no surprise, we have a winner!

Earlier this year Katie submitted an essay to her school about who she thought deserved the "Kindest Kansan Citizen Award".  The judges received all kinds of essays and picked a select few as winners. The winners read their essay during an assembly and their nominee is honored.  Between Katie's brilliant essay, and the object of her essay, the combination was BOUND to be a winner!  I cried and cried when I read her essay because the recipient is unbelievably worthy of the honor. I will not go into details because Katie's essay does an amazing job of explaining to you just a glimpse of how we feel about our Auntie Erin.

"My kindest Kansas award goes to my awesome friend, Erin Lawrence. My mom grew up next door to Erin and has been a friend of mine for years. She is such a good friend that we call her “Auntie” Erin, even though she is not my real Aunt. Auntie Erin lives in Lawrence, Kansas. She has a set of twins, Abby and Elise. She has a wonderful husband named John. She has a cat and a dog. She has spent her whole life working with preschoolers with special needs. I think that it is different and cool because she still loves them even though they are different. The reason I chose her is because she is very special to my family and me, always thinks about us first, and is like a family member in my family. She is also very fun, loving and creative. When I was little she used to send me like three books each year! We love seeing her and her family. When we were moving from Virginia to Kansas I bet she was glad we were coming. Also she is always there for us. Thank you Auntie Erin for being such a good care giver!"

 ~s