2015 Update on the Family!

As you can see, Olivia is not 3 anymore. Life has been very busy for her over the years, but she keeps Deja very close and always refers to her as her sister, best friend, and now guardian angel. Today, Olivia is 11 and is in the 6^th grade. Hard to believe! She attends a local charter school and has been awarded the “All A’s, All Year” award. This kid is nothing short of amazing. In 2013, she won the ABC 15 Caring Kids award for her effort to collect nail polish for Give Kids the World Village’s La-Di-Da Spa. If you remember, this is where we stayed on our Make-A-Wish trip. Besides doing great in school, she also spends about 4-5 days a week at her Karate Studio. Recently, she just achieved her GREEN belt! She loves competition, and took home 2 trophies (1^st and 2^nd), and then won the State Championship! She also sings! She has received standing ovations in every talent show she has been in. She searches and searches for songs that have positive messages. She really puts her all into it. She is just amazing and I couldn’t be prouder of her!

Where does the time go? It is very hard to believe, but little baby Jovonne is now 8 years old! (She might get mad if I don’t tell you that we call her “JoJo” now.  JoJo is now in the 3^rd grade at a local charter school. She too is an amazing student! She absolutely loves school and loves to read. And as you can see by her picture above, she just got braces! She loves them. Can you believe that she was able to get brackets in the shape of hearts! Not to mention she got to pick from 30 different colors of bands. They have come a long way since I was younger. Besides school, JoJo is in Gymnastics! She attends 2 classes a week. One in basic gymnastics (bar, beam, floor, ext.) and one trampoline class that she loves. She always sleeps good after that one! She has also grown to be a great animal lover. SHE has a fish, and a dog named Zero. I never considered myself a dog lover, but I truly have fallen in love with this dog. He is a min pin. JoJo so wants it to be her best friend, but he just isn’t real playful. We are considering adding one more to the mix.

My world has completely changed in the last eight years. You can sure tell I have someone watching over me. As you can see from the pictures, Mike and I finally got married in 2011 after being together over 5 years. He is the love of my life and a great dad! Shortly after the wedding, we started the process for him to adopt Olivia. We finally completed it just a few months ago!!!! He has been in Olivia’s life since she was two. He is all she has ever known. There is so much of him in her, it was only fitting. We are complete! Both the girls have also taken on the last name of Scott.

I left the airline in 2013 and I am now working as a financial analyst for the largest aerospace company in the world. I love it, but sure miss the flight benefits. I FINALLY completed my bachelor’s degree (Business Management) in 2012, and went on to finish my MBA in 2014. And with all my work in aviation, I decided to get my Master’s of Science in Aeronautics as well. I have 6 classes left! Don’t ask me how I do all this… I HAVE NO IDEA, REALLY! Mike will be starting his Master’s as soon as I finish.

This year has been a big year for Mike and I. We were finally able to purchase our first house. It is a dream house for sure. I LOVE IT! Even after 2 mortgage payments, it still feels like a dream! What a long road it was to get here! Both of us have been working so hard.

Deja is still a very big part of our lives. She is very present in the new house as well. We are still doing the Deja boxes even though we did not renew the corporate paperwork for the foundation. We typically have done one box a year, sometimes two, but we really go all out. We include smaller boxes for the other children in the family and have added cameras, Nintendo DS’s, portable DVD players, gift cards, and more. Most of the kids have been local, some with brain tumors, some with other illnesses or cancers. It seems to work out that every time I meet a new family with a sick child, it always happens to be very close to her Heaven birthday. I think this is to help distract me. In 2007, we also updated all the boxes in the rooms at Phx Children’s Oncology unit. It might be time to do this again! To add another amazing twist, we also recently ran into Jody! Jody and her crew were the ones who put together the amazing scrapbook after Deja’s Make-A-Wish trip. Believe it or not, she has since quit her job and has started her own non-profit and does scrapbooks for all the kids returning from their Make-A-Wish trips. The organization is called “Crops of Luv”. It is just amazing to think that my little Deja helped lead her to her calling! Truly Amazing! We still celebrate Deja’s life every chance we get. From riding on the carousel every time were at the mall, to sending her balloons every time we get one. Every birthday we have a party. Dinner, cake, balloons, and sometimes presents. And every anniversary we send her up a ton of balloons after we write her messages on them. Every Thanksgiving we bring the staff at Good Samaritan in the Radiation department donuts (since that was her last radiation treatment). And every Christmas I call and speak with Dr. Maze, Deja’s favorite doctor. He still tells me every year how much he loves me! I love him too! We miss her like crazy, but we know (and feel) that she is watching over us!

Everyone is doing great! Nana and Papa are working on staying healthy and are trying to enjoy their retirement! Patti, Paul, Sydney, and Indie are doing great as well. Their getting big too as you can see. They love spending time on the lake in their new boat. It is hard to find them on the weekends!