I’m sitting on the front porch of my family’s beach house in Michigan, looking out over the massive sea of water that is Lake Huron, watching the leaves rustle in the wind… the sun glisten on the sand… the house is quiet, the beach is empty… could it be??  Ahhhhh, the perfect day!

We’re through the holiday week.  The extended family has gone back to work & we’re left to enjoy a few short days of rest before it all starts again Friday night!  No complaints, though, while I appreciate this lazy Tuesday I wouldn’t replace our wild & crazy family weekends for anything in the world.  They epitomize ‘quality of life’ & I couldn’t be more thrilled to share them, this summer, with Emerson!  It feels as though the stars have aligned to give us this amazing time together.  I wasn’t sure it could happen, & I’m not sure it ever will again, but in this moment today I’m forever grateful for the memories we’re making… words cannot express how much they mean to me, each & every one!

A giant thank you to family & friends for taking every possible opportunity (& then some) to share in this special time with us… we love & appreciate you more than you could ever know!

After a bit of an air travel fiasco, we finally arrived in Michigan a few days before the Fourth of July.  Without laboring too much on all the messy details, I’ll just say these past 4 years have put a lot of things into perspective for me.  Years ago our travel day may have well tainted my entire summer… at very least it would have soured our first several days here.  Not this time.  After hours on the tarmac, hours circling airports, arriving at the wrong airport only to reattempt another flight to the right airport, we finally made it to the beach all intact.  The kids (& Bella, in an airline carrier) behaved pretty well & we made the best of it.  As I sit here today I can confidently say it was all worth it!

Emerson is doing well.  She’s been napping every afternoon for 3-4 hours & sleeping lots at night as her stamina is a bit diminished right now.  When she’s awake, though, she’s happy & enjoying life!  She’s not able to swim or be in the sand on account of her open abdominal wound, but it’s mostly been a non-issue so far.  She spends her mornings tooling around the front yard in a Barbie Jeep & sculpting Play-Doh creations on the picnic table.  I took her for a (slow) ride on the wave runner, which she claimed to be “very scary”, but she loves riding on Papa’s boat.  She’s been eating like a champ, but won’t swallow anything so I spend my days fishing chewed up food (chips are the current obsession) out of her cheeks.  Yuck!  She’s loving time with her cousins & just announced that she’s missing Cate (who will be back on Friday).  We also have a wonderful photographer friend from Omaha coming Friday to journal a day in our life at the beach – what an amazing gift!!  Jim is coming tonight.  Never a dull moment!

I’ll update again next week (hopefully with a sneak peek picture preview!).  Until then, I want to take a moment to tell you about a spectacular fundraiser.  With enormous gratitude to Melony for all her great ideas and hard work, I’m thrilled to announce the following site:  www.HelpingHandsBoutique.com Please, please check it out!!  If you click on “ORGAN DONATION” on the left side of the page (under “Let’s Shop”) you’ll find items specific to Emerson & Organ Donation, including an AMAZING Donate Life logo her designer created especially for us - WOW!  There are water bottles, t-shirts, IPad sleeves, & license plate holders.  There are also bracelets & key chains coming soon!!  20% of any and all things ordered from the site will be directed into Emerson’s COTA account to help with transplant related expenses.  At the checkout page simply make certain to complete “How did you hear about Helping Hands Boutique?”  Click on the arrow & there’s a drop down list – choose “Emerson”.  That will insure 20% of your sale goes into Eme’s fundraising account.  Please, please have a look – it’s honestly some of the cutest stuff I’ve seen in a long time – sibling shirts, birthday shirts, luggage tags, coasters, clipboards, and so much more.  And almost everything can be personalized!  Please, please tell everyone you know & don’t forget to check out the Donate Life logo!  We are still a long way behind on filling expense reimbursements from our time spent in Omaha this year.  Any way you could help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I sincerely hope you’re having a fabulous summer & are finding opportunities to make memories every day.  Remember to keep things in perspective… “Don’t sweat the small stuff” – it’s such an overused cliché, but it’s so true in so many ways.  While I relish in the beauty of our days spent together at the beach, my thoughts are never far from our friends who are spending this summer without their loved ones & whose days with them will forever be a memory.  I don’t know how better to honor their loss then to fight for what is most important in life & to never take a single second for granted.  That’s what I’m doing… please vow, with me, that you will do the same.