Heath came by with a better photo of Alexis. Now that is one cutie!

Everything is still progressing nicely. She is doing well and will probably be home before we know it.

-Randy

New addition to the Family..

There are/were 4 women in my immediate circle expecting babies (Jennifer, Melissa, Mindy, & Leanne). Now we are down to three! Leanne had an early arrival of Mary Alexis around 3:44am on Memorial Day. Leanne had been assigned bed rest for the balance of her pregnancy (she was due in July) but she'd have none of that. Alexis weighed in at 3lbs 13oz and is 17in long with jet black hair. She is tiny but doing really well. She will have to be in the hospital for a while to gain a little weight so they can put her is the car seat (they don't make them that small). She has lots of wires and leads attached to her tiny body to be sure everything goes well. Heath calls her his "matchbox" baby. She will almost fit in your shirt pocket.

The nurses I met were knowledgable and obviously called to their jobs. There were a lot of sick babies in the intensive care unit when I visited. Heath shared with me that he and Leanne had a lot to be thankful for. McKenzie is ready to bring her baby sister home and have a tea party. Granny would be so proud.

-Randy

What a great weekend!

Sue and I did our regular visit to the lake house for the Memorial Day weekend. I closed the store on Monday for a long needed rest. The rest of our crew were vacationing (see Jonas and Melissa's blog) and working (Jennifer & Robert had work and concerts this weekend). We went to Foothills (Rock 'n Roll Church) for worship Sunday morning. Greg is teaching on David's blog - Psalms. That really got me thinking about doing a blog! We'll see how it goes.

The weather was perfect so on Sunday afternoon we decided on a whim to go to Simpsonville, South Carolina for the Freedom Aloft Weekend 2008. What?? It's a festival of hot air balloons. I lost count of how many were there and they all heated up at the same time took off on some kind of chase. We were too busy snapping pictures to worry about the reasons why. I bet this was more fun than a Nascar race!!! Look at the slideshow on the right at all the balloons. It was spectacular.

Later that evening we went to a concert by Natasha Beddingfield (yuck) and Huey Lewis and the News (yeah). Remember them? "Heart of Rock and Roll" & "Back in Time" (from the movie Back to the Future) were two of their biggest hits. We had front row seats that were actually spots on the concrete slab in front of the stage. We paid extra to sit on concrete. This is were the going on a whim bit us in the...well.....you know! We sat as best we could through Natasha but when Huey came out we were all standing for the entire concert. So it really didn't matter.

Monday morning we got the news from Heath about Alexis arriving early. He actually woke me up around 9am. We had been out till 1am the night before and that was tough on these old people.

Monday evening topped of the weekend with a patriotic concert by the Northwinds Symphony of Gainesville. Jennifer and Robert were playing and we were not about to miss it. After a visit with Heath and Leanne we went on to First Baptist for the concert. The evening was dedicated to the attending veterans and they were a proud group. After the concert I got to meet and speak with Mack Abbot. Mack claims to be the first American to fire a shot in World War II. He was credited (along with other Marines) for downing 3 Japanese aircraft on the initial attack at Pearl Harbor. He was all decked out in his uniform and medals and he stood proud. We are losing many of his generation and I was honored to meet him.

-Randy

Getting started.....

I thought it was about time Sue and I started our own blog to share our family experiences. We are both new to this idea of blogging but we are ready to give it a whirl.