Above: the Grand-Place in Brussels (photo by jesuscm via his Flickr).

When I woke up this morning at 5:15 a.m., I discovered that our oldest daughter, Georgia P age 4, had crawled into our bed in the middle of the night and was sleeping soundly between Tracie P and me.

I gingerly made my way to the kitchen where I set water to boil for my tea as I sipped my orange juice and opened my New York Times app on my phone.

For a few very silent moments in our kitchen, alone, I prayed.

How long will it be before I can no longer shield our precious children from the world’s evil and violence?

It’s just another Tuesday morning at our house and our girls are having breakfast as I write this and Tracie is going about getting their clothes, lunches, and show-and-tells ready for school.

And today their parents’ hearts, prayers, and solidarity go out to our sisters and brothers in Brussels.