Fwd: So Nice To Connect

Mon Aug 25 20:29:18 PDT 2025

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Kaylen Peterson <kaylenmp1 at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 25, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Subject: Re: So Nice To Connect
To: <robinleepowell at gmail.com>

Hello Robin,

Thank you so much for writing me and sharing the pictures and updates. I
really appreciate it, especially knowing you’ve had a rough month. It means
a lot to me to see pictures and learn more about Kai and Frances. It’s
clear they are surrounded by love and support, and it’s nice that you
shared with me about the family they are growing up with.

Kai sounds so creative and full of personality!  Their costume work and the
way they throw themselves into their interests is wonderful, and I love
that you have created the space for them to be fully themselves. I love
that vampire dress up, I can tell they put alot of creativeness into that
outfit! I too am super into fashion and I actually sometimes make my own
clothes, especially when I was younger. I have more shoes than I can count,
and I too have ADHD! I was just diagnosed two years ago as as an adult. I
dance and sing and make up silly songs even know as an adult. That part of
my creativeness still thrives.

Frances seems like such a strong and spirited young woman. Her love of
riding resonates with me, as I love horses, and my mother actually used to
ride as well, and even competed with jumping. Her smile shines through in
the picture with Barbie! Side note: my parents cats name is also Barbie. :)
I admire Frances’s confidence in speaking her mind! I too thought all of my
teachers were asshats and actually would take over the classroom and start
teaching the kids myself. I can’t help that I was smarter than they were.
Or at least I thought so at the time. ;-)

They both sound like amazing kids with a lot of individuality!

I have dealt with anxiety myself my entire life, I was never diagnosed
until my ADHD diagnoses, I always just thought it was a personality trait
of mine. I’ve done so much better after finding out, I’m so happy you seem
very aware of their mental health and have found things out while they are
young.

Thank you again for opening this door and allowing me a glimpse into their
lives, I would love to continue hearing about them whenever you have feel
ready to share more.
I am so grateful for this chance to be connected, whatever that may look
like.

Please feel free to write down any questions Kai or Frances may have about
me or about my kids. Their biological half siblings are 16 (Hunter) and 11
(Wyatt). I would be more than happy to share and answer anything they want
to know about myself or their siblings.

I am very open to this process and am so happy you reached out attempting
to locate me, and that I was able to find your request,  and it didn’t take
years, or worse, me never seeing it. Please don’t hesitate to ask me
anything. I can answer questions, share family trees and medical history,
be a “cool aunt figure”, or they can just know that I am here to answer
questions or get to know when they are ready. I am open to a video chat or
phone call and if the time comes where they even want to meet me in the
future, I love to travel and am happy to hop on a plane, if that time ever
feels right. In other words, I am happy to accommodate the kids and their
wishes and don’t want either of them wanting to know about me and not
having those answers.

Again, thank you for raising them surrounded by love, and openness, and for
finding me. I will eternally be grateful.

I’ve included a recent picture of me from a dinner out with clients. I also
included the most recent photo of the boys while traveling in June.

Talk soon,

Kaylen

[image: image1.jpeg]
[image: image2.jpeg]

On Aug 25, 2025, at 12:28 AM, Robin Powell <robinleepowell at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi!  Very sorry for the delay, it's ... been a rough month.

Here's the most recent picture of everybody I could find; it's from
September 2022:

<2022-09-21_20-44-01--photo_190 at 21-09-2022_20-44-01.jpg>

Top left is me, bottom left is Ruth Anne, my partner and the woman who gave
birth to the twins.  Middle is RJ, Ruth Anne's other partner; the twins
have grown up with all three of us in the house.  I also have another
partner not shown here who the kids refer to as Aunty Jen.  Next is Frances
and then Kai on the right.

Here's Kai last month doing some crafting:
<PXL_20250726_191443822.MP_trimmed.jpg>

And dressed up as a vampire for a school thing:
<photo_2025-07-17_09-42-49.jpg>

Kai does a lot of costume work; it's a big interest of theirs.  Kai has
pretty significant ADHD and also probably some autism, and in general loves
to infodump about whatever their current interests are.  Kai has had some
past struggles with depression but that's doing OK, and a lot of struggles
with school which we continue to work on.

Kai is trans and nonbinary and very serious about their queer identity;
they went nonbinary and picked the name Kai uh I wanna say about 5 years
ago?  They've been rolling with the they/them pronouns since then although
lately there's been some he/him as well.

Here's Frances with her new puppy:

<PXL_20250709_191257658.jpg>

Frances is in most respects a very typical teenage girl, certainly much
more so than Kai.  She generally does well in school, although she thinks
most of her teachers are asshats and maybe isn't as shy as she should be
about letting them know that.  Her main hobby is horseback riding, and she
has a steady boyfriend.  She's had struggles with depression and anxiety
that have been a lot harder to shake than Kai's were, but we're working on
it.

Oh, they're both 13, turning 14 in October, and going into 8th grade just
now.

We also have a bearded dragon named Waffles, the dog Barbie you can see
above (who is specifically Frances's), and a ball python named Hashbrowns.
Our other ball python, Yogurt, was Kai's specifically and when he died a
couple of weeks ago it was really hard on us, me and Kai in particular.

I think that's a decent summary so I'll leave it at that for now, and I'll
try to respond better going forward.

On Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 9:23 AM Kaylen Peterson <kaylenmp1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
>     Thank you again for being open to connecting, it really means a lot to
> me. It’s kind of surreal in the best way to be in touch.
>
>
>     I donated a total of 5 times, so to know that there could possibly be
> more children out there that share DNA with me is a very unique experience
> to think about.
>
>
>     If you’re comfortable sharing photos, I’d truly love to see them. If
> it’s okay with you, I’d love to show them to my kids too. They know about
> your girls and have been so curious and excited. They have asked me every
> day if I’ve heard anything back yet from my initial message to you.
>
>
>     I have two boys, 11 and 16. My younger one is the wild, sweet,
> energetic type, total sour patch kid, and my older one is thoughtful,
> extremely intuitive and researches everything, and wise beyond his years,
> they both think it’s really cool and special that this connection is
> happening.
>
>
>     I totally understand life is busy (same here, work, kids, and helping
> care for my dad {who had a heart attack and stroke in January} keeps me
> running nonstop), so there’s no pressure at all. I’m just really thankful
> we’ve opened the door.
>
>
>     Looking forward to hearing more about your family whenever you’re
> ready.
>
>
> Warmly,
>
> Kaylen
>
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