February is coming to a close.  The shortest month of the year yet it feels like it dragged out forever. Starting with the frigid weather that kept everyone indoors.  As the month wore on so did the bothering between the three kids.  Much crying, whining, teasing, and screaming filled the house, echoed off the walls, and sent Sasa with her tail between her legs more than I've ever seen before. We closed Mama Bracelets and had to work through the task of tying off all the loose ends...some still exist. At first we thought closing the business would be an easy thing to do emotionally speaking, but we found out different.  We actually had a twinge of sadness with the closing of Mama Bracelets & ellaWEAR Jewelry.  Mind you, we are not thinking twice about this decision, just didn't expect the emotional piece to hover about. We put our current house on the market.  Needless to say, leading up to the time it went on we did all the necessary "touch-u...

Months of talk.  Weeks of making decisions.  Days of planning.  Hour after hour of final preparations.  Minutes to seal the deal. Our house is officially on the market as of Feb. 19, 2014. We reached out to family, friends, and strangers with a plea for help...a plea for Ella.  We had always known, since her diagnosis was confirmed in 2011, that our house would either need major renovations to accommodate her needs or we would have to move into a house that could do the same. It became quite clear the path we must follow.  Our current house, while we love it, simply would present us with a major financial obligation to properly renovate it for Ella.  After contemplating the "sign-post" in the fork-in-the-road we made the commitment to raise money, sell our house, and find a new home. The outpouring of generosity from so many people, near and far, close to our hearts and strangers, allowed us to actually make our plans to move forward.  T...

Several people, over the past two years, have spoken to us about "Make-A-Wish" for Ella.  We've hesitated to pursue this for Ella thus far because we felt she was a bit too young...we really wanted her to actively be part of the whole process. We put it on the back burner and went on with our lives. Then, about a month ago, the nurse at Ella's school called us to say that she nominated Ella for a wish through the "Make-A-Wish" foundation.  This came at an opportune time in terms of Ella's age.  Lindsay thanked her for the nomination and we began working toward the wish to be.  The "Make-a-Wish" foundation has contacted us and let us know that she was approved for a "wish". We will meet with the "Make-A-Wish" volunteers so they can get to know Ella and us and get things rolling! We are so excited!