It's Angie's Birthday today!

Noah, Lily and Angie taking a break at a very HOT Atlanta Braves game!

Noah and Lily checking out something while playing on UGA's North Campus yesterday!

.....more fun on the University of Georgia's North Campus!

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

I am excited that the Georgia heat is going to be a nice 90 today... that beats the 100 degree weather we have been having lately! We were able to take Noah and Lily to their first Atlanta Braves game on Sunday. We made it 4 innings in the heat but made some great memories. It makes me so thankful for air conditioning. We are so blessed. Speaking of being blessed... my wife turns the big 40 today! I know it is amazing because she doesn't look a day over 30. I told Noah and Lily it was "Mommy's Birthday" today and Noah said "Happy Birthday Mom.... can I have a cupcake!?".

Isn't it interesting the older we get the more we look back and see God's hand in everything. It isn't that everything was always the way we wanted it and there are often many things we wish we could go back and change or "delete" from our lives but those time are often the times that we grow in our faith the most. Those events can either make us decide to push away and blame God or pull us closer to God. Life events are like a roller coaster. If you aren't going through one at the moment but have just lived through what is considered a major one... then be prepared because there is probably going to be another challenge coming.

I wanted to let everyone know that there are some exciting things that God is doing with Hogan's legacy. A website is under construction for Hogan's friends. I wanted to ask you for your prayers. My prayer is that God would use this website just like he used Hogan on this earth!

I also wanted to thank the ladies that have teamed up with WeeCare. The gowns are amazing and are such a blessing. It is hard enough to say goodbye to your baby and this is one thing that is available now at St. Mary's if needed or wanted. If you would like to help with this ministry just let me know and I will tell you how to get involved. I was told that 5 babies passed away recently. I dropped off a bag of smocked gowns yesterday that Mrs. Jones gave me in Dublin over the weekend to be delivered to St. Mary's. I took them to the NICU and as usual, scrubbed down as I entered. It was good to see some familiar faces at the hospital. I had to battle my emotions as I talked to the nurses. I loved being there again but at the same time it was ripping at my heart because I wanted so badly to walk around the corner and see Hogan one more time. I mentioned how much I love taking pictures and love looking back at Hogan through pictures but I didn't realize how much being in the NICU again and smelling the soap on my hands brought back vivid memories and emotions.

Angie visited the library at Prince Avenue last week and things are moving along! Hopefully this project will be completed before school starts back. I will post pictures when it starts to shape up! We were also thankful that a local gym is going to dedicate a room in memory of Hogan. It will be a room where parents sit and watch their children while their children play in the gym. We are so humbled by how thoughtful and caring Hogan's friends have been to us. We even got an invitation to a little girl's birthday party recently that had a note in the invitation to bring a donation for Hogan's library instead of gifts for their daughter. I told the mother that Hogan would have wanted gifts for his friend but this was just one more instance of people going out of their way to be good to us.

I have also got some interesting news about Hogan's blog. I have been in contact with someone that might take the blog and turn it into a book. If this happens it will be stories from the blog and also information that I haven't put on the blog. I will tell that story one day if it happens. It was totally a God thing too. I mention the book because I would love your prayers about this too. I don't know if it will happen or if it won't but if someone can be touched or God can change a life through Hogan's story in a printed book then I want it to happen. I might be the only person that buys one but hopefully if it's printed, I can give them away!

Thank you again for being so good to us. We are so thankful for you.

In His Love,
Kip