Today we will celebrate another milestone for Emily...her 8th birthday!  I can't believe she is 8.  It seems like yesterday she was a binky toting toddler.  A lot has happened in the last 5 1/2 years.  An adoption, a move to Texas, HORSES, a multi organ transplant and six months away from home, HORSES, home schooling, HORSES!  There are many who thought Emily wouldn't be here at this point in life.  She has proven them wrong.  This girl has a strong will and lots of attitude and determination.  We have seen her at some of her worst times and are now enjoying her at her best.  She is excited about her birthday tomorrow.  I will post pictures after tomorrow with her cake.  Until then here a couple of pictures of her enjoying 2 of her early presents today, a new bathing suit and a pool.

Taking a trip down memory lane...even though she doesn't remember

On Saturday May 16, we took the opportunity to make a trip to Shreveport, LA to go to the March for Babies Walk and Willis Knighton South NICU graduate reunion.  Emily was able to meet some of the nurses and one of the Dr's who cared for her from the day she was born until she was 10 1/2 months old.  It was great seeing everyone and for them to have the chance to see her so close to her birthday.

We also got to see Vinny which is always the highlight of our trips back to Shreveport! We love that boy and Emily always enjoys seeing him.

Finally an update...

Emily is still doing well at this time.  She has had some issues with her J button with irritation on her skin around the button but that is getting better.  She also had some sinus issues, like the rest of us, a few weeks ago but that's all better.

The biggest news is that Emily is a new mama.  She has 2 chihuahua puppies who are brothers. Their names are Stetson and Lil Loper. They are small and very cute and they like to play, sleep and eat.

Emily has done well with homeschool and we hope to be done with first grade by the end of April.

She hasn't been able to ride her horse recently due to all the ice, snow and rain. We are hoping that maybe this Tuesday will be her next ride. We want to make sure she keeps up her core strength that she has built.

The Spirit of Christmas

Yesterday we were honored when a large group of Dave's coworkers chose Emily as one of their Christmas Angels. They all purchased t-shirts from her COTA campaign (although because of an issue at the t-shirt company they did not all have their t-shirts...but they will have them tomorrow). Emily was there to get her picture taken with the group. This was a special surprise for all of us. Thank you to all who participated.

Yesterday Emily had her 7yr check up with the Pediatrician.   He said 2 years ago pretransplant she was at the 25th percentile for her height and now she is at the 75th percentile.  So happy for her progress and growth.  She is now loving strawberries and fresh peaches.  We are still working with her GI doc to get the area around her j button to heal.  She has graduated from once a week labs to every two weeks and riding season has started back at Jake E's Riding Round Up.  Tonight is her first official ride this session. We have a big weekend planned with Em's nephew Vinny so that should be fun.

The T -Shirts have been ordered and hopefully we will have them, in hand, in the next week or 2. (We have to make it home first) This is a new fundraising event thru COTA to help replace funds we have had to use from Emily's COTA acct during this stay, in Nebraska, it started out as a week long stay and will end (hopefully) at 5 weeks.

We have just 2 colors this time, Candy Pink and Sapphire Blue. The design of this represents this: on the front, the horseshoe and clover represents Emily and her running buddy, Chad. Chad has brought so many smiles to Emily's face and has worked so hard in his exercise and dedicated all that time for her. He has become very important in our lives. The back represents 2 things...1. Where Emily is at, since transplant and 2. The fact that in Emily's life, the journey doesn't end with transplant, this is a way of life and an ongoing process.

The cost for anyone wanting to contribute to this fundraiser is $15 for sizes Small thru XLarge and $17 for 2 XLarge or larger. Because of the extra cost for new screens to be made, we will not have children sizes this time.

As we did the last time payments can be made thru COTA at the following page:

http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforEmilyGraceS

Or we can accept cash and we will send in that payment to COTA. If you are paying by personal check either mailing a payment to us or giving to one of our volunteers, please make that check payable to COTA with memo of CotaforEmilyGraceS. We will mail those to COTA so it may take a little bit to clear. If making a payment thru the COTA page: you can just send a private message on Facebook to Dave, me or a volunteer you are working with, a screenshot of your receipt along with color choice(s) and size(s). If you are a distance buyer and aren't buying thru one of our volunteers please also include an address.  Thank you so much.