At the risk of completely embarrassing her, I'm going to dedicate this blog post to my children's "big sister." No, Kayleigh IS my first born, but my children do have a great "big sister." Almost 5 years ago, at "Meet the Teacher Night" at KCMS an energetic, 13 year old flew across the room (quite literally), landed on top of a table, and practically shouted, "I'm SO excited that I got you for a teacher!" Young or old, all teachers love hearing that (even if they don't show it). From that moment on, I had an inkling that this young lady was going to be special. I didn't know just what the Lord had planned, but He's been good. After an amazing year in the 8th grade, getting to know Bri, I wasn't quite sure I was ready to say, "Goodbye and Good luck" just yet. Fortunately, she was pretty committed to keeping me in her life too. Through 6 a.m. tennis lessons at the YMCA, random drive by/run bys at the house, and countless text messages, we made it clear we were making this stick. As my life changed dramatically since we met, (the birth of two children did quite a bit to my free time) Bri stuck with us ... she just revised her expectations of what our friendship has become. It's not just about us hanging out, but about her becoming a mentor for my babies too. (That and the world's greatest house/kitty sitter ... what 17 year old cleans for free???!!!)

We'll be very excited when Bri gets home from her work trip so we can get back to our weekly playdates. Kayleigh and I had to have a talk yesterday about where Bri was because 10 days is the longest we've been without seeing "Bi Bi" in about as long as Kayleigh's been able to recognize her presence. So, any day now would be great :) ....

Here's a few of my favorites of our big sis:

[caption id="attachment_422" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="You can't see Bri's face but I'm positive that's her fingernail polish, holding my newborn Kayleigh"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_424" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="And with Benjamin - 1 day old"][/caption]

AND ... with us on vacation for a day long visit

[caption id="attachment_425" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Helping Kayleigh with one of her top 5 activities"][/caption]

I look back at that first encounter (and like so many others that God places in our lives), didn't realize the weight of it until I look back, nearly 5 years later and smile.