Welcome to our newly re-vamped web site, where many of our things - such as blogs and photos - are now condensed. We've brought KevinandShel.com into Web 2.0!

Blogs (Online Journals): Below you'll see the feed from our online journal, or "blog." To view the entire post, you'll need to click the headline. That will take you to the actual blog, which is on another site. Just use your back button to return here. To the left, you can see headlines from our award-winning wine blog, as well as my technically focused blog. Again, clicking the headline will take you away from this site. Your back button will return you here.

Photos and Videos: For more information on where all our photos are now located, check out this blog post. Or, just check out the photos section of this blog to see family-relevant photos from the last year. Click the Videos tab at the top to see any recent video shorts.

Community: You can join this web site by clicking the Sign Up link in the top-right. You don't have to join to see everything. But if you choose to join, you'll get a chance to create your own profile. If enough people join, and we do not expect they will, we'll activate community features, such as forums where we could all chat. So let us know if you're interested.

Photo: Kimberly, me, Krystal, and Bobbi Jo, last year at Kimberly's wedding.

On October 15, 2007, my little sister died unexpectedly of a congenital heart defect. Krystal was only 21.

Although a twin, Krystal was technically the youngest of four sisters. She loved children and hoped to spend her life to teaching elementary school. She was a junior education major at Thomas More College. Krystal worked as a clothing associate for Dick's Sporting Goods in Florence and was an all-around athlete with a particular talent for fast-pitch softball.

In the end, Krystal's heart was just tired.

The stress on her heart from finals, work, and everyday living is different from the stress put on her heart from sports and climbing and all the other things she did. Her heart just gave out.

On a family website, close friend Jessica Raney wrote of her passing: “Krystal was such a woman of integrity, loyalty and love. She really had so much going for her. There was nothing not to love about her. I already miss her so much.”

Even now, many of us are still in shock. Nothing really describes the hole that is left by someone who is so young and vibrant, and gone before her time. In an effort to honor Krystal's memory, we have established a scholarship fund. By raising $25000 in 3 years, we can award a scholarship to an elementary education major on a perpetual basis.

I think Krystal would be happy to know that we are helping people like her who love children.

- Michelle