Surprises, Celebrations and Milestones

This past Friday we went to our daughter's college graduation. Probably not a big deal to anyone but us and the people who love her and have watched her grow up into the lovely young woman she is today.

We have done this college graduation thing before with our other four kids, but Kinsey is our last; our baby:) I had a week of reflection, and I often try not to go there as it makes me cry; happy tears, proud tears and a little bit of "wishing I could recapture some of those moments one more time"-tears.

Kinsey was born on Labor Day weekend- now how appropriate was that? We called her our "surprise baby" as at the time, we had been discussing when would be a good time to have another baby...then all of a sudden the good Lord decided that now was as good a time as any!

Our biggest concern at the time was where to put her--our house had 3 bedrooms and there was already two girls in one room, and two boys in the other.

Again, things worked out fine as this event finally gave us the push we needed to finish off the basement making two more bedrooms for our teenage boys.

We called Kinsey our little Sunshine because she was always so happy and laughing.

(Hence the name of her blog-- I Don't Know Why I Laugh Sometimes)

Of course she had the life of luxury with two big brothers who toted her everywhere and two big sisters who catered to her every wish! But somehow that didn't seem to spoil her; she remained a sweet girl with a very soft heart. Maybe that comes from having a lot of loving, supportive siblings...?

We have celebrated many things with her, from her birth through the first day of kindergarten and of course all the way up to her receiving her college degree in English/Writing.

Her "dream"profession would be to become a screenwriter. I have no doubt that will happen someday. Her other dream would be to be a wife and Mom someday; again, I have no doubt that will happen too.

For now, I just feel very grateful that the good Lord chose to give us this little "surprise", as she is part of the link that connects us as a family. We celebrate this milestone in her life with great pride and infinite love!