As you can imagine, we were thrown quite the curve-ball when Rosie suddenly passed away on the 19th of April. We were having an awesome weekend before it ended in a tragedy. The day before, I was so honored when I received the Ambassador of the Year award from LifeSource. It was wonderful to accept this award surrounded by family, friends and fellow Ambassadors.

Dad, Mom, Travis, me, John, Lauren, Dana, Colleen

I am so lucky to even be alive to accept such an award. One of the reasons I received my transplant is due to all the wonderful people that are part of the LifeSource family. Without this organization, transplants wouldn’t be possible. I will continue to spread awareness for donation and transplantation. It is very rewarding to know that the work we do at Lifesource is helping many families who are waiting for the gift of life.

LifeSource gave me a lovely glass Tree of Courage which is on display in our home. There was a touching note that accompanied the glass ball:

Like a tree in a storm we are sometimes tossed, battered and pushed to our limits. Never the less, we dig deep, hold on or fight back even when the odds may be against us. The Tree of Courage reminds us that we can all be courageous, weather life’s storms and come out stronger.

The night we took Rosie to the vet, we were supposed to have dinner with our friends, Ryan & Jenny. Their twins, Alexa and Tyler, drew some adorable chalk art on the their sidewalk to greet us when we arrived.  So cute! As with most art, we know it would have been better to see it in person. It was nice to see the picture when we were going through such a difficult time.

Thank you everyone for sending messages for the loss of our beloved dog, Rosie. Thanks for all the photos many of you have sent with you or your kids with her. She really was loved by everyone. Rosie definitely has a special place in heaven.

One of our friends came over last week to see how we were doing. Thanks Juliann and Sioux for coming to play with Honey. Juliann posted this: “We finally got to meet Honey tonight! We reminisced about how much we all miss Rosie – a one of a kind dog who taught Sioux how to play and be bossy (and our first neighbor friend). Sioux promises to teach Honey everything she learned from Rosie. We love all the Malnars.”