Elaina’s Love Light

04/06/2026

What a beautiful day!

Today we honored our girl with the 5th Annual Elaina’s Love Light Easter Egg Hunt. Each year it grows in the most beautiful way—and this year we shared over 9,000 eggs. Seeing so many families come together reminds us just how much light one life can continue to bring.

Days like today, we miss our girl in a way words can’t fully capture. And yet, in the laughter and in every smiling face, we feel her love all around us.

The most magical moment is always the countdown… that shared excitement—it never gets old. 💛
Today is a reminder that love never leaves us. That hope lives on. That light continues to shine.

This event wouldn’t be possible without our incredible community, volunteers, and donors. Your generosity, time, and love mean more than we can ever fully express—thank you for helping us make this day so special.
Amazing balloons & bunny boxes by The Balloon Beast
Sweet surprise egg donations by Ysela N Frank Gutierrez Myra Arzate Miera

Our Elaina’s Love Light Team is amazing!
On to the next project!

08/08/2025

We are thrilled to recognize the recipients of our “New Teacher Gift”!
We developed the E.L.L. New Teacher Gift to support and encourage our new leaders at Austin Montessori.
Elaina had a deep affection for her school and teachers. We wish you and all the staff a wonderful, fun, and successful school year.

07/27/2025

04/21/2025

Easter Sunday.

We hosted the 4th annual Elaina’s Love Light egg hunt today, it’s amazing to see over 8,000 eggs gone within just a few minutes!

Thank you to all who came out to celebrate this day of hope. 🕊️
Thank you to our E.L.L. team and the SEAS volunteers, this wouldn’t be possible without you!

Elaina 💛
We are so grateful for all the memories…. Grateful for your spirit that is still present, especially on days like this!
We love and miss you my girl!

Happy Easter to all! 🐇🥕💛
Special thanks to Lola the Bunny, shes the sweetest! The Balloon Beast for the carrot🥕 set up and the amazing Bunny Boxes… thank you for always making our events extra speciall with your talent!

03/11/2025

Happy Golden Birthday Elaina!

Today we celebrated Elaina’s 10th birthday.
She’s a big girl now… I often think of what she’d be into if she were physically with us. How we’d spend our time - in dance? Sports? Would she still love the outdoors, listen to her music like everyone loved it? (Loud) 😉
I could go on and on.

What I do know, what can never be taken is the 4 precious years we had together…. We made so many unforgettable memories and had the best birthday celebrations!
I spent the day watching those birthday videos and pictures, i couldnt help but smile and “feel”those days.
Today was a day filled with all the emotions… such a big day - 10!
We were surrounded by friends and family as we celebrated… blessings are never far from the grief, for that I’m thankful.

Happy 10th Birthday my girl!
Love,
Mom

02/19/2025

💢 The Book Fair is coming to our school! 💢

Our school’s Book Fair runs from February 19th to 21st:
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
(Closed for lunch 11:00 - 12:00)

🍝 Wednesday, February 19th:
Calling all Reading Rangers!
Come enjoy some Power Pasta with the whole family from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

🍩 Thursday, February 20th:
Mighty Morphin Moms & Dads!
Boost your morning energy with donuts and pan dulce from 7:15 AM to 8:30 AM.

☕️ Friday, February 21st:
Go Go Grandparents!
Kick-start your day with kolaches from 7:15 AM to 8:30 AM.

📚 Be sure to check out our Classroom Buckets! Each teacher has chosen a few books that will benefit their classroom. These books can be gifted to your child's class!

We would like to SPOTLIGHT the following companies for their generous contributions:
- Eliana's Love Light
- Dough Boy's Cafe
- Picture Perfect Parties
- Star Reality
- McAlister's Deli
- Headlines Barber College
- Starbucks Coffee

Thank you so much for your support; it is a huge blessing! The donations provided by these generous companies will help us cover various costs for our organization and keep our families' costs down.

If you or your company are interested in sponsoring our organization, please reach out to us by email at [email protected].

Thank you for your continued support and God bless!

11/01/2024

We were excited to celebrate one of Elaina’s favorite holidays with our Austin team! Thank y’all for having us, we are grateful to continue to be part of the Austin community!

08/22/2024

Congratulations to our 2024-2025💛Elaina’s Love Light Scholarship recipient!

We created the E.L.L. scholarship with the intention to support and encourage early education in ECISD, in honor of Elaina!
She loved her school, classmates and teachers!

We wish our scholarship recipient, all students and leadership a blessed and safe school year!

*Pictured is our precious recipient posing with her colorful artwork! I especially love her use of turquoise…. Elaina’s favorite color. 💛🦋
Also a few pictures of Elaina at Austin with her two favorites! 💛

May you feel the love light, be the light and share the light!

08/07/2024

Austin Montessori Magnet Family & Austin Montessori PTA

We are excited to share the following!
Please share with friends and family attending Austin prek3 or prek4!

Elaina's Love Light announces it's scholarship for tuition for a pre-k3 or pre-k4 student at Austin Montessori, with the intention to support and encourage early education in ECISD in honor of Elaina Cruz Perales.

03/31/2024

Easter Sunday 🐰

What an incredible turnout for our 3rd annual Elaina’s Love Light egg hunt, over 8,000 eggs! Thank you to all who came out to celebrate this day of hope and “new life”.

As we’ve shared before, this is definitely one of Elaina’s favorite days to celebrate, host family (she was quite the host), decorate, dress up and of course, hunt eggs!
Thank you to our Elaina’s Love Light team and the SEAS volunteers, this wouldn’t be possible without you!

Elaina 💛
We are so grateful for all the memories…. Grateful for your spirit that is still present, especially on days like this!
We love and miss you my girl!

Happy Easter to all! 🐇🥕💛
Special thanks to The Balloon Beast for our cute 🥕 ballon setup!

03/12/2024

Elaina’s 9th Heavenly Birthday!

From Elaina’s mom 💛
As I prepared to celebrate Elaina’s 9th heavenly birthday… I felt happy about the plans and knew she’d “approve”😉.When the morning came, I felt paralyzed, wasn’t sure I could make it to church service… I tapped (EFT is my choice of mediation and therapy) and felt lighter, I cried and got up, made it to church. I had planned on wearing some color (bright like her) I fell into my all black, I couldn’t help it - it was how I felt.
As we enter the church, pink and purple flowers surround the alter, like some celebration had just taken place the day before.
Little did I know the topic of the days service was a joyous celebration!

There I sat in the pew, while they spoke of joy. What we “think” it is and where we “think” we can find it. Then he shared his thoughts on finding lasting joy, as he laid out the points, there she was. My girl… he described her as if he knew her…. don’t take yourself so serious (she was a joker), give thanks (she knew prayer), practice silence (her school Austin Montessori, taught her meditation & quite time), love yourself, be yourself (all children love themselves, it’s as you grow the world sadly teaches you different). Most importantly asking God to “Restore happiness and joy in my soul”.

All of sudden I was smiling, sure grieving tears fell but I felt joy. I felt grief AND joy. We are capable of it all, it’s all within us. If you’re a believer or not! That’s the beauty of it.

We went onto the cemetery to celebrate, with big flowers and big balloons, beautiful book reading and a happy birthday song!
Family & friends came to our home, we shared her favorite meal, Rosa’s cafe! Then we filled over 1500 Easter eggs, for Elaina’s annual Easter egg hunt.

Joy was everywhere! I had so many beautiful hugs throughout the day and ended with running into an old friend at dinner… another hug.
Joy was everywhere, all day!
As I went to bed, I felt sadness and grief AND JOY! The joy of having such a beautiful, smart, joyous child! The awareness of still feeling her joy even in her physical absence fills this hole.

Let’s continue the healing journey… in grief and in JOY! 💛 happy birthday my girl!

02/10/2024

Join us TODAY for one of Elaina’s favorite community events!
The 24th Annual Empty Bowls benefiting the West Tx Food Bank!

Enjoy lunch, beautiful handmade bowls & original art pieces in the silent auction!
11-2 at the Saulsbury Center at Odessa College

*below is Elaina with her aunt and uncle and her big pink bowl she picked at the 2019 empty bowls💛 sweet memories cherished forever!