Our History -Birth of our First Son

I guess our story doesn't start with our journeys to Shane and Abigail but truly our journey as family so I thought I would start at the beginning. Readers - bear with me as I have never blogged and this will be a true learning experience for me. For those of you that don't know our family well, John and I were married on June 27, 1981. Shortly after our marriage, I became pregnant. It was not an accident. I have always loved children and always wanted to be a mother. On Monday morning at 7: 17 a.m. on May 3, 1982 our first born child was born. We named him John Anthony Shifflett. He weighed 7 lbs. 9 1/2 ounces, had Blonde hair and blue eyes. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of him as a baby that I can upload. I am thinking that I need to be creative and if I figure out a way to get a picture of him as a child, I will. John was a good baby. He was very attached to me and his paternal grandmother. I was blessed to be able to spend most of his first year at home with him. We are truly blessed to be his parents and thank God for him each and every day. John Anthony attended public school in kindergarten and first grade. He attended United Christian Academy from second grade until he graduated in 2000. John was a good student and played basketball, soccer and baseball. John always knew that he wanted to a writer/journalist and he worked for the Greene County Record during his high school years. He worked full-time for the Culpeper Star Exponent for a period of time and then the Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Virginia.

John began dating Melissa Kringle soon after his high school graduation. They were married on July 17, 2004. They rented a basement apartment that was located about 10 miles from our house. It was great having them so nearby! In October 2005, he accepted a job at a newspaper in Fort Collins, Colorado. My child would be packing up and moving over a thousand miles away. It was a very hard day for me to say "good-bye" to my firstborn child and to not know when I would see him again. In June 2007, John and Melissa moved to Boise, Idaho as he accepted a job at the Idaho Statesman. He is a Sports Copy Editor for the Idaho Statesman. Here is a picture that was taken of John and Melissa when we visited them in October 2007.