Hogan is very tired tonight.....

Hogan "God's Warrior"

Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us. he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen. Ephesians 3:20 NLT

Dear Hogan,

I am glad that you are sleeping tonight. You have had a rough weekend and hopefully you are resting up after fighting more battles today. I am sorry that you have had to battle so hard just to stay alive but I am thankful that you are still with us. I am really going to enjoy tonight with you in the NICU. I might just sit here and pray for you and for all of the people that have been so good to us through your journey. I am so happy that you are here.

Your night didn't get much better than your afternoon did yesterday and after waking up in the middle of the night with a fever of 101 the decision was made to take blood work from you to determine if you have an infection. The initial blood work results were elevated but not much. I am interested to see what the blood work shows tomorrow morning. We will also get your blood culture results back on Tuesday morning. I know you feel like going to battle everyday is just part of your world but it would be nice for you to be able to rest a little. God gave us a day of rest and I am glad that you are taking advantage of it this afternoon.

I also know you were wondering what that big "mobile crane" :-) coming into your room was this morning shortly after your breakfast. That was your x-ray machine. Dr. Morales wanted to take a picture of your chest to see if you might have pneumonia. I am very thankful that the x-ray results were negative for this! Dr. Morales did notice something else from your x-ray. He noticed that your heart is getting bigger. I know we have laughed together about your "large heart" but this is serious Hogan. Your little heart is having to work so hard that your heart muscle is growing. This sounds like it would be a good thing but it's not. Your heart is working too hard because its enlarged. I know it is hard for you to understand because you think that the more you love the people the bigger your heart gets. Well, this isn't quite the same thing Hogan. You have a big heart in more ways than just in the physical term. You have a huge heart by the way you fight to live. You have fought to beat the odds. You have loved everyone that has viewed your pictures or met you face to face. Hogan, you are my hero and you will always be my hero. You have changed my life and I pray that God will continue to give you strength so that you can change many others.

I loved being able to hold you on my chest without my shirt on this afternoon. I don't know who slept more!? Me or you!?!? I did this with your older brother when he was a baby and I wanted to do it with you too. I loved to feel your little heart beat on my chest. Thank you Hogan for letting me take a nap with you. I thank God for this afternoon. I will never forget the feeling of your little body on me.

Hogan, I can't even begin to tell you how many people are praying for you and sending words of encouragement to your mom and me. They are even following your updates on my facebook page now. I let people know on your blog this afternoon that I can give updates about you quicker and easier through facebook and all they have to do is ask me to be their friend. If they are reading your blog then they are for sure a friend of ours, right Hogan!? I love you buddy. They talk about how tough you are and how you inspire them. They tell me how good looking you are and that your "accessories" that you have to wear make you look even cuter. Although you only have one ear I know you hear me loud and clear when I tell you I love you. I know you hear me when I tell you that people are praying for you buddy. Get some rest tonight Hogan and maybe tomorrow night you will be ready to play games again. Everyone that has come into contact with you loves you Hogan. God has his hands on you and is using you Hogan. I am so glad that God chose me to be your father. I am going to be right here with you tonight if you need me. I pray that you have a good nights sleep and that you feel better in the morning.

I love you Hogan.