My daughter Emily Elise is almost 15 - hard to believe, life
goes so fast when you are raising teen-agers, doesn't it?!

She came into my life at age seven - she would follow me everywhere
I went, I couldn't go to the kitchen without her right behind me; if I got up,
she got up! So, we nicknamed her "shadow."

It hasn't always been easy for Em and me.

I expect a lot and
she hasn't always known how to respond to me; at times, because of my
impatience, and her stubbornness, we have not always seen eye-to-eye and have budded
heads.

Emily has always been an introvert and has a hard time
finding her voice in life.

With four very loud brothers that demand constant
attention and an older sister that has come FULLY alive the past couple years,
it has been hard for my little shadow to be heard or seen.

Well, that has all
changed in Africa.

A few months ago she started consistently going with her
mother down to Nsoko to work and play with the orphans we are taking care of.

At first she was a little apprehensive. But after a couple times of being
around the kids and getting to know their hearts, Emily was a
natural at teaching and empowering these amazing children.

When she was
there, it was like she was a different person - telling stories of individual kids,
describing them with great detail and then planning out what she was going to
teach the next time she got to go down.

It was like she found her purpose and
place in life!

Emily is a "pre-school teacher" for hundreds of fatherless
children, scheduling and teaching her little brother Noah, becoming an expert
English horseback rider, speaking life and dreams over all of her family and
the people she meets here.

And, she is no longer following me around; she is
actually leading me in many ways.

I never thought I would be happy when one of them came out
from my shadow.

Well, once again, my little "shadow" proved me wrong - she is so
subborn!