Emily’s Gift

to Michaela and Dave

I know, this is absurdly delayed in sending; thank you for continuing to check in. I apologize. Please know I’m covering as many bases as I can, obviously as fast as a turtle in high heels.

TOP Priority is Michaela! She and Dave are finally getting married September 27, THIS 9/27/25.

Dave's Proposal to Michaela

I can honestly tell you she has been absolutely, positively, unequivocally indispensable!

Following is a list, but it isn’t just a list. Please read slowly and try to digest the hours each task took/takes – please!!!

Michaela set up Communication Command Center extraordinaire by herself without being asked.

Communication Command Center in Action

Not until the needs and escalation of information increased, did she enlist the help of family and friends with special skill sets that could help her. None of us had any clue the details that would need to be taken care of, i.e., but not limited to:

setting up a dedicated Emily email EmilyUpdates2024@gmail.com, “womaning” that email by dialoguing with those who use it and forwarding them on to me.
creating and updating spreadsheets for tracking dates and times, contacts (political entities, special services such as search teams and devices, volunteers etc.), tips and references for those such as legal assistance, podcasters, crime solvers, mainstream media, and not so mainstream entities, etc.
designing and setting up the billboard and rotating gas station adds with the permission and significant funding of her boss.
brainstorming creative ideas for fundraisers (including researching cross country legalities).
designing and maintaining Emily’s web site (www.EyesForEmily.com), Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561441812867 and Instagram pages (https://www.instagram.com/eyesforemily/), the petition site (successful and closed) and Go Fund Me (https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-search-for-emily-rea%20%20%20%EF%BB%BF) pages.
setting me up and ever so patiently schooling me in the use of the Google suite and other useful helps and apps I’d not yet used.
making and selling her own jewelry to assist in funding.
helping fill in Emily history blanks, lending insight, commiserating with the seemingly never-ending delays and what was/is seen as lack of coordination and information, adding well placed humor.
shielding me from harsh pushbacks
making the trip from MA to MT to assist me (with one of my brothers and sister-in-law) to pack up Emily’s belongings on a tight time frame.
managing all of this while being the president of a dominant and respectable marketing company as it went through the acquisition/sale process, planning a wedding and most incredibly, dealt personally with the second loss of a best friend. They are three peas in a pod, Tres Amigos, BFFs: Liv, Emily and Michaela. BFF… the last F = FOREVER. Michaela, they will indeed be in your heart, mind and memories forever.

Miracles still do happen; chapter not yet closed though the physical absence and loss of Liv and Emily are real.

Michaela succeeded in accomplishing all of these with great aplomb and without a single grumphhh, unkind word or even an inkling of "you want me to do what? WHEN?"

Emily and Michaela The Business Side of Michaela Em & Michaela chillin' in MT

I say finally engaged because Michaela and Dave have postponed not only vacations and personal plans but also their wedding to assist with the above list involving Emily’s disappearance. With a bit of encouragement and dare I say permission, she and Dave set a wedding date, 9/27/25.

I am requesting a uniquely fun form of help from you. Emily’s Gift. A way to help Michaela and Dave redeem some of the missed adventures and unstressed togetherness. If any of you have or have access to a second home, camp, timeshare etc., which you would be willing to make available to Michaela and Dave, would you? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could have one destination vacation a month for the next year? It doesn’t matter what state; arrangements can be made.

If you’d like to participate in thanking Michaela, here’s a simple-to-use link to a form with instructions:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeb7th1ej5evhXvYJwczRvxub8fxHO-z3EG_x3sLqObWOghkg/viewform?usp=header

If you don’t have a vaca spot to offer and would like to help send them on their way, of course you’re not confined to Emily’s Gift. On that form are non-vacation options with a link as well and a way to reach Michaela directly via email. This is what extended community is all about!

Now for some Emily Search Updates:

We hosted an organizational rally on a gorgeous day with the willing hands and gifts of many which kicked off a petition signing drive.
With the help of many, near and far, we successfully collected over 5200 petition signatures which were hand and electronically delivered to Austin Knudsen, MT’s Attorney General.
Which precipitated a direct call from the head of Montana’s Department of Justice’s DCI.
Gene and Sandy Ralston (deep-water sonar) returned and scanned for a week until inclement weather, including 6” of snow on the summer solstice, sent them home to Idaho with no further finding. They will not be returning a third time.
The services of a well screened and reputable Private Investigator have been enlisted.
He continues to conduct interviews and research many leads. After 2+ months of sleuthing, he too believes Emily’s disappearance was not accidental. The challenge is to prove it – please continue to pray for those who have information, to be forthcoming and for the truth to be found…along with Emily!
He had a meeting with several officials familiar with the case at the Sheriff’s Office last Friday.
Information was shared bilaterally and part of Emily’s case file was given to him.
Thanks to your generosity, the PI’s contract has been extended.
Emily’s computer is currently residing with the FBI – data access very difficult to obtain.
Car and paddle board remain with the Sheriff’s office for possible further processing.
Forensic accountants and cyber security experts have continued to conduct their research.

Please continue to pray

for enough solid evidence of foul play for a federal agency to be invited in by the Sheriff’s office for assistance.
for miracles! Please try not to weary of praying for Emily as you would your own friends and family. There are answers, we just don’t know when and where they will come.

Today’s mission: the biggest Thank You possible being sent to Michaela and Dave.

There aren’t enough words to describe the depth of gratitude and known cost.

Walking that practiced walk of faith,

Nina (aka Mama) Rea

Archive: A Message From Nina

Michaela Schwartz
May 1
4 min read

12/25/2024

Dear________________,

Please take a moment to put your name on that line above as this is addressed to YOU! I take full responsibility for the lack of communications regarding the search for Emily. There’s so much to say and yet it’s difficult to find the words. I can relate to those of you who find it hard to talk with me. Rest assured, I’ve found there are times when there simply aren’t words period; much less the right ones. That’s when hugs, a kind gesture, shared tears and knowing-silence come into play. Everyone grieves differently. If you’re willing, my preference is to stumble through awkwardness together rather than avoidance.

Humor me for a moment and visualize this scene with me:

It’s the beginning of a gorgeous Montana day; delightful fragrant breeze blowing, wildflowers in full bloom, the sun shining warm and brightly in the clearest of blue skies. Barely visible over the mountains in the distance, a bank of gray clouds. The day promises to be full of outdoor projects and fun which we set about doing with fervor. Time flies by as we’re immersed until we notice it’s more chilly than it was and the sky is mostly cloudy rather sunny. In fact, it’s evident that projects need to be packed up jiffy quick as spitting rain turns quickly into a deluge. Done, whew! The phone rings. Its Georgia calling. “I sure hope you’re have the same kind of gorgeous day we are having here”, the voice says. NOT!

I ask you, did the sun stop shining in MT? Nope. It was simply shrouded temporarily. If you were in a plane above the clouds and storm below, would you be able to see the majestic mountain peaks and fascinating farm circles from above, feel the wind and rain or watch it clear? From the ground, is the sun visible? The sun is still shining!

I see our Emily journey in much the same way. Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean “it” isn’t happening. Take another moment and think. Knowing (or hearing about) the close, precious, relationship Emily and I have, can you imagine for a nanosecond that absolutely, positively everything humanly possible isn’t being done to find her? This search has so obviously got God’s hand on it. My heart truly aches for those for whom so many resources and connections aren’t made available.

As a recap*: Flathead County Sheriff’s office and resources – ground, canine, dive and sonar teams, SAR volunteers (near and far), Two Bear Air helicopter flights, drones, additional Ralston deep water ROV sonar and mountain trained SAR searchers, volunteers providing food, transportation, housing, communications systems and countless hours of difficult foot searches. There are the communications/technology and Go Fund Me teams in MA and MT. Then there are those who have generously assisted with and given of their time and resources to advise and script public communications, print and distribute posters and address the many legal and technological aspects. Hugo, goofy Hugo, took a team to rehome to a wonderful new family, replete with willing playmate. There were those who kept him, fed him played with him, trained him and went out of their way to comfort him until he was placed. Forgive me for any omissions.

As with the sun analogy above, there are resources we’ve been offered and taken advantage of by counsel of which you may be unaware. There are more, waiting for the appropriate time, in the wings. I’ve learned volumes about drones and satellite technology (one of Em’s childhood friends and colleagues work in prominent positions at SpaceX) and several friends have connections in Star Link, with whom we’ve spoken. There are family and business connections with high level security clearances in military, civilian and agency arenas and others in leadership positions with trafficking agencies. Numerous metaphysical individuals and groups have offered their insights, numbers of whose directives have been followed up on.

At this point in time, the desired result of finding Emily has yet to be produced from any effort. BUT they certainly HAVE NOT STOPPED! Sometimes we need to step out in faith and believe in what is not seen (Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”) Comfort comes in knowing that truly every possible path has been and will continue to be explored.

For now, one last activity with me please:

Close your eyes and listen to your favorite symphony (maybe Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite), with its many and varied instruments from woodwinds and brass to the various types of stringed instruments, tympani and percussion; enhanced at just the right moment by a special guest appearance of celeste, harp, jungle pipe or a single bell. Each instrument playing its part, reading the score designed just for them. Me thinks you’d agree that the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy wouldn’t be the same if played by heavy rhythmic percussion alone or the Mouse King battle was waged to the wafting melody of a soulful oboe. We, you and I together, are the Emily Symphony and we’re playing from the core of our beings until there is resolution. Sometimes as the dominant tune, at others, barely heard in the background but terribly missed if not playing.

Please continue playing your part and NEVER stop praying. It is my belief, there is ALWAYS Hope. You may be familiar with Horatio Spafford’s hymn It is Well with My Soul. His story makes it all the more poignant - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Spafford . As with him, yet with a far lesser current loss, I can say, it is well with my soul, if not with the circumstance or earthly unknown. I’d also be callous and naïve to think the world revolves around Emily’s search. Thank you to those who have shared your lives with me, allowing me to take an active part in your own challenges and heart breaks. I too pray and would welcome your closer friendships. An “I” circle is pretty small.

As it is Christmas, and where my faith is based, I invite you to join me and wish you each a truly blessed Christmas, filled to overflowing with the gifts that The Christ in CHRISTmas gives: Love, Joy, Peace and Hope. Miracles still happen! Please never stop praying for one with me.

From a Mama’s heart with the greatest of appreciation and love,

Nina

*Future posts will highlight individuals and businesses for you to help me thank and make use of their services.