A weekend away

Sorry it's taken me until Wednesday to update. This past weekend was a whirlwind of fun. We took Emily to a pageant in Dallas that she really wanted to compete in. We all gathered ourselves and our suitcases up and then headed out to the hotel. Jude has several suitcases, but he made it too and as you can see he loved the hotel bed.

Allen our weekend nurse came to stay in the hotel during the day with Jude while we ran around getting Emily ready for competition. Allen is just so sweet. Every time he would see Emily he would compliment her on how pretty she looked. He had the big curtains pulled back and Jude was laying in the sun smiling away. About 1pm on Saturday Jude started running a fever, which drew a little concern, but that quickly subsided when the Motrin brought the fever down. We attributed it to teeth.


Emily truly had a blast. She was there with her friend Havyn. Emily and Havyn met at a pageant 10 years ago and have been close friends ever since. This was Havyns first pageant in 9 years!!! Havyn spent the night both nights in our room.

Saturday afternoon the big girls competed. Emily did beauty, then fashionwear, a ballerina routine, and then her talent. She performed a Monologue from Alice in Wonderland. She was truly amazing and did so well all day. When she got done she said "Mom I am so proud of myself. I really tried hard and it doesn't matter what I get!". I was very proud of her! Saturday night they had a "Hollywood Premier" party. All the girls walked the red carpet going into the party. After the party we all went down for a dip in the hot tub.

Sunday morning we got up with a bit of butterflies in our tummies. We all went down to crowning which was in a large ballroom to hear the results. As the crowning moved on they starting calling winners......but they didn't call Emily. The further the crowning got the more excited we got.........this meant she could have pulled a large title. They called more names, and more, and then the last one in her division. I looked over and I saw Emily's eyes well up with tears. "I got the grand mom" she whispered. "I know" I said and I had tears streaming down my face. Then we hear it "The 11 and up GRAND SUPREME winning $1000 is EMILY". We all jumped up, cried, hugged Emily, and were just so excited. Emily doesn't need a pageant to let her know she is beautiful inside and out. Although, I thinks she does so well because they do see her inner beauty shine. Here is Em with her big crown.

Cool thing is Emily's friend Havyn got a great title too! We all had so much fun and we adore their family. They have helped Emily so much since Jude's tragedy. They sew clothes for her and so much more.

Jude did amazing all weekend and I think he had a good time. He was very happy to be home.

Although, I think Emily felt a bit like Christmas just ended.

So we submitted information to Scottish Rite to put Jude on the list to be considered for orthopedic therapy. He needs a new wheelchair to accommodate his scoliosis so I hope we are able to do that. He is doing amazing in school and his nurse assures us that he is very loved there. He is also outgrowing his bath chair. It's amazing how tall Jude is. He is making great strides with his head control too. Jude's issues are really mostly upper body so to see him lift his head high when on a wedge is a great thing.  It's becoming difficult to get Jude to all his doctor appointments since Mike and I work. Charlotte can go with him through SPAN, but that proves to be a nightmare every time we use them.

Speaking of Love, I had a client call yesterday sobbing. She had lost her husband a few weeks ago and just sobbed "He was my entire world". It just broke my heart. Death just seems to sneak up on people and hurts those they love.

Emily's Smile Boxes received another large donation yesterday. We will now be able to hold a Christmas Box party on top of her 300 boxes form her birthday party in two weeks. We are just thrilled!!!! That's so many children we can help smile for a bit.