So we have covered what is going on in Emily's life medically in the long and short versions, that we were rear ended in March 2009, she woke up with visual disturbances the next day, 3 MRIs revealed a growth/nodule on her pituitary gland, near the optic nerve and we are raising $10 donations to take her for a complete evaluation and SPECT scan with the brain specialists at the Amen Clinic in Reston, VA. Whew! You know more about our situation than you ever wanted to know!

But who IS Emily?

Who IS this kid we are asking you to pray for and give up your cappuccino stash for?

Who is this kid that is worth giving up a movie ticket and bucket of popcorn for?

Emily is first and foremost, a child of the King of Kings. She accepted the Lord Jesus Christ very young, and has loved and wanted to please and serve Him since she was a little girl.

She has a passionate love for His word. When she was little, and would struggle with dyslexia, we would always tell her that He wanted her to be able to read His word and He had the perfect time for her to read. At that time, the wonderful world of scripture was something she could not read for herself. Instead, she spent hours and hours as a little girl, listening to her Bibles on tape, going over and over the pages of her little Bibles. As she grew, she struggled and tried so hard to read his Word. When He finally opened the door to reading, her first love has always been the Bible, His living Word.

That love for God's word prompted Emily to want to go to Chattanooga, to be trained as a Precept Upon Precept leader, so she can help others learn how to study the Bible inductively. She became a leader the weekend of her 14th birthday.

We see her life as such a great example of how God can work beauty from ashes.

Emily is 15, and will be 16 on July 24th (the week we hope to go up to the Amen Clinic) and she is somewhere in her sophmore year of high school. Her one goal is to start and end 11th and 12th grade normally, on time. Getting her vision back is paramount to this goal

ClaraBaughn, our buff cocker spaniel, is quite sure that Emily is "her girl." She has followed her around with rapt devotion since we got her and the two are absolutely inseparable!

Dreams. Emily has had a dream since for many years, since she was about 10. Like many young girls, she loves horses. Her long term goal was to have a horse ranch, where she took broken and abused horses, and brought them back around through love and compassion, good food and nurture. With gentled horses, she then wanted to take children who had been abused, unloved, and abandoned, and put them with the horses. Her dream was a therapeutic horse ranch, sharing Christ with the kids, helping neglected kids find eternal love.

She has an entrepreneurial streak a mile long and has started several businesses and made money! She started a bank account at ten and has been diligently saving her money toward her horse dream. We have taught her to start at the beginning, and work your way up. That means mucking stables and saving money, to achieve goals. You can visit her website here!

Emily was seriously considering being a veterinarian and working with horses as she began high school. She had a solid 4 year high school college prep plan in the works. She was thrilled to be solidly at grade level and working toward a bright future. Somehow, some way, she was going to have that horse ranch and work with horses and kids.

As life unfolds after the accident, and as she faces the reality that her brain may be forever altered by the trauma, she is beginning to wonder if God doesn't want her to change her focus from abandoned kids, to kids with brain injury and head trauma. Kids that look healthy and whole, who look happy and like they live great lives, but underneath, have the very secret sorrow, shame and profound sense of loss that a head injury can give a young teen.

In the beautiful gentle rolling hills of Tennessee, there is a horse ranch that already helps children with therapeutic horse riding. Emily has been waiting to volunteer at Small Miracles, pairing her long time dream of horses with children with special needs. She is volunteering with the horses and kids (our whole family is) and we are praising the Lord for His great providence in our lives. Yes, our life is difficult in many ways since this accident and we still don't have answers. BUT, there is plenty we have to be grateful for, and being a part of Small Miracles is one small way to give back.

Our family has always lived with a strong sense of volunteering in our church and community.

Being part of a political family, Em has volunteered on every other year, since the year of her birth. She has met presidents and VPs, shook hands with senators and met congressmen. She has handed out doorknockers on roller skates back home in California, been in parades, made signs and worked the phones in 2 different states in the last hotly contested election.

Emily has a very sweet and tender heart towards kids. She has enjoyed volunteering with preschoolers in Sunday school and working with them in choir. She has volunteered with kids a lot and loves it.

She just finished a 13 week stint of watching kids at church, while their parents attended a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class. Em is a huge Dave Ramsey fan and not doing the class with us, was quite a sacrifice (she did take the class a year ago - and uses his principles to plan her ranch!) but she wanted parents in our church to be able to take it too.

Our family has been a huge supporter of Locks of Love. Emily has plush, thick, gorgeous hair. Three times, she has grown out her locks, then cut and donated it to Locks for Love, to make wigs for kids who have cancer. She had just donated her hair a few weeks before her own world began to change.

Emily is funny and brilliant, reserved and quiet, a young lady who seeks the Lord and wants to please Him with all her heart. She loves her family and friends.

Emily is just an extraordinary daughter and we are blessed to have her!

Who are the Baughns?

Well, in case we haven't met, we should probably tell a little about our family too! The Lord moved us to Tennessee a few years ago, from Southern California. We are blessed to live in the most BEAUTIFUL place on earth, and thankful to be here! We are active members at Indian Springs Baptist Church in Kingsport, just finished teaching Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class, volunteer in our community and have put on a few Midwinter Homeschool Conventions in our area!

Dave is a fantastic husband and dad, he is passionate about the Word of God and teaches inductive Bible study early mornings in Kingsport. He is a network engineer (computer networks) in Kingsport. He is also the Director of Information Services for the Sullivan Baptist Association and he keeps the website up for the Gray Business Association. Lisa is a homeschool mom who has spent the last 11 years studying Emily's brain - first through dyslexia - then a few years of normal - now a brain injury/tumor, who loves studying God's word (we are a HUGE inductive Bible study family who loves Precept Ministries), will some day teach Precept again. She loves to write and encourage other women, and currently pens a homeschool column for Family Pastime each month, along with freelancing for many projects, including writing for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Lisa cooks from scratch, cans, gardens and tries to feed incredibly nutritious meals, brain building meals, at a great price, sharing them on The Prudent Wife.

We are history fanatics and love exploring the eastern side of the United States. We started a website LivingHistorySites.com to share great living history experiences, along with family friendly trip ideas, great food and lodging! We love sharing our adventures with you!

We thank you for visiting The Great Brain Saga, and pray it has encouraged you! Please share it with anyone it might help!