On Saturday we finally were able to go in and apply for Emma's passport.  When a child is under 16 you have to have both parents there to do it.  Since Derrel has been out of town so much this was our only chance.  It was fun to get another step closer!!  Funny thing though  (well, it wasn't very funny to me till now), later that night we were showing Uncle Roo and his fiancé, Lisa, her picture for her passport and realized that we didn't have her birth certificate and figured, well hoped, that we left it at the post office.  This morning I called the post office to see if it was there.  They told me they didn't see it and they would call me if they found it.  I called Derrel, worried about what to do and he said he would call them again and see what he could find out.  Come to find out, they keep your birth certificate and send it in with the application and then it is mailed back to you with the passport.  Wish the guy I talked to would have just said that, I must have talked to the wrong person. YAY! I can breath again.

Hmm, picture of the picture so not super clear but here is her passport picture:)

Also, I forgot to post that Auntie Kirsten donated $20.  She decided that she would rather donate that money rather than buy butter braids where Emma would only get a small portion of it.  THANK YOU AUNTIE KIRSTEN!! ($3715 to go)

Last weekend Emma babysat her cousin Demetrie over night,  she was paid $60.  THANK YOU for the opportunity Uncle Dan and Aunt Stephanie!! ($4515 to go)

This weekend Emma babysat her cousin Jaden over night, she was paid $100.  THANK YOU For the opportunity Uncle Dave and Aunt Lisa!! ($4415 to go)

These last few weeks we have been taking fliers around to spread the word about posting flags.  We now have 46 flags to do giving us another $680. ($3735 to go)

We received a check from Nick and Miriam Webb for $100. I was flabbergasted when I saw the amount. Miriam said they wanted to help out but I did not expect that much.  THANK  YOU NICK AND MIRIAM!  ($4590 to go) Nick hired Derrel back before Wells Fargo bought First Security 17 years ago.  He has been a mentor to Derrel since that day.  We love Nick and Miriam:)

Two items sold at my booth that Brook Lowe donated giving Emma $15. THANKYOU BROOK!
($4575 to go)

Yesterday we went to the next meeting with Emma's leader Traci Nuttal and the other delegates in her group. We met in the Auditorium of the Vet hospital by the U. It was fun to find out that Traci is the mother-in-law of Janette Tilby Nuttal who used to live in our ward, it sure is a small world.

We were instructed on things that we should be doing.  We need to work on getting Emma's passport, filling out the health forms and continuing our fundraising.  One mother in our group is sending 2 kids this year and has sent one of them in the past so we listened to her ideas on raising money.  They did a dance earning about $2000. They have entered as many contests as possible and her son won one of the essay writing contests. 

Emma was also given some homework (she wasn't too happy about that:). She has to study up on our government and familiarize herself with the government officials who serve our country.  She also has to do project fair presentation where she will choose something from France or London that she is interested in and learn everything about it and then present it to our delegation.

By the way, Gideon, Emma's 2 year old brother is taking all these pictures.  We had to give him something to so he wasn't such a distraction.  Not sure that this was the best thing;)

So then we left with renewed confidence and LOTS to do. Here is Emma outside the building.  She just had to climb this mountain of snow.

ALSO, today we had another donation from Ryan and Shelly, $25. ( $4770 to go)THANK YOU RYAN AND SHELLY!!

OH!! and we got 2 more people for flags, that's $80 ( $4690 to go).

And I forgot to mention that Cindy and Rob gave her two large garbage sacks of aluminum cans at our Thanksgiving Party and on Christmas Grandma brought her two small bags also.  We just need to take them in and see what we can get.  EVERY PENNY COUNTS!

WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE SUPPORT.  SO MANY PEOPLE WANT TO HELP AND THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO DO IT!!

Emma started a new fundraiser today, Jan. 1,  2014.  For $40 each we posted a flag in the yards of those in our neighborhood who wanted them.  We will be doing this 9 holidays of the year.  So far we have 29 homes to do ($640 more dollars, $4795 to go).  We hope to get more homes for the next holiday.  It felt pretty amazing posting these flags and making our neighborhood look so patriotic.