Da Family

{Kevin, Ben, and Nicholas - Fall 1999}

There is so much that I could share with you about my family. I don't even know where to begin. Hmmm...

First of all there was just me. Single, foot loose, and fancy free. Then in May of 1990, I met a young gal by the name of Donna. She was this little sassy Mexican gal that captured my heart. Little did I know that she would later become my wife. After a year and a half of flirting and long nights chatting on the phone, we finally came to terms with the fact that we were indeed soul mates. So on December 18, 1991, I popped the question and she said yes. We were then married on February 21st, 1992. Her father, a local preacher, performed the service in their church and our life began.

From then until March of 1995, we lived there in my home town of Moberly. Our first son came along later in 1992. We named him Kevin Allen. We both liked the name Kevin and Donna got the Allen from her dog (JoJo Allen). My paternal grandfather's middle name was Allen so I agreed.

{Nicholas - 09/00}

In March 1995, we moved to Madison, Wisconsin. We decided to expand our family and had our second son, Nicholas Clayton on November 18th, 1995. Nicholas was the name of one of the kids at the time on Days of Our Lives and we both liked it. We got the name Clayton from my maternal grandfather.

{Ben - 09/00}

A month later, December 31st, 1995, we moved to Appleton, Wisconsin. We remained there until this past summer. While in Appleton the boys grew and we were blessed with our third boy, Benjamin Neal on July 23rd, 1997. We both agreed upon the name Benjamin (don't remember where we got it from), and Neal is the name of Donna's Dad.

Today, we live in SE Wisconsin just outside of Milwaukee in the Suburbs. Kevin is now 8 years old and in the 2nd grade. Nicholas is 5 and in Pre-Kindergarten. Benjamin is 3 years old and in Early Childhood for Speech Therapy.

Over Thanksgiving Weekend 2000, we experienced a terrible loss in our family. Our beloved family dog, JoJo Allen, passed away. JoJo lived to be a ripe old age of 16 ½ years. Yes, Donna had JoJo long before she ever met me. We are still getting through the mourning process. After having a friend for that long, it is hard to adjust.