I have our final number! I am so beyond humbled and grateful to announce that our first year as a nonprofit raised

$30,672.63

for us to donate to the Fontan Go Clinic at Texas Children's Hospital! Soon, we will be announcing our cause for 2023, but you can sign up to host a stand in your area now by clicking here. And WE ARE STILL TAKING DONATIONS until the end of the year, so feel free to continue donating!

Thank you is not enough. As a mother of a rare condition, it really does feel like part of my job to make sure research is happening for these kids, and I couldn't have even begun to accomplish this by myself. We had a board meeting last week, and we are all so excited for 2023. We plan to do a Tshirt drive with a new design for next year as well as, of course, the annual lemonade stand event. The stands will take place all throughout the month of August, and we hope for even more locations this year. Please consider signing up.

In other happy news, our kids started at their homeschool hybrid school this week — Sunley's first day of school ever. Watching her walk in so confidently, after being told in 2017 that we would "bury her by age 5" (words of a cardiologist from a different hospital in Dallas; not Texas Children’s) was fully victorious in every sense. Hadelyn and Ruger were so brave too, after having gone through their own sorts of trauma. In moments like that, I can just about hear the cheering in heaven. And just like that, a schoolroom feels like a mystical thin place. And I believe that maybe we are almost home.

Leading up to the first day of school was so special for everyone. I think that even though we know Sunley’s future is so unknown, there is at least a small sense of a fresh start. I took the kids shopping to pick out one new outfit each for school. Sunley declared while walking inside, “I want a shirt with long neck dinosaurs!” I knew it would be a long shot finding such a specific item in the girls’ section, but there it was: A long neck dinosaur dress. Another cupcake from God.

The first week went well, despite Ruger getting sent home on the FIRST day for running a fever! What a bummer. He gets to redo his first day next week. When I picked her up today, Sunley was beaming and telling me all about her great day — Hadelyn, too. We are so thankful for the place we are in right now, and we’ll squeeze out every bit of lemonade that this life has to offer.