Emily’s Smiles through Difficult Trials

I’m so excited!!! Been on the phone with Eddie & Dawn for over an hour hearing all about Emily & Trey’s Disney adventures. Now I really wish I were there too!!! They are all having the time of their lives and I will do my best to relay as many details as I could write quickly!!! Don’t fret if some of the timing/names are a little incorrect! First let me tell you that all your prayers are being answered. Emily is feeling well and other than getting cold easily is holding her own and spending all day in the parks!! OK, here we go!

They left Wilmington airport a little late on Sunday so upon arriving in Charlotte they had to scoot quickly to their connecting flight. When they arrived in Orlando they couldn’t find the Wish Greeter & that person couldn’t find the Hollis family (quite a bit larger airport than our one room ILM). After proceeding to baggage claim they called the special phone # and were united with the Greeter whom got them into their car and gave directions onto their accommodations. They drove through McDonald’s (I think) because they were starving, and then checked into the Make a Wish property “Kids World” around 10:30 p.m. A very tired family! Oh, Trey LOVED flying and Emily is getting to be a pro at it!!! The car provided to them also allows them to venture out on their own and see other sites and shop as they so desire.

Their 2 BR Villa offers all the comforts of home, right down to having a washer/dryer! At the Gingerbread House there is a buffet for all meals, pizza delivery to your villa, breakfast can be delivered too and they love the breakfast buffet! Here’s the best “scoop”, the ice cream store OPENS at 7:30 a.m. and doesn’t close until 9:00 p.m. How many ice creams can they eat in a week? Anyone want to guess? Onsite there also is a gameroom, playground, pool, interactive activities, gym, train, putt putt and the list just goes on. Each morning there is a gift on the table for the kids along with the “Village Voice”, a paper detailing the daily onsite activities. Thursday the Disney Characters will be there for “Hugs & Smiles & Pics” of the kids and the picture will be in their check-out package. THEN guess who’s visiting???? SANTA CLAUS & his Elves!!!!! They are going to have a Winter Wonderland Parade, cookie decorating and many other Santa activities. Christmas all over again, how exciting!!! Oh, in playing video games with the kids Dawn found she can still play Ms. Pacman and had the all time highest score! Eddie said she should be ashamed trying to beat the children’s scores!

Monday they spent the day at Magic Kingdom taking in as many rides and shows as the day allowed. Emily loved Frontierland and guess what she rode? BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN ROLLER COASTER!!! She loved it! Haunted Mansion didn’t scare her one bit and the parade was fantastic! AND no waiting in lines for her, how’s that for service? Emily has been taking pics with her cameras she received and getting autographs. When she doesn’t feel like doing the autograph thing, Trey isn’t missing a one!

Tuesday was an even bigger day at Animal Kingdom. They really enjoyed the musical “Finding Nemo” and the animal safari. Didn’t get to see the Lion King show due to the timing, BUT Emily & Trey tricked Mommy & Daddy into riding the “Expedition Everest”, which appeared to be a “train ride” and ended up being a HIGH SPEED TRAIN ROLLER COASTER. That’s right, another roller coaster. I bet Dr. G is shaking his head when he reads about all this!!! Emily is our local daredevil these days!! Guess what happened in the evening???? A prime rib buffet dinner at the Grand Floridian with: CINDERELLA & PRINCE CHARMING, the step sisters & stepmother. Is that cool or what????? WOW!!!

Wednesday has been the best day to date. They opened Sea World and closed it down. When they got back to the Villa the kids were so tired they crashed but on the phone at 11:30 p.m. Eddie & Dawn were still wide open. They are having as much fun as the children and so enjoying this quality time with them. Today the weather was warm and 70 degrees and perfect for Trey to wear flip flops and stand by the Shamu tank and get drenched while Emily watched and laughed! Her day was filled with laughter and glee as she fed the dolphins and went to the 3 main animal shows: Dolphins, Sea Lions, & of course Shamu.

Thursday, after the Kids World visits from Disney characters & Santa, they plan to go to Downtown Disney. Trey is excited to be visiting Legoland there but Emily is most excited about her “appointment” there. She gets to visit “Bippity Boppity Boo” (or is that doo?). Translated means she gets her hair, makeup, & nails done and gets a Disney sash. Talk about pampering! She’ll be the Belle of the Ball!

Friday’s schedule will lead them to Universal Studios and then probably back to one of the Disney parks to see if there is anything they missed. Then they’ll return to their Villa and enjoy more onsite activities and dinner before thinking about packing to get ready for their flight home on Saturday. Until then they are living in a Magical Place in a Magical City where Dreams & Wishes really do come true!

Love,
Stephanie

MIC KEY MOUSE –MICKEY MOUSE–MICKEY MOUSE
Are you singing with us??? Yeah Mickey! Minnie, Aladdin and of course ALL the Disney Princess’ too. Emily, Trey, Mommy & Daddy are off to Florida to visit Walt Disney World, compliments of the Make a Wish Foundation. Thursday at Duke, Emily was smiling and glad to get the ok from Dr. G to pack her bags and go to Disney. The limo picks us up on Sunday after lunch bound for the Wilmington airport. Limo & VIP service all the way there and back! What a wonderful program granting Miracle Wishes to children. Emily is a very excited little girl and so is brother Trey!
She is so excited tonight (Friday) as two Make-a-Wish granters, Mr. Nat Smith & Mr. Dana Emery, came to see her to finalize the trip on Sunday. They brought a celebration cake, balloons, and other goodies to use for her trip. She even has cameras to take her own pictures. Grandaddy, Nana, Granny Mom & Paw Paw came for the celebration and a few neighborhood friends and family came to see what all the activity was about. Emily had everyone’s attention and the wish granters thought the whole gang was going to Disney with us!! That was funny!! With the info we reviewed, looks like we will have a blast and come home with many great memories and lots of pictures. A great hospital nearby, Dr. G said, that would take good care of her, so no worries. Emily had a smile on her face all afternoon waiting for the wish granters to visit her. Trey is so excited to be flying on a plane. We have a movie to watch tommorrow about Disney and the different parks so Emily can start deciding where she would like to go first. A Limo will be taking us to and from the airports. Emily said, “like we did in N.Y. mommy” but that was called a taxi we rode so fast in through N.Y. She liked how crazy and fast they drove there!

Stephanie took some pictures tonight and down loaded some I have had for a while to share the past 3 months (she said give her a couple of days to get posted!). The week before Thanksgiving and through Christmas we have made several trips to Duke for platelets and labs and meds etc. Sorry for the length of time with the updates, now that we are home, the normal day to day tasks keep me from sitting down. I’m definitely not going to complain because we are so happy to be back home with Trey & Eddie!!!

When we go to Duke we go by and visit at the apartments if we are not late leaving the hospital. Santa even visited Mr. Tom! He always has to get a kiss on top of Emily’s head, and give her cookies to take back home. She is using her walker more this week and trying to keep her legs working. This has been the best week in a long time. She will start back on her meds tommorrow and through the next couple of weeks. We hope this will not set her back to much for this week. She is eating better and this gives her more energy to want to try and walk around. She has been packing all week and when she is not looking I have to put some things back. Tommorrow her entire room will be full of bags with things from around the house. I looked in some today, she has bandaids, floss, nailclippers, nailpolish, hairbrush, toothbrush, bath toys, soap, toothbrush. That is just bathroom items! She has bags and bags of crafts, books, crayons, markers you name it. It is so good to see her smiling and not thinking of the things she can’t do.

While Eddie & I were going over the itinerary with the wish granters, Emily was entertained by Audrea, Heather, Donna & Aunt Stephie. Those “big girl” Emily’s Encouragers were in the floor with Emily in her bedroom and had Mallory and Madison taking funny pics of them with Emily. I understand that Granny Mom was able to get a few good pics of all of them and Jordan too! Secretly I think they were trying to figure how to pack themselves in Emily’s bags to go with her to Disney!

We thank our wish granters for their time and making this Disney trip happen so quickly for Emily. This will be Trey’s first visit as well, so he will have non stop fun. Thank you again for your messages. Emily likes to see “her mail”. I feel God has given Emily this extra strength and healing these past two weeks for her to make this trip and to have fun, fun, fun. We feel your prayers.

Love, Eddie, Dawn, Trey and Emily

“What we remember from childhood, we remember forever!” — Cynthia Ozick