It's been a long time since we've updated! I guess you could say a lot has been going on here. A couple of months ago I met with one of the Heart Walk directors to talk about being "extra involved" in this year's walk. Well, about two weeks ago, this email appears in my inbox...
Hello everyone!
Believe it or not it is time to gear up for the 2008 Pittsburgh Heart Walk. The date has been set for September 27, 2008 at Heinz Field, put it on your calendars!
This year the Heart Walk is being challenged to hit $1 million with the extra efforts of one of our Top Walkers. There’s also a challenge issued to the Friends and Family teams this year to play a significant part in helping us hit our $1 million dollar goal! One of our great Friends and Family team champions is Amy Campbell from Evan’s Warriors. Amy is planning to reach out to you, our F&F teams to organize an entire F&F committee, making all the teams one great big powerhouse, if you will. Amy’s convinced that, collectively, the F&F teams can jointly raise a total of $50,000! With the support from our staff and all of the energy and passion of yeach ou, this is a very achievable goal!
There is an AHA walk director assigned to working with you to make these dreams a reality. The walk is just 7 months from today….the excitement is building!
You’ll be hearing from Amy Campbell soon for a meeting and then you and your AHA director will schedule time to discuss your specific team goals and all of the fun details.
Please call if you have any questions.
Thanks a Million!!!!!
Loretta Berger,Senior Walk Director
American Heart Association
Wow! I did discuss this at the meeting I had a few months ago, but was shocked when the email just appeared without warning! Last year Evan's Warriors raised over $14,000! The combined total of all of the friends and family teams was a little over $27,000. So our team raised more than half of the total!!!! Again I say THANK YOU to all who joined our team and all who donated. We couldn't have done it without you!
So I guess this year we have our work cut out for us! Sometime in the near future I will be setting up a meeting with the other friends & family teams to talk about goals and fund raising tactics. This should be so much fun! Greg will be helping out a lot too since we do have a little one coming in 2 months! I am using this as an opportunity to get my foot in the door and to get a bigger focus on CHDs at the American Heart Association...I know it will take time, but I also know that Evan will be helping me accomplish it! He is my inspiration for all of this and he keeps me determined!
Onto other subjects...baby girl is doing well. We have our next doctors appointment tomorrow and we will schedule another ultrasound to check her growth in two weeks. This is just precautionary because Evan was full term and only 4 pounds 7 ounces when he was born. At the beginning of this pregnancy I declined ALL elective genetic testing, so even though we are pretty certain her heart is functioning perfectly, we do not know about any possible genetic disorders. The doctors think that Evan's DiGeorge Syndrome is what caused his small size when he was born, so we will just make sure that baby girl seems to be growing at the appropriate rate. At 7 months pregnant I can still hide my belly pretty easily, but I think that is just because I have a long torso. Most people say I should be happy I don't get huge...but I would rather have a nice, big round pregnant belly instead of looking like I just put on a lot of extra weight! :)
I have been feeling pretty good physically, although I cannot seem to sleep at all anymore. Sometimes I think the baby is growing inward which is why my belly hasn't really popped out, and it leads to my lungs being squashed even more!!! I am looking forward to more spring like days where I can take some walks outside. Granted they will be slow, waddling type walks, but I'm sure it will help make me feel better!
Greg has been doing well in school. Last week he actually had the opportunity to incorporate Evan into one of his lessons. He was teaching his kids about chromosomes and always talks about certain genetic disorders that can result from chromosomal mutations. He usually talks about the biggies like Down Syndrome, but this year he also talked about DiGeorge Syndrome. He has an over head projector in his classroom and he put up pictures of Evan and pictures of karyotypes that show the 22Q11 deletion...we saw pictures of Evan's kayotypes before he was born when we found out about his DiGeorge. Although his voice cracked a little at the beginning of each of his lessons, they went extremely well, and his kids were VERY interested. And of course, we just love showing off our little boy to anyone who is willing to look at his pictures!
So that's about it here...the kitchen still isn't done yet (long story) but it's getting there. I have been gearing up for baby girl's arrival, buying some cute clothes and other necessities...I still need to go through Evan's dresser, but I definitely have to wait for the day I am ready to do it. It will be hard and I am not looking forward to it. But someday when we are both ready, we will have a quilt made of his clothes. Then we can wrap ourselves in it and feel like we are getting hugs from Evan all the time.
Well, this was a long one so I will end it here. Evan's friend Henry is turning 2 on Saturday so...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY!!!
We love you very much! Special birthday hugs from heaven kiddo!
