Emily Jean Rogers

It is Emily's 4th birthday today. Once again, I can hardly believe how fast she has grown. She arrived as a very tiny bundle but with an iron will. When Desi and Mike took her home she created quite a little uproar - but she had a will to thrive and she was going to let everyone know about it! LOL
Two weeks after her birth she developed a tiny, what appeared to be a scratch, about the size of a grain of rice. However, it wasn't a scratch and it continued to grow. A few days later Desi took her to the dr. about it and we learned that it was an hemangioma - maybe several - at the front of both ears, her lip, palette, and eye. At its worst it completely closed her eye and was of grave concern. Many surgeries and dr. visits later, glasses and patching, and with lots and lots of support from mom and dad, and that iron will that Emily has - you'd hardly know that there had ever been a problem. It is truly a blessing. Back at its worst I think we all feared that the outcome might not be as good as it is today...if we could have seen today we would have rejoiced. Personally, I am very proud of her mom and dad - they have handled this with grace and tenacity - a wonderful combination of virtues!

Today Emily is smart, funny, articulate, sassy and very, very social. I say today, but the truth is she always has been those things. She loved to play games with Mike right from the beginning - they would have little "sound" matches when she was just a couple of months old and she would squeal with delight as she tried to imitate and outdo her daddy. She loves to dance and to sing - in fact one of her favorite things to do is to dance while Mike plays the piano -and when she was just two one of her favorite songs to sing was "Called to Serve."

She has quite a memory too - when she was little she could sing songs of all kinds and knew all the lyrics and finger plays - she loved to sing and do them over and over and over. She learned the alphabet it record time and just last week she called me to tell me the 1st Article of Faith!
Emily with her first pair of glasses - not even a year old! They are so cute!

Emily has always liked getting dressed up - and Halloween is especially fun for her!

This is perhaps one of my favorite pictures of her - last year at the Zoo. I guess I think it just epitomizes her "cool" factor.

She has always had a special relationship with her Great-grandfather Pehrson and Great-grandmother Bainbridge.

One of my favorite things to do with Emily has been to garden. Whenever she would come to my home she would help me weed, water, pick and eat whatever was growing - tomatoes, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, apples, squash, peas, broccoli, asparagus, beans - you name it! She lives a "high octane" sort of life but I hope she always does take the time to "smell the roses!" Happy Birthday, Em!