We are in London. We have been here since last week - #2 of my red-eye plane flights.

I love London. It has been a favorite - or as they would write here, favourite - city since I first visited here the summer after I graduated from Notre Dame.

Our first few days here have been wonderful. We have a slower paced life and that suits our family well at this time. Even with two active boys, we have managed a good balance between sight-seeing, museum time, park play and rest.

As I mentioned in my last post, over the past year I have travelled (within Maryland/Virginia and throughout the U.S.) to share my story and to meet with others in need or search of hope. It really is an honor to do this. It can be draining - both physically and emotionally - but I love it. I love the face-to-face connection with people; I love feeling as though I can make a difference in someone’s life - or to help them understand that perhaps their problems (boyfriend/girlfriend problems to a high school student) perhaps aren’t as serious as they thought. I often talk about, and have here, perspective.

Yet time travelling is time away from my family. It is a balance that parents juggle everyday. Our family is not unique nor an exception to this. But we all need to recharge and to reconnect and to focus on what grounds us and gives us the strength to give to others. For me, it’s my family.

My husband works for international company. We are here with him to spend more time as a family. Over the past week, it has been the four of us almost 24/7. Sound like a lot of time together? It is- but again it is to balance out the last year, to recharge, to return to the States and return to a life that we love: a life of outreach to others, a life with a community of friends with whom we share the joys and hardships of life. A life where I will continue to travel and share the story of What Though the Odds. I am looking forward to it, and I know by summer’s end I will be more than rejuvenated to carry on my journey. But for now I will enjoy the perspective of summer through the London Eye.