Happy Birthday Alex!!!

March 21, 2013

Alex turned one year old Tuesday, March 19th. Wow! Somebody pinch me.

When Nathaniel and Nikki got married we offered them our house at Eastport to live till they could find a place. The understanding was that we would be coming back in late April to live for the summer, so move over. One morning (July 12th to be exact) I hear Nikki running down the stairs just a mouthing. I could tell she was excited. When she got to me she was shaking a pregnancy stick. POSITIVE! WooHoo! # 2 grand baby on the way. Shhhhh! I couldn't tell anyone. Get this, she took a pregnancy test everyday till her first doctors visit.

One Sunday, Nathaniel and Nikki invited us all, Richard, Cheryl, (Nate's parents) Jackie, Burnette (Nikki's grandparents, Sammy and me out to eat. We all met at Gillian's, a little restaurant at Eastport Marnia. Nikki and Beth worked there in the summers while in high school, so guess who was working there that year? Yep, Kinsley. Kinsley and a few of her friends worked there as waitresses so they were a part of this moment. Nikki didn't tell me why we were all there but I had an idea. When Kinsley came to take our order Nathaniel made the announcement, Perfect timing. You could have heard the whoopin' and hollerin' all the way to the boat ramp.
On November 3, 2011, Nathaniel and Nikki wanted both sets of parents there for the sonogram . Sammy was out of town working but I had him on the phone. He was in a meeting but it came to a halt for a few minutes. He heard us all say "Its a boy". You would have thought Nikki had given birth cause we were SO loud. I did hear Sammy say he wanted to talk to Nikki.
Toward the end of the pregnancy I got to go with Nikki to her doctor visits and maybe a little shopping afterwards. The good thing about being pregnant is you get the good parking places. you know special parking.

March 18th a little after 9:00 that evening, Nathaniel calls and wants to know if we are ready for #2 grand baby cause they were leaving for the hospital. Now we had already made 2 burnt runs earlier in the month so we said y'all go on and call us if its the real thing. Ha! Oh about 15 minutes away from the hospital Nikki calls and says its the real thing, so we mozy on down. It was a long night but by morning family started pouring in. I got to stay with Nikki the whole time, the others would take turns coming back to see her. I remember Sammy came back to see her a couple of times but the last visit he couldn't take it. Her epidural stopped working and he got the heck out of dodge. 19 hours later the real thing was born.

Now we all got a Big surprise when Nathaniel came out and told us all is well but there had been a name change. Instead of Richard (Rich) Preston, they wanted to name him after Kinsley so his name is Richard Alexander. Well our hearts melted right then and there. Kinsley's name is Kinsley Alexandria Jordan.
(For you out-of-towners, we had just had Kinsley's funeral on Friday and baby Alex was born on Monday) I bet Kinsley's heart melted that day too!
You know the only thing good about 2012 was Alex. March 19th is the only day I wanna remember.

Dear Lord,
Thank you for Richard Alexander Clark. Alex has brought such joy to my family and the Clarks. Nathaniel and Nikki are the best parents and I'm so glad you picked them for him. Bless Nathaniel, Nikki and Alex with love, comfort and grace. I know Alex will bring them a lifetime full of happiness. Amen.