Hello and Happy Father’s Day!

It’s been awhile.  I’m hoping to have our June Cause Warrior to get back to me tonight which will make our update this coming week. But life has been busy.  We had birthdays for Moira and Jim, and the day before Moira’s birthday, the world (or at least our little corner of it) caught on fire.  We are banished to the indoors and soot and ash swirl above us, settling on our yards.  We’re the lucky ones. The evacuation center East of here is full of people forced to flee their homes.  Then there are the nearly 200 families who’ve lot their homes in the state’s largest fire ever.

Here is a telling photo shared by a friend of a friend who gave me permission to use it.

Simultaneously fearful and grateful, things are terribly strange beneath the mountain of smoke right now.  We welcome your good thoughts and prayers for our neighbors and that our water supply is not affected to the point of rendering us without drinkable water.

In other news, the Audio Book for Heart Warriors is nearly done.  Thanks to an affordable rate at the local Studio Time artists’ center and generous donations from the Adams, Catoes, and McClurgs, I was able to complete recording with less budget but without harming our household livelihood.  Jim will record the foreword this Friday and then I’ll record some interviews with the kids and a few credits, but it should be up on Audible.com sometime between July and August.  I recorded it and edited it myself and am feeling pretty accomplished if not exhausted by it.

I’m looking forward to the Congenital Heart Walk on August 25. I’m chairing the walk again this year here in Colorado.  I’m also excited about my book signing at the Tattered Cover on August 24th.  If you’d like me to speak to your group about writing, congenital heart disease, or parent advocacy, I’m happy to work with you on that.  I love meeting new people and having conversations with eager audiences.

Hope your summers are all fabulous.  Keep watching for the Cause Warriors, and visit again around July 1st, as I’m developing an advocacy toolbox for back-to-school and will be starting a “Doc Talk” column later this summer!