<div dir="ltr">Hi!  Very sorry for the delay, it's ... been a rough month.<div><br></div><div>Here's the most recent picture of everybody I could find; it's from September 2022:</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:ii_meqnvd6q0" alt="2022-09-21_20-44-01--photo_190@21-09-2022_20-44-01.jpg" width="563" height="563"><br></div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Here's Kai last month doing some crafting:</div><div><img src="cid:ii_meqnz9a73" alt="PXL_20250726_191443822.MP_trimmed.jpg" width="416" height="563"><br></div><div><br></div><div>And dressed up as a vampire for a school thing:</div><div><img src="cid:ii_meqnziy74" alt="photo_2025-07-17_09-42-49.jpg" width="422" height="563"><br></div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Here's Frances with her new puppy:</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:ii_meqo4h7e5" alt="PXL_20250709_191257658.jpg" width="422" height="563"><br></div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Oh, they're both 13, turning 14 in October, and going into 8th grade just now.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 9:23 AM Kaylen Peterson <<a href="mailto:kaylenmp1@gmail.com" target="_blank">kaylenmp1@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">Hello,</span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px"><br></span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">    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.</span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;min-height:21px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px"></span><br></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">    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. </span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;min-height:21px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px"></span><br></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">    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. </span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;min-height:21px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px"></span><br></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">    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.</span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;min-height:21px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px"></span><br></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">    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.</span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;min-height:21px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px"></span><br></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">    Looking forward to hearing more about your family whenever you’re ready.</span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;min-height:21px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px"></span><br></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">Warmly,</span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-size:medium;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody;font-weight:bold;font-size:16px">Kaylen</span></p></div></div></blockquote></div>