We were finally empty nesters. Then we got custody of our granddaughter and had to go back to work to raise her.

We were empty-nesters for almost two years.

MICHAEL: After we got married, our children were all out of the house, and it was awesome being empty nesters. Kinsley’s mother had moved around a lot. Kinsley was in some situations that weren’t great. Her mother, Connie’s daughter, was also in and out of the hospital with liver disease and wouldn’t see Kinsley for a few months at a time.

We were granted temporary custody of Kinsley, then won permanent custody. I knew that this was going to be at least 18 years of taking care of a child again. I wouldn’t be an empty nester again until I was 72. I didn’t want to do this, but there was nobody else willing to do it. My wife believed this would be only temporary.

MICHAEL: We expected there would be differences between raising our children and raising Kinsley. We’re much older now, so in all her school activities, it felt awkward that the parents of all the other kids were our children’s age. But we now have a lot of friends that age. We also sent Kinsley to a private school because we didn’t have confidence in where her education was headed.

Raising her has been complete bliss.

CONNIE: There were plenty of challenges, though. We have a lot of grandchildren, and when she was very small, she was always sharing her toys and room with the other grandkids who came over. It was a challenge to share attention. It’s a tug-of-war in my heart to make sure that when Mike’s grandchildren from his previous marriage are here, they have time with him without Kinsley. She feels like she owns the place.

We wanted her to have her own space, and she needed to feel like we were the nucleus. I try to keep her busy because we don’t want the other grandkids to be jealous of her. We eventually established that we’re not grandparenting her but are instead parenting her.

We have some friends who are raising grandkids, but we have it a lot differently. We’ve had to tighten our belts a lot, especially recently. Now that we’re not out in the world as much, we rely on whatever’s been set up for retirement. I tell Kinsley, much like I told my daughters, that they have more than we ever had.

We don’t have as much put away as I would like to have had at this age, but we’re OK.

I turn all my hobbies into businesses, and we’ve tried to make this more of an active farm than just a hobby farm. There are days when I wonder if we should try to stop because it costs more than what we make from it, but we need to add to our income. We also jump in to help my daughters when they’re overwhelmed. Connie recently started volunteering to help them out with linens. We always look for ways to increase our income and reduce expenses.

CONNIE: We’re not wealthy, though some of our grandchildren think that we are. Kinsley had to have surgery on her foot last year, and it was very expensive. We were looking at dental work, and all these extra expenses have piled up. It’s hard not to think in those terms. We have to plan for all these things again, though we thought they were behind us.

Raising her hasn’t been too strenuous on us.…Read more by