Kaylin - 15 years old

Kaylin's 15th Birthday was a family party. We celebrated with dinner at home and then she got to open her present before Darrel left for work. She got a PSP this year. She said she was wanting one and at Christmas Darrel and I found one on sale so we bought it and kept it for 2 months. She was so excited to get it. The little kids were also excited for her probably because she was. She has truely become one of the family and I am not sure the little ones even realize she is truely their cousin and not sister.  They look up to her and love spending time with her. They love her so much and are going to miss her when she does finally leave us. 3 years does not seem that far away! I can only hope she sticks around for a while trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She has such a great future and I hope she sees this and takes advantage of it. We have talked this year with High School about some of the oportunities that she will be getting and hopefully she will take advantage of some of them. I really think that she has received a well rounded life and in lots of ways she is so much better off than most teens her age. She has experienced a lot of different things and extreems but she could use so many of these to her advantage. She has had the opportunity to be raised as an only child when she was younger and then she has had the opportunity to be raised in a big family now too. (I think 4 siblings is a pretty big family these days) So many kids get only one or the other and always want to experience the other not knowing what it is like. I think when she is older (20's) I would like to remember to go back and ask her which she preferred and why.  Darrel and I love her just like she was our own. We hope she knows this and understands how loved she is and that she is always welcome home. This will always be her home. She can get her permit this summer and I am already thinking about her driving. Part of me is excited and part of me is dreading it.  I guess we will wait to see how it plays out to see which feeling takes charge.