Introducing EmALY EriKA; Little Big Eyes Doll

EmALY EriKA is a VERY SPECIAL doll, indeed.

With a VERY SPECIAL NAME. 

EmALY EriKA pictured in her STOCK pink eye chips, and GRAPE HAIR
(BOTH of which were changed out later ...)

Quite a lengthy explanation, but I feel it is totally necessary ... I DO name my girls FOR A REASON:

Her name is comprised of parts of the first names of FOUR GIRLS I never met.  These girls, and their story, are indelibly etched in my mind..  Three of these girls are sisters;  the other one is their cousin (the daughter of the 3 girls mother’s only brother.)

What happened was, one summer not too long ago, (July 26, 2009 to be exact) they all went camping with their families.  The mother of the 1 girl ( the aunt of the 3 sisters) was driving ALL of them home after camping. 

At some point during the trip home, that Mother/Aunt decided that she would DRINK.  ALCOHOL.  And drink QUITE A BIT.  So much so, that at one point, she became disoriented, she couldn’t see, and one of her little nieces even tried to call her Dad to say she was concerned.

Instead of stopping and waiting for help, she drove head-on into an SUV traveling the opposite direction.  On the freeway.  ALL 4 PRECIOUS GIRLS WERE LOST.  And that was in addition to the lost lives of the Mother/Aunt/Drunk driver, PLUS the additional 3 MEN in the SUV. 

My thoughts when I read this, were NOT for the girls, of course, but for the survivors ... most specifically ... the PARENTS of the girls!!!!  Having 3 DAUGHTERS …. And losing them ALL IN  ONE INSTANT.  ALL TOGETHER.   JUST GONE. 

UN-BELIEVABLE. 

ALL I WANTED TO DO was to name ONE OF MY GIRLS, IN THEIR HONOR.  (And a ‘strange’ thing was, when I began to purchase my girls, the story of these 4 girls came to mind, once again, here in 2011.  I went on-line to look up their names … and lo and behold ... ONE OF THEM JUST HAD A BIRTHDAY, THAT VERY WEEKEND.  VERY eerie.  But to me, mere CONFIRMATION.

  

SO, here are their names:  Alyson, Emma, Kate,  Erin

I wrote them all down, tried to use initials, tried to use their last name initials, and NOTHING was coming to me.  I finally put it all away, it was boggling my brain, and a few days later, I took out the papers, and the name practically JUMPED OUT at me !

It is INDEED a little piece of EACH of their names (and I did NOT concern myself in which ORDER):

EM is for Emma  +  ALY is for Alyson =  EmAly  (pronounded Emily)

ERI  is for Erin  +  KA is for KATE  =  EriKA


(More updated pictures of her later ... after all the GIRLS' make-overs ... )