Daddy's little cheerleaders

So one night last week I think it was, Abigail got out of bed at bedtime...you know how kids like to do that 3 or 4 or 5 times after you've told them to go to sleep! Anyway, she came in and told me she missed daddy.  This often happens at bedtime. I told her I missed daddy too and that I've been wearing one of his T-shirts to bed and asked her if she wanted to pick out one to wear to bed also. Of course she was excited about this and quickly made her choice. Allison was not yet asleep and being the younger sibling she is often an echo of Abigail. So, Abi went back to bed and a minute later Allison is in my room telling me she misses daddy.  So she picked out one of his shirts too. I didn't have a camera handy that night...but, last night Abi asked if she could pick out another one of daddy's shirts to sleep in and Ali followed suit. Abi picked Corey's softball shirt from this past season when he played for Grace Community Church and I gave Ali his softball shirt from the year before when he played for the Journey. I had my camera ready this time. Corey always requested the number 1 which you can see on the back of both of the shirts. The girls loved to cheer for him when we would go to his games. He often would play catcher and the girls (with Abi leading the cheer) would scream "Go Daddy" when he was simply catching the pitched balls. To Abigail, Daddy was the best softball player there was. He was number 1 in her eyes!  

Here is a fellow teammate's (John Hilman) memory of Corey at one of the games that he shared with me shortly after Corey's death. 

I think one of Corey's biggest assets was that smile, but the thing that has been carved in my mind is what happened at a softball game with the Journey.  I can't remember if he was at the plate to bat or behind the plate catching. The game had just started when you and Abigail arrived. Abigail came running across the parking lot yelling,"daddy! daddy!". The average person would have just yelled back with, "Hi Abigail" or something else. Not Corey.  I don't even think he called time out. He just went to the fence and gave that little girl a kiss and told her he loved her. I don't know what the others thought but that said to me nothing was more important to him than his family. After that I noticed he was for sure different than any person I ever met. After hearing you speak at the service Jill, that scene came back to my mind and I thought yeah he was a lot like Jesus.