3/15/13: It's 4:45 AM & I can't sleep. Nothing but bad news so far. Mail call is pretty big in prison. Everyone in here looks forward to the time the guard hands out the mail. But today I get mail from the Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, Ohio area) juvenile courts. The Child Welfare Dept. is requesting that all parental rights for the mother & father (me) be terminated & the child, my little Krista, be left in their custody. They said the father has failed to visit or support the child since she entered the agency in April 2011. But everyone knows I'm in prison. For those of you's who don't know, I didn't know of my daughter's existence until after I came to prison. No one ever told me. I wasn't dating her mother, we were just teenagers seeing each other for 6 weeks. Now I know I'm not the world's greatest dad but ever since I found out about Krista's existence, I have done everything I can for her from in here. I have asked family & friends to buy her presents for her birthdays, Christmas, & my friend BJ, she always spoils Krista every time. I write her as often as I can. At least 3+ times per month, & I know that's not enough but I do what I can. And I don't have any money so the court system walks all over people like me.

3/16/13 On a brighter note, we are in day 3 of our Cursillo retreat weekend here at the prison and we are having a great time. The food is good, the candidates (men here in the prison) are doing a great job and the outside Cursillo team members, they continue to amaze me each & every year. Very good people. And we are all keeping Larry & Shirley Powell in our prayers. Larry needs to get better in the hospital so he can have another surgery. You are in our prayers every day, Larry. We miss not having you here for our retreat, Larry, but we know you'll get better and you won't miss the next one. Hezzie said he's staying at your house for these 4 days, I told him he better clean up after himself. Well, time to head back. That was a quick half hour. I wrote some lines to Maria, did some laundry, and now this. Time to go.

3/18/13: Well, our Cursillo weekend is over. Sad to see it go, it's always a great weekend, but now it's time to recruit for the next one. Spent some time talking with Rita last night. She gave me an update on Larry & Shirley. Our prayers are with you, Larry & Shirley. Haven't seen you's in so long, I am also wondering how Mary is at the nursing home. Shirley, if you & Larry are not going to be able to make it for awhile, please send me Mary's address and her birthday. I know she doesn't have anyone and I don't want to miss sending her a birthday card. You can give it to Rita for me or mail it to me. We all hope Larry gets better soon. My mom is having her hip replacement surgery right now. I'll call tomorrow to make sure everything went good. I sent Krista an Easter card. I told her all I wanted for Easter was a letter from her, letting me know how she is doing. What scares me is, parents in prison, a very big percentage of their children end up following the same path. So being a dad in here, it's the hardest, most frustrating and scary thing I have ever had to do. There are so many single moms out there, I know it's not easy for you's. I have more respect for you's now than I ever have before. Well, time for me to go. Almost time for gym and my week+ off was great. Still not healed up 100% but it'll have to do. Hope I'm not boring you's out there. God bless & I hope everyone has a happy Easter. Ciao.