Well, Father's Day weekend has come and gone, and what a wonderful surprise I received on Sunday morning.  I came downstairs to find, hanging by magnets on the door, a key chain with Evan's picture, a license plate holder, and a car magnet!  Needless to say, I couldn't wait to get the car stuff on there, so I don't have a picture of everything together.  What a beautiful son!

Evan also sent me a card on Saturday, just like he did for his mom on Mother's Day:

Hi Daddy!

Since it's almost Father's Day, God is letting me say hi!  Isn't He so nice?  You are the best Daddy in the whole world, and I can't wait to see you again here, and then we can play catch & listen to the Pirates together with Aunt Dorothy!  I love you & miss you so much!  I have to go play with my friends now.  I have met so many friends like me!

Love, Evan

P.S. Uncle Brian says hi - he's lots of fun here too!

I miss him terribly, and it would be such an understatement to say that I was overcome with emotion at the amazing gifts he sent.  The gift of his short life is more than I could have ever asked for.

This past weekend, Amy and I began the process of collecting items for Evan's birthday celebration at CHP.  For those of you who may not know about this, we're going to be taking an assortment of things down there on July 10 for the families of the 8 beds in the CICU.  So far, we have pencils, pens, pencil sharpeners, throw pillows, inspirational wallet cards, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, gift certificates from Wendy's and Rita's, puzzle books, journals, assorted stationery, CHD awareness buttons, and insulated sacks for food (or other possible items a nursing mom might be carrying!).  We'll also be picking up some candy, chips, Gatorade, and other snack foods nearer to the date.  Certainly, if anyone out there has another idea in mind, please throw it at us...we want to cover as many bases as possible to help these parents out.  Oh, and Amy will also be baking cupcakes for the families and the CICU staff.  We are REALLY looking forward to this.  We need to celebrate Evan on July 10 even as we continue to miss him, and God has blessed us immensely to be able to do something like this in his memory! 

As of now, Amy is still busy at work on the cross stitch, and it is really starting to look great!  I hope you get a chance to check it out on our pictures page.  Meanwhile, I've been teaching summer school and will continue to do so through the end of next week.  And that's about it.  Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there, and God Bless!

Greg