Our Story

Some souls come into our lives for a very short time. They are here to teach us something big and then without any sort of notice, rhyme or reason they are gone. Jewel was one of those souls. She was five years old when her body left this realm. She taught all of us so much about life during her time here with us.

She taught us how to slow down.
How to enjoy the simple things.
She taught us how to stay present.
How to be curious, fearless and spontaneous.
She taught us how to be authentic.
How to play, laugh and notice the beauty all around us.
And most importantly, she taught us how to love unconditionally. 

Jewel could put a smile on your face without doing anything at all – she just had that bright light about her. 

She was an angel in disguise from the moment she was born.  

My time with Jewel.
Personally I only knew Jewel for about 3 years. She was the little sister to my daughter and son’s best friends. She soon became like family and spent many nights over at my house with my youngest. They were somewhat inseparable. We went on hikes, played in the pool, went to the movies, picked veggies in my garden, we had glow stick parties and many days of dress up. Jewel really looked up to my son, in fact – as soon as she got to our house she would run into our room and change into his clothes! They would play ninjas for hours. Only stopping for snacks and water. 

Kindergarten.
My son was supposed to start kindergarten in 2019 – but because he was older than Jewel he would have been one grade above her. He cried his entire first day – he really wasn’t ready. His teacher and I decided it would be best to hold off with Kindergarten for one more year. It worked out perfectly because he could be in Jewel’s class after all! When I sent Jewel’s mom a message letting her know the news she said Jewel was so excited and said, “Yay! Orion won’t cry when he is with me!” Jewel left her body 6 months before her and Orion would have gone to kindergarten together. 

Gymnastics for Jewel.
My son loved jumping from couch to couch – playing ‘the floor is lava’ and doing flips in our bed. So naturally I decided to sign him up for gymnastics – but he refused to go by himself! So I asked if I could pay for Jewel and have her do the class with him. She was over the moon excited and absolutely loved it! But Jewel was about 4 months younger than my son. So when it was time for him to move up classes – Jewel wasn’t quite ready. He chose to stay in her class until she was ready to move up. Unfortunately, they were never able to move up classes together and after Jewels accident my son stopped going to gymnastics. 

The accident.
I don’t feel like it’s my place to share the details of the accident that eventually took Jewel from us. But I can tell you that during her last days, Jewel was surrounded by her loved ones – until her very last heart beat, her very last breath. 

My heart tells me her story isn’t over yet. My heart tells me her purpose is bigger than any of us can fathom. I keep trying to find ways to honor sweet Jewel. 

Creating a non-profit in her name was my first step. 

When I was brainstorming ideas on how to keep Jewels name alive with her non profit – I wanted it to be something that would be light and bright and bring joy to children’s lives. Then I remembered how much Jewel loved going to gymnastics and because my son and I were the reason she was going, I thought it would be a perfect fit – paying for gymnastic classes for children, who otherwise would not have the opportunity to do gymnastics. So far the Jewel Emma Foundation has paid for 3 little girls to take gymnastics.

A quilt.
I have a very talented friend by the name of Suzanne who I reached out to a few months after Jewels passing. I asked if she would be willing and able to make a quilt out of Jewels favorite clothes for her dad. She was more than happy to. The quilt turned out absolutely beautiful and I am so thankful that her family will have it to snuggle up to whenever they are feeling sad.

Adopting a mile.
I tried really hard to adopt the specific mile that Jewel’s car accident happened on – but unfortunately that particular part of the road was deemed too dangerous. I eventually decided that any part of that road would be fine to adopt in her name. Her mom felt like it was a perfect memorial for her because Jewel was always cleaning litter off of the ground.  If you feel inspired to reach out and coordinate a time that works for you to help clean that particular part of Cornville Road please do not hesitate to contact me through this website. 

Rumble Strips.
I’ve tried several times to contact the city in regards to getting rumble strips put in on Cornville Road. I believe that if these measures had been taken several years ago, a lot of car accidents could have been avoided. Unfortunately every time I call I get the runaround – no one seems to know who I should talk to. But believe you me, I won’t give up. 

Gems for Jewel.
We went on vacation last year and I decided to collect a bunch of Sedona red rocks from my yard and pasted a Jewel design on them along with this website’s address. It was just a little way to keep her name alive. And maybe even bring a smile or two to a stranger’s face. If you stumble across this little piece of love – please take a moment to remember this sweet, little beautiful soul. Feel free to keep the gem for yourself and place it somewhere special that you will see often – or re-gift it out into the world so that someone else may find it.

A brick at the Stupa in Sedona.
Every time we lose a loved one too soon I get a brick at the Sedona Stupa in their honor.
Jewel’s brick reads, “We love you Juicy” (Juicy was the nickname her family had for her)

Nevaeh ~ H-e-a-v-e-n
In early 2022 there was a pretty terrible car accident in our little town. It involved several cars and three children – one who was evicted from the car, but still in her car seat. She was unable to walk for the first couple weeks and had to get many stitches in her face. Just a few days after her accident my little sister messaged me letting me know she was contacted by her guardian and was going to start babysitting her. My heart was bursting with joy. I couldn’t get this little girl out of my mind and I was so happy to hear she was okay and that my sister, out of all people, was going to start watching her! I knew I needed to do something special for this sweet baby girl – after a couple days of brainstorming I decided I just wanted to spoil the heck out of her. So the Jewel Emma Foundation was able to raise about $250 and I went to Walmart with some of my kids and we bought her brand new clothes, toys, sippy cups, pajamas, a new blanket and backpack. My sister sent me a video of her tearing through all of her new goodies. Jewel was smiling from above! 

Finding, “Life’s Jewels”
As I said before, I want everything that I do in Jewels honor to bring more light, happiness, joy and love into this world. I was inspired to design cards that can be left for strangers to brighten their day. Inspirational words, motivational sayings. A way to remind each person that comes into contact with these cards that life is beautiful. And short. And amazing. And tough. And chaotic. But we are all in it together.