Lilly

Here's a break from last week's bad news.  Miranda took these pictures of her first childhood friend Lilly, who has Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, a genetic disorder with physical, medical, and cognitive symptoms.  Lilly rides every week at the North Carolina Therapeutic Riding Center, which provides equine therapy for kids with autism, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, and other similar challenges.  On Saturday the kids competed in a horse show.

We didn't know whether Lilly would agree to ride that day, but here she is on her trusted horse Gigi:

 
The instructors and volunteers at the Center give hours of time to help deepen the children's lives:

Maybe the fake horse was easier to ride:

In the end what really mattered was this--Lilly wore pink boots to die for: