so many people squirming when she spoke of this especially the young and old; it’s such a taboo topic but she made an incredible point.  Why? I think if we were more willing to discuss the tough topics then our society would be much better off.  If we don’t talk openly about these and other important topics we can’t be the souce of information for our children and they will have learn about these topics from other sources.  We heard a very intimate testimony from Lysa TerKeurst about the struggles she has battled in her life.  My friend who was sitting next to me nearly pushed me out of my church when she started talking about how God was talking to her telling her “Sweetheart I love you; You are part of the family!”  She was talking about how her childhood may not have been fulfilling and she may not have heard the words from her own father and felt like she belonged but God wants her and embraces her as part of his family.  We got to sing along and enjoy music from Michael O’Brien; he also spoke about why he changed his career path and how bipolar depression has affected his family.