Remembering Emily – 7 Years

Seven years have now passed since the birth of our too-soon-gone Emily. This year I have repeatedly thought, “It’s her golden birthday, isn’t it?” But in fact, it is next year when she turns 8 years old. It’s fairly easy to make the mistake because two of my other children were born on the 7th of their birth months.

Speaking of mistakes, in previous years I didn’t give enough thought to when Emily actually would have started school at Victory Christian School. Last year I mentioned she would have been in 1st grade, but her birthday is after the September 1 cutoff for starting Kindergarten at age 5. So she would have started TK in 2024, Kindergarten in 2025 and now in 2026 she would be in 1st grade.

Emily at 7 Years

Today, at 7 years old, I imagine Emily would probably be somewhat at odds with her older brother Peter, as siblings often are. Yet she would have a heart of gold, full of kindness and deep love even if she doesn’t show it all the time. She would love to run around and play with her younger siblings and help Mommy make cookies and other treats.

Most likely, since I seemed to crave pizza even more than usual when I was pregnant with her, she would happily eat pepperoni pizza 3 or 4 times a week, just like her Mommy would like to do. Perhaps she would draw pretty pictures for me to display on the refrigerator and keep a beloved stuffed kitty or cherished horse figurine next to her as she sleeps in her bed. Whether these things are true or not, I envision with great fondness how precious she is – how beautiful I know the Lord made her, inside and out.

Remembering Emily Activities

These are some of the ways I have chosen to honor my sweet Emily this year.

Annual Graveside Reading of 2 Corinthians 9 with Ashley and Cherie

In 2024 I took Cherie to Emily’s grave, when she was only 1 month old. Similarly, this year I introduced Emily to her newest little sister, Ashley, who is 2 months old. Cherie also came with me again and got to sit in her newly acquired toddler chair.

Cherie looked around the garden somewhat impatiently as I talked to Emily and read 2 Corinthians 9, but she remained dutifully in place. Happily, the picture of Ashley turned out very nicely, although I had originally planned to get a picture of her in Cherie’s lap.

Donation to Victory Christian School

This year I decided to start a new tradition of making a donation to Victory Christian School. Each year, the class of students corresponding to the grade in which Emily would have been enrolled will be blessed with $98 plus the shorthand number of the current year. So, a gift in the amount of $98.26 will be directed to the first grade class for use as they deem appropriate. I hope Emily’s would-be classmates look forward to meeting her in heaven, if they are made aware of her absence from their class now.

Hope Box Donation to Our Little Sparrows

Our Little Sparrows is a nonprofit organization focused on serving families with life limiting or fatal prenatal diagnoses and those who are walking through subsequent pregnancy after loss of a baby. The founders, Toni and Geoff Brabec, have received hope boxes from me in honor of Emily in the past. Since I still have some more boxes, I offered to provide more to them for use in their ministry to families of faith.

Birthday Pizza

We love pizza in this family, so I wanted to make pizza instead of cake or cookies for Emily’s birthday this year. I used naan-style pizza dough as the base for this homemade pizza and arranged the pepperoni pieces, cut into quarters for more flexibility in forming the letters, into the shapes of the letters of Emily’s name.

If you look closely, you can see the “E” on the middle left of the pizza pie. Moving clockwise, there are the “M”, “I”, “L” and finally the “Y” upside down at the bottom. I wanted to add the number 7 with a heart, but this particular dough was too small, so I can make a separate pizza to do that on another day. 🙂

Progress on Little Girl Rainbow Cross Stitch Pattern

The “Rainbow bubble girl” cross stitch pattern is not yet finished, but I have made a lot of progress since last year. Two more of the rainbow color bands have been started and the main branches of the tree are more ready for their colorful heart-shaped fruits to grow.

Happy 7 Years, Emily!

We are seven years closer to meeting you in all your beauty and grace, Emily! You know we love you always and we trust that our precious Jesus is lighting up your life in Heaven every day. Someday soon we will be there too. <3