Kaylin Marie Mathews

Kaylin Marie Mathews was born on Tuesday, March 1, 1988 in Borger Texas. It rained the day that she was born. The angels cried the day they had to give her to me. Kaylin is named after her grandmothers. My mom's middle name is Kay. Her biological dad's mom is named Carolyn. We put the Kay and the lyn together and changed the spelling. Her name is said together sounding like "Kaylun." My grandmother's middle name is Marie and one of her biological grandmother's middle name was also Marie. Kaylin was born with a head full of hair. It was a frosted mix of red, blonde, and brown. One of the nurse's actually brought her beautician to the hospital to see it. :) Kaylin was such an easy happy baby. She slept through the night early and when she woke up most mornings it was jabbering to her mobile. When I would hear her and walk into her room she would smile so big her entire body wiggled. When she was older we would put her in a walker while I fixed dinner. She would run up and down the hall in that walker. She began picking it up by the sides and running with it, but when we would take her out she would sit down. As a toddler she would sing a lot. She always liked to sing songs and she made most of them up. I remember a song she sang to me and her Nanny about pizza. Kaylin was a Nanny and Poppy's girl. She had them wrapped around every finger on both hands. When she was 4 she knew their phone number and would get up early on Saturday and call them and tell my dad that she didn't have any donuts. I would hear a knock and wonder who was coming over so early and it would be my dad with donuts. He would drive 30 miles round trip to bring her that donut. My mom referred to her as her "little lamb" and as the grandkids came she had more lambs. Kaylin learned Bible versus when she was 3. We would laugh listening to her saying "A mewwy hawt is wike a medicine, but a bwoken spiwit dwieth the bones" with heavy emphasis on "dwieth". Kaylin laughed and sang a lot. Most trips into town were with her holding one of my hands and us singing silly songs. She really liked a good long "this is the song that never ends." We could make it last 15 miles. Kaylin was an amazing girl. I am so blessed that God allowed me the honor of being her mama.

My mom died at the age of 54. Kaylin was a Nanny's girl. She would spend one night a week with her and Poppy. She was an only grandchild for 71/2 years. She and Nanny had a special bond that continued through her life. She loved the Mickey Mouse pancakes Nanny would make her and she loved going once a year with Nanny and Poppy to New Mexico. Kaylin used to walk into their house when we would go over and she would stand between the kitchen and living room and hold her arms up and throw her hip to one side and just wait to see who grabbed her first. Usually it was a race between Poppy and two Aunts but no matter who won Nanny would make them give "her little lamb" to her. Kaylin and Nanny used to sing a song, "I'll take a leg from some old table, I'll take an arm from some old chair, I'll take a neck from an old bottle and from a horse I'll take some hair, I'll take some hair. Then I'll mix them all together with a little bit of water and some glue and I'll get more lovin from this old dummy then I ever got from you." She really liked that one. One of my mom's favorite songs was a song called "Roses will Bloom Again." She loved it best when Kaylin would sing it for her. When my mom died Kaylin wanted to sing it at her funeral one last time but was not able to. I believe that when Kaylin died that my mom was there to grab her up and welcome her "little lamb" to heaven. I know that they are together again.

Kaylin was murdered on July 1, 2008. My precious baby's body was found in a ravine in Agoura Hills, CA. My heart felt like it would literally burst into pieces. Kaylin was buried in Borger Texas on July 12, 2008. She is buried across from my mom. It was a decision that I wrestled with. I wanted her here with me, but I know one day we will go back home and I did not want to leave her out here alone. My dad and sisters keep her grave for me and take the things that I send and put them on her grave for me. It hurts to not be able to just go to her grave when the days are the hardest, but I know that she is where our family is and that she is near her Nanny. On July 1st, I cried because I had to give her back to the angels.