It's a GIRL!!

Our little Baby is finally here! Alea Jenette Kinnard
born on Good Friday, March 21, 2008 @ 5:46 p.m.
weighing in at 9 lb 12 oz
21 3/4" long

Mom, Dad & baby are doing fine.
I usually go to BJ & Anjie's house on Thursdays. I had to work, so I stopped by around 9:30 -9:45 p.m. to find that Anjie was having contractions. Her grandma, Rosie, was there. About an hour later Anjie's mom & stepfather came over. I took Rosie home and then went to my house. Brandon called around 8 a.m. to say they were at the hospital and had been there since 4 a.m.

Look at all that hair. She's only a few minutes old here.I got dressed, went to their house, let Rocco out for a bit and then off to the hospital I went. Arrived around 9 a.m. I had to work for someone on the day shift. I was able to leave work around 2:15 to find that BJ had gone home to let Rocco out. 35 minutes later BJ was back at the hospital. Whew! I was worried Anjie was going to have the baby while he was gone. 8-9 cm going to the 10 cm mark could go pretty quickly. The next couple hours were very long. The contractions seem to be coming harder and quicker. I have been in the labor room before with my daughter, Tam-e. As in those times, I watched Anjie intently. I wanted to cry but I controlled my emotions....I'm going to be a grandma again. :)

Alea is getting a bath and a shampoo. Lots of hair to get clean. 1 - 1 1/4" long.When the time came that Anjie was going to deliver, I asked BJ if I could stay. Of course, he asked Anjie if it would be ok. At that point in time, she didn't care about anything. She just wanted to get the baby out! I sat quietly in the corner. With every push, I was pushing with her. The Dr. arrived. He was a very quiet man. I'm not so sure he ever said one word. I was probably too focused to even notice if he did.

Final rinse. As Anjie pushed, you could see the head crowning (lots of hair showing), BJ said it looks like a girl! (Remember, none of us knew if it were a girl or a boy.) Finally, the head was out. The dr. worked to get the shoulder out and then here came the baby! It's a GIRL!!! Tears came to our eyes. It was so exciting.

Proud Daddy showing off his little girl after her bath.
The miracle of birth is so awesome.

Mommy & baby have been moved to a private room where Alea is enjoying sucking on her thumb.9:30 p.m.

The last picture of the day.

Congratulations BJ & Anjie on your new arrival!

She's a cutie!

When is Spring coming?

Ahhhhhhh..............the weather.

With our beautiful snow we had recently, came the outdoor fun of shoveling it somewhere else.

While it may be very cold outside, the exertion of using your body to shovel snow generates heat which of course makes you hot, so therefore you tend to sweat while all along your still cold.

I shoveled 1/2 the driveway (the other half I used the neighbors snow blower). A day later, I decided to shovel the 15" of snow off the huge deck I have at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Even though it was three days later, I now have a wonderful cough with a deep voice. (I had the same thing in January.)

Wow, I'm ready for Spring to arrive and stay.

Today the temps rose to 60 degrees.

It's a Bright & Sunny day!

It's a bright and sunny day!!!

Here's a few shots looking out my front door. I have a bush off to the side of the front door & porch, the snow is deep.

I had to fix the down spout on the front of the house yesterday. I had to walk in the snow to get to it. It came up to my knees.


Haven't been outside long enough to see how cold it is. This would be a great day to go sled riding.





Here's the bush off to the left of my front door. (Looking at the front door.)

Looking out the back door. The snow almost covered the gas tank on the the grill.

Who knows........I may even venture out today.

Snow day.......YEA!!!

The wonderful snow started on Friday morning.

Around 2 p.m. I called work to see if we were still going to be open. Dwayne said yes......bummer. I arrived at the normal time to begin the shift for the night. Nancy & Rachel had been there since 1:00.

We weren't busy. Someone got the idea they wanted pizza. After some deliberation, they decided to get it from Pizza Cottage in Buckeye Lake. Oh no........they don't deliver. I volunteered to pick up the pizza. Thirty minutes later I'm back at work.

Nancy called Sopapilla Express to see if Dwayne was working. He wasn't. Stacy, his wife, gave Nancy his cell phone #. (Poor Dwayne, the prank calls will now begin.) Nancy called Dwayne on his cell, she wanted to know if we could close early. Nope, that wasn't going to happen. Because Nancy & Rachel were there long before Cierra & I, he had them go home first. Not sure how many customers I had, I just know I wasn't busy. We did close at 9:00. Cierra & I walked out the door around 9:15 p.m.

Driving home was awesome. It may have been nighttime, but it was so bright outside that it seemed more like daytime. During those times, I see myself walking in the woods, sledding riding, etc. It was gorgeous.


Saturday morning, today, I was awakened by a phone call from Roseann at 7:48 a.m. LaPaloma will be closed today. Yippee!!!


I fell back to sleep until 11 a.m., got up, got dressed and went outside for a couple hours to shovel 12" of snow off the driveway. Half way done, the neighbor says "borrow the snow blower" to finish the rest. What a blessing that was.


I tried to brush off all the snow I had on me before coming into the house. I looked like a snowman. When I sat down at the computer, I didn't realize my pants were wet I just thought my legs were cold. I quickly changed out of them. I would say it took me 3 hours to get warm again. It was cold outside.


In between shoveling and the snow blower, I took pictures of Stacy & Michael for their save the date cards. Out of 44 photos maybe 3 were good enough to use. The photo above is one of those photos. It probably would have been a good one if I hadn't cut her hand off. It's still looks good though.

I've been wanting to do something with the basement. I had thought about working on it all day. Finally, around 9:30 p.m., I started. I rearranged half of the basement and I hung some sheets as a makeshift wall separation. I need to get another one to finish that task. I would like to get a piece of carpet so the kids won't have to sit on the cement floor. The little TV still works for the VHS movies. Sounds like a plan doesn't it?

I needed this snow day to do nothing. Finally, a three day weekend!
Received a phone call.....no church tomorrow. I'm going to feel like I'm on vacation! Three days in a row to sleep in!

Have fun in the snow!

God IS Good!

God is so good and he's so good to me!

I have worked Tuesday & Wednesday day shifts to pick up extra money for approximately the past year or two. I set this money aside for my house payment. This past Tuesday I counted my money to see how much more I needed for this upcoming payment on Saturday. $140. Oh Lord! I knew that only by a miracle that that amount of money would have to come from God.

When I got to work on Wednesday, Roseann asked if I could work for her on Thursday. God knew I needed the extra money and he found the provision for me to get that money. And on that same day, another girl needed this Saturday off. Hallelujah! God comes through again.

By the end of the shift on Thursday, I still needed $20. That $20 is a far cry better than $140.
That $20 is obtainable. After I work tomorrow day shift, I will have above & beyond the $20 to cover the house payment.

Thank you Lord!