Journal

November 13, 2012

November 13, 2012

Our Dear Bailey! Daddy and I find it hard to believe that you have been gone for 5 years. We miss you so much but yet it feels like you are still so near…maybe because there isn't a day that goes by that we don't think of you. You taught us so much about true joy and love in the eight short years that you were with us. I have been reading Psalms in the Bible lately and there is so much wisdom in it that you displayed as you fought your battle. You were truly wise beyond your years. The notes for Psalm 16:9 say "True joy is far deeper than happiness: joy can be felt even in the midst of and in spite of one's deepest troubles. Happiness is temporary because it is based on external circumstances, but joy is lasting because it is based on God's presence within us. Don't base your life on circumstances but on God!” You are the perfect example of someone who refused to let your circumstances still your joy. Obviously, you were full of joy because you were full of God’s love. You were always so proud to be called “God’s Little Warrior”! We are so thankful for the support of our friends and community as we continue to spread your legacy of love and giving. We love you Bailey and know that we will see you again in Heaven.

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, Blake, Brooke and Bryce




February 25, 2012

Happy 13th Birthday Little Miss Bailey! We love and miss you so much. Today was full of both laughter and tears and we remembered the 8 years we had you here with us. We will continue to fight for a cure for childhood cancer as long as it takes. Thank you God for giving us our precious Bailey!

Thank you for all of the support and birthday wishes for our baby girl. She came into this world face-up...the nurses called her our sunnyside-up girl...which actually fits her perfectly! We spent the last few days watching videos of our family as we navigated thru those four years and what I can tell you is this....God was definitely with us thru it all!!! When I look back at all of the pain and suffering that Bailey went thru and yet rarely complained...all the times where she was either on the verge of throwing up or was actually doing it, all the times her body was so sore from the chemo and yet she was there putting on a smile for everyone else...all the times when she was reaching out to help others although you could tell how badly she was feeling...all the times she wasn’t able to do what all her friends were doing and yet she was okay with it…all the times our three other precious children were doing without mommy because they knew that Bailey needed me more (Bryce was only 1 year old when she was diagnosed)...all the times I was pulled between taking care of Bailey and still being a mom to my three other precious children and somehow was able to maintain my sanity...how Randy despite having a new job, going to school for his credential and staying up until late at night studying was able to "run" the house while Bailey and I were away at the hospital for weeks at a time, how we were able to move our entire family up to Seattle for over 6 months so that we could give Bailey her best chance at a life and were so wonderfully supported by our family, friends and community...God was with us every step of the way...honestly there is no other explanation for how we were able to maintain our sanity and our family and I promise you that if you put Him in charge of your life each and everyday, he will not disappoint you. It doesn't mean that you always get your way but trust me...His way is so much better than anything we can ever plan. It doesn't mean that you won't go thru pain and suffering, obviously we have and we continue to feel the pain of the loss of our dear Bailey...but we are able to go forward and live the lives God has planned for us because we choose to trust in Him and His plan for us. We are so very blessed and proud to be Blake, Brooke, Bailey and Bryce's parents...they are all truly gifts from God. God bless each of you!



November 13, 2011

Our sweet Bailey, we miss you so much!!!! It is so hard to believe that 4 years ago today, you went to be with our dear Lord in Heaven. Oh how we miss everything about you! You were so beautiful, inside and out. Every time I see a precious four year old child, it reminds me just how young you were when your journey started and how amazing you were from the beginning of it. I will forever be thankful that I was chosen to be your mommy for the 8 years that we had you here with us. I cannot wait until the day that I can hold you again! Not only did you teach all of us so much about love, faith, strength and courage while you were here, but the memory of you and how you chose to live your life, despite your circumstances, gives us the strength to continue on and to live making a positive difference around us…just like you did. Thank you for the dragonflies and butterflies that you always send our way as a reminder that you are near. We often laugh and cry at the same time as they dive bomb us or just come out of nowhere and fly circles around us. We pray for the day that no one, but especially no child, will every have to die from cancer. We have been blessed by so many amazing people who continue to help us not only honor your life and memory but also help us raise awareness of the great need of money for research to find a cure for our precious children. You will always be our hero! We love you always and forever!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, Blake, Brooke and Bryce



February 25, 2011

Bailey's 12th Birthday

Happy Birthday my precious Little Miss Bailey. I can’t believe that you would be 12-years-old! Although day to day it has gotten a little easier, its times like today that hurt so much because instead of planning your birthday party, I bought flowers for your grave. I miss you!!!! Bryce has now realized that he is the same age as you were when you passed away He likes to talk about you and still wants people to know about his sister Bailey. You taught all of us so much during your short eight years here with us. We are working hard to continue your legacy of love and giving and to spread awareness about the huge need for funding for research of childhood cancer! I want to thank all of you for the continued love and support that you show our family. It is because of you that we will someday find a cure for this horrible disease. There are 46 children diagnosed with cancer every single day and over 2,500 of our children die from cancer every year. We have to find a cure! We will continue to fight this fight and as Bailey so famously said…we will NEVER GIVE UP!

God bless,

Kathy, Randy, Blake, Brooke and Bryce

BAILEY'S LEGACY RUN


 1 mile walk/run will feature
“Twinkles the Clown”
 5K & 1 mile walk/run will begin and
end at Pioneer Park
 Teams are encouraged to create
team shirts in honor/memory of
loved ones affected by cancer.
 All participants receive a “Bailey’s
Legacy Run” Bracelet
Date : Saturday, September 4, 2010
Times : Registration 7:00-7:45 am.
Both races start at 8:00am.
Registration form can be picked up at Mattos
Newspaper, Mary Jane’s Salon of Beauty or
online at www.comforting kids.org
Place:
Pioneer Park- across from the FDES
Hall 1358 “R” St. Newman, 95360
For more information or to find out
how you can volunteer or sponsor this
event, email Kathy Rocha at baileyslegacy@hotmail.com
Also find us on Facebook at “Bailey’s
Legacy Fun Run”
Bailey’s Legacy Fun Run
Supporting Childhood Cancer Awareness
Sponsored by
Comforting Kids Foundation
Benefiting Bailey’s Treasure Box
Cost :
$15 per adult
$12 per person for teams of 10 or more
$10 per child (18 and younger)
 If you would like to order a
“Bailey’s Legacy Run” t-shirt,
add $15 to your registration fee
and note this on your form.
Orders due by August 23rd.


February 25, 2010

Bailey's 11th Birthday(3rd birthday without her)

Happy 11th Birthday, Miss Bailey! We love and miss you so much!!! I remember the day you were born as if it was yesterday. I will never forget when we called to tell Blake that you were born. He asked if you were a boy…I said no…he asked when I was having another baby…then he saw you… and it was love at first sight. He was the proudest big brother. He is still having such a hard time with you being gone. Since I never had a sister, it was always so much fun watching you and Brooke doing “sister stuff”…dancing and singing all around the house, playing dress-up, performing with “your band”…you were her shadow. You wanted to be just like big sister. She misses having her little “mini-me”. As for Bryce…he misses his “sissy” so much. He was only one-year old when you were first diagnosed with leukemia but even then he “understood”. He would lie on the couch with you for hours or just stand by you caressing your head when he knew you weren’t feeling well. He never made me choose between you and him. He loved you so much! There was definitely a special connection between the two of you. In fact, so many times now, he will say something and it sounds just like you. He often has the same mannerisms as you too! He is very proud of that fact! It is a gift for your dad and me when he gives us those special little glimpses of you. Very few people truly know just how much you precious cancer kids go through. Although people care, they really don’t want to know many of the details. I don’t blame them. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have all of those horrible memories in my mind…but yet…it is those memories that cause me to continue to fight for a cure for childhood cancer. It makes me sick that weekly I get emails about yet another precious child fighting for their life. We have to find a cure!!! Because of you, I am involved in a great organization called Comforting Kids. Not only do we fulfill the “wish list” of three local Children’s Hospitals, but we have a “Bailey Treasures Box” that allows me to honor you as I buy “treasures” for special children in our community. We’ve done some really great stuff so far. Comforting Kids also supports me in my mission to raise awareness about the lack of funding for childhood cancer. We will once again be having a “Childhood Cancer Awareness Event” in September. Hopefully this time it will be a walk/run and bring a lot more people out to help support our efforts of raising funds for more research of Pediatric Cancers. Every time Bryce prays for you to be back with us, I remind him that we will see you again someday! Until then, my precious little one…we will live remembering what you taught us…to appreciate this day that the Lord has given us…to work hard to following God’s plan for our lives…it is a choice to look for the good in each day. We will see you again…

For all of you who are reading this…I can imagine Bailey saying, “I hope to meet you in Heaven someday. Do you know my Jesus?”

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, Blake, Brooke and Bryce



Hi Everyone,

It has been heavy on my heart lately to find a way to help the Spinelli Family...financially. One of the many great fundraisers that were held in honor of our precious Miss Bailey was a Filhos Sale. For those of you not from the Central Valley (aka Portuguese Valley) ha! ha!...Filhos are a cross between a donut and a funnel cake. They are covered in sugar and extremely yummy!

A dear friend of mine, Angela, was the person who held the one for Bailey. She is once again stepping up to the plate as my right hand gal and helping me with this fundraiser. And of course, as always, Susan Mattos and Staff, from Mattos Newspaper has jumped on the band wagon in support of the Spinelli Family (no surprise...they were always the ones at the front of the line to help our family). We love all of you!!!

So here is the info that all of you need to know:

We are taking Pre-Orders at the following locations prior to the day of the sale-

-$10 a dozen. Cash only. Payment at time of order.

**Crows Landing-Mary Jane's Salon of Beauty**

**Gustine-Pat's House of Beauty**

**Newman-Mattos Newspaper**


-The day of the event we will have Pick-Up Sites for all of those who pre-ordered at the following locations. (Please designate where you will pick up when you place your order)

**Pre-orders can be picked up on Saturday, January 23, 2010 from 6am-9am**

*Crows Landing-Mary Jane's Salon of Beauty
*Gustine-Pat's House of Beauty
*Newman Public Scales on Hwy 33 (right next to Yancey Lumber)
*Hilmar-Holy Rosary Catholic Church




**"Drive Thru Filhos Sale" will also happen Saturday, January 23, 2010,
8 am-1 pm (for those who did not pre-order)

8am-1pm

Freitas Egg Ranch
561 S. Highway 33
Newman, CA
(Thank you Freitas Family)

$10 a dozen. Cash only.

*Please use the Canal School Road entrance*

Anyone who wants to donate money or product used to make Filhos can drop off their donation at the Pre-order sites.(flour, sugar, yeast,oil)


We live in such a great community. I know we are really going to help this family!

Thank you for your continued support in memory of Bailey and all the kids fighting this horrible disease!

God bless,

Kathy

**It is easier to following the Filhos Sale info on my blog at http://baileyslegacy.blogspot.com/




Wednesday, Jan 6, 2010

Happy New Year to all of you. I know many of you continue to come to Bailey's website and watch the slideshows. Thank you for still caring and keeping the memory of our baby girl alive.

Most of my postings are now on my Blog at www.baileyslegacy.blogspot.com. I hope that you will continue to visit both of these sites. This caringbridge site is all about Bailey. My blog is all about what I am doing to honor and speak up for my baby girl. A friend of mine,Sandy, who lost her son Christian not long after we lost Bailey, recently wrote something on Christian's site about grief that really summed up how we feel. She wrote, "I can say for a fact that time does not heal all wounds. However, time sometimes dulls the intense day to day pain and replaces it with times of deep longing and yearning." I agree with that. I think for a while we were just numb. It is so hard to believe that we have been without our little girl's hugs and kisses for over two years. We do however get "Bailey Moments" from our little Mr. Bryce. Every so often he gives us a look or says something that is "so Bailey". I wish I could just bottle him up and keep him at this age. He is now 7 years old, the age Bailey was when she relapsed. I look at him and think of how young she was and how much she went through. It makes me sad:( Recently a woman left an encouraging comment on my blog. I had no idea who she was but decided to find out about her niece who had passed away. Long story short...her niece is the beautiful young girl that I wrote about on Bailey's Aug 30, 2007 journal entry. I wanted to share it with you again because I remember when it happened but I didn't remember Bailey's response(see below). Hopefully, we continue to learn from the legacy that Bailey left us and all of the special kids like her.

***August 30, 2007***
2:00 p.m.

Bailey is out of the hospital and feeling well. She went around passing out goodies before we left the hospital this morning. She was so excited because one of the patients was a fourteen-year-old girl who we have never seen smile yet. Well, when Bailey showed up at her hospital room with a couple of treasures, both the girl and her dad had big smiles on their faces. Mission accomplished!!! Bailey said, "Mom, I remember you telling me that we need to be the "Light of Christ", I think we've done that today." Praise God!!"
**************
She was truly something special and I was blessed to be her mom.

God bless,

Randy, Kathy, Blake, Brooke, and Bryce

P.S. Please visit my blog. I will be updating ways that you can help us to raise awareness about the great need for more funding to go towards Childhood Cancer Research.



Sunday, August 30, 2009

Hi everyone,

I know many of you tell me that you still visit Bailey's website so I am hoping that means you still want to be involved in making good things happen.

I have now entered the blogging world in order to raise awareness about the lack of funding for Childhood Cancer. Please visit my new blog at http://baileyslegacy.blogspot.com/ to find out how you can help raise awareness. Thank you for all of your continued love, support and prayers.

Love,

Kathy,Randy,Blake,Brooke,Bryce and ^^Bailey^^


Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Hello to all of our special friends,

I cannot believe it has been almost 7 months since I last posted. I meant to post something for Bailey’s birthday on Feb 25, but it ended up being a tougher day than I expected. Last year I was numb when her birthday came, but this year it was a lot harder. I keep thinking that I will start a blog because there is still so much I would like to share with all of you…but I just haven’t had the time to find out how to set one up. There are so many people who need our prayers that I would like to have a posting for, because I know how important those prayers are for families facing hard times and tragedies. Right now, I would like to ask for continued prayers for a local young man with leukemia, Dylan Spinelli, who just received his bone marrow transplant on May 12, 2009. Please pray that he will engraft and that his new marrow will be able to fight off any remaining cancer.

The kids are already out of school for the summer and looking forward to some rest and of course our annual “Camp Rocha” that will be happening at the end of June. This was a total fluke that we started the camp but I tell you what…it is something all of the Rocha cousins look forward to throughout the year. We set up tents in our yard, roast marshmallows, go on night hikes, swim, do craft projects, have a talent show, etc. The kids have a blast!! It started the summer before Bailey relapsed, by accident, when everyone forgot to make camping reservations so we decided to camp out here. We do a day trip to Pinecrest, with an aluminum boat in tow, to take the kids on rides around the lake and to do a little “fake” fishing. I would suggest this to anyone who has cousins or friends who live close enough to get together. The memories are irreplaceable.

I have become involved with two great non-profit organizations. One is called “Comforting Kids Foundation” which supports the child life programs of four children’s hospitals and “Bailey’s Treasure Box”.(www.comfortingkids.org) I am so excited about this because it is soooooo Bailey. I will give you more details soon. The second organization is “Gold Rush Cure” where almost 100 percent of the money raised will go to pediatric cancer research. You will be shocked when I give the statistics on the lack of pediatric cancer research and trials that are being done and just how many precious children are dying from this horrible disease.

We continue to hear stories of how Bailey’s journey has touched your lives. We love hearing them and it helps to heal the hurt when we hear how she helped others…many whom she never even met. I still have plans on putting up new pictures and hopefully now that summer is here, I will have some time.

God bless each of you and I pray that each day you appreciate what you have and look at how you can help those around you.

Love,

Randy, Kathy, Blake, Brooke and Bryce


November 21, 2008

Just a quick note to tell all of you "Thank you" for all of the prayers during this time. The new slide show is from the time we arrived home from Seattle until she went to heaven. I will be posting another one soon of our time up in Seattle.

God bless,

The Rocha Family


November 13, 2008

One year ago today, our precious little Miss Bailey lost her four-year battle with leukemia. I am still amazed at what her little body went through daily and how she was able to look past it and just enjoy life.

We spent the first part of this year kind of on autopilot, still numb from the loss. As the months have gone by, the reality has continued to set in that she is gone. We miss her hugs, smiles, and laughter the most. She had such an amazing zest for life no matter how bad she felt physically. I honestly don’t think there was even one day, except when she was in the hospital, that she didn’t get out of bed. Sometimes she only made it to the couch, but at least she was out of bed. One time up in Seattle, not long before we came home, she had been up all night with diarrhea and vomiting. When she woke up around 8:00 a.m., she came out to the living room and said, “What…you are having a party without me?” then proceeded to grab her guitar and sing a song. That’s not exactly what I would feel like doing after being sick all night, but she was our Super Girl!

The last couple of months have been the hardest so far. Both Randy and I had our birthdays, which was the hardest day for both of us. I talked to a good friend the other day, who lost her little girl also, and she said the same thing. Bailey always loved a good party. Maybe that’s one reason it was so hard.

I’m not going to write as much as I wanted to because I have to get to bed. I was up until 3:00 a.m. last night working on a slideshow for Bailey’s website. I worked most of today also but it isn’t quite done. Check back within a couple of days. It has been hard going through all of the pictures and videos but it also reaffirms our feelings that God was truly with us during those times. When we see her smile or hear her giggle, it makes us both laugh and cry.

We wanted to get away for a couple of days so we wouldn’t have to be home, but that didn’t work out with school, football, etc., so we will see how tomorrow goes.

I will be updating this journal and putting the new slideshow on Bailey’s website by this weekend.

God bless each of you,

The Rocha Family




Tuesday, May 13, 2008

It is so hard to believe that our precious Bailey has been gone for six months. I know that I have not written very often since that time, but I want all of you to know that there isn’t a day that goes by that I am not thinking of you and what you did for our family. Looking back at everything we went through, I know that the only way we made it was because of all the prayers, love, and support that we had from all of you. As I have said before, there is still so much I want to say to all of you but finding the time and energy to do it hasn’t happened. So, I am going to try to do it today.

When the doctors sent us home from Seattle on September 3, they only expected Bailey to live for a few weeks. During that time, they expected her to get weaker and have more pain. More pain would have meant more medication…more sleeping…getting weaker…, etc. Anyway, that was not God’s plan and it certainly was not Bailey’s plan.

We decided to do as much as Bailey was up for. This included, hitting balls with Randy, riding with us to take the kids to school, which of course enabled her to see one of her favorite teachers, Mr. Felber (he is Bryce’s teacher this year) and have a sword fight with him. She was able to shop for candies and chips at a small local store because there were no other customers there. You wouldn’t believe how much fun she had scanning the shelves figuring out what to buy. She was able to go to football games, party with her siblings and cousins, chase everyone around with Silly String, and dance around the front room to the Christian music that she loved. She was able to rock out at the Big Daddy Weave Concert, and believe it or not, she was able to spend a wonderful day at Marine World shopping for keepsakes and dancing with all of the cartoon characters on stage. Mind you, she often slept in until 2 p.m. each day and ended up in the hospital a few times, in extreme pain, during this time, but even that didn’t slow her down for long. She always made the best of where she was, whether it was at home or in the hospital. She amazed me daily.

I know many of you are wondering about her last days so I will tell you about them.
She was released from the hospital on Wednesday, November 7th, after being there for 2 ½ weeks. She was still on a minimal amount of Morphine when we left, but overall felt good. She spent Thursday-Sunday, playing, dancing, watching movies, sword fighting and just being Bailey. On Friday night, after watching the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, with Will Smith, she looked over at me and said, “And we thought we had a tough life”. She never felt sorry for herself and had so much compassion for others! On Sunday, November 11, she had a great day playing with all the kids but especially enjoyed taking care of her baby cousin, Sophia. She spent the day doing whatever she could to make Sophia smile. We have some great pictures and video from this day. I went over to Rick and Wendy’s that night to update the website. When I got home, Brooke and Bailey were busy beading bracelets.(Brooke and I wear the ones Bailey made) Later, when she heard music playing in the front room, she came running to join Bryce for some silly dancing. She was giggling the whole time. Around 11 p.m., I convinced her that it was time to get ready for bed. She insisted she needed to go to the bathroom and proceeded to spend another two hours doing Word Search while she sat on the toilet with Randy on the floor transferring all of her favorite songs to her ipod. They were quite a sight. Bailey and I finally climbed into bed around 1:30 a.m. with big smiles on our faces. We took her to clinic the next morning because she had a fever and body aches. Things slowly changed throughout the day and by 9:00 p.m. that night we knew things weren’t looking good. Bailey had about twenty rubber bracelets on her arm (a little Mings or what) at the time we went into the hospital. As things were changing, I asked her if she wanted to take them off. She said yes except that she wanted to keep her “Bailey Bracelet” and her “Walking with Jesus” bracelet on! By 11:00 p.m., we had Blake, Brooke, Bryce, Eddie, Dellayne and my mom down at the hospital. She was still awake and everyone was able to give her loves. We chose to have her transferred up to ICU, so around 11:30 p.m., that happened. We were blessed to have great nurses and doctors up there. A nurse, Benji, was a true angel. He treated her like a precious jewel from the time we got up there. At one point, she asked for water. In true Bailey style, after Benji put some ice chips in her mouth, she called out a “Thank you” as he was leaving the room. This was less than twenty minutes before she passed away. Just minutes before she passed, her eyes opened and she started mumbling. She looked straight at Randy’s chest and excitedly started talking about all of her favorite things. She wasn’t talking to us but was definitely having a conversation with someone. ( Jesus, angels, Papa…?) She was telling them about “Papa’s awesome bed”, “Word Search” and the Mississippi spelling game). She spelled M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i with Randy and me and within a couple of minutes, she passed away with a smile on her face. I wanted to share this with all of you because you have been such a huge part of our lives during these last few years and I wanted you to know that she was ready. We weren’t, but she was. Many people, including us, have said, “but she looked so good…we didn’t think it would happen yet…etc.”. After much time praying I have come to the point where I trust that God was in control of it all…including the day that she passed away. I thank God that our kids and our parents were able to make it down in time to see her before she passed. Never did we think this would be the last time they would see her when we left that morning of the 11th. Randy and I feel blessed that we were able to see our baby girl making big plans for lots of fun in Heaven just minutes before she left us. We have choices of how we want to look at every situation we are in and with God’s love and guidance, we have been able to continue to find more good than bad in each day we face.

Since that time, God has given us many special “signs” that our baby girl is with him and that she is okay. In fact, right now, as I am writing this, the same exact part of Natalie Grant’s song just came on the radio that came on the morning that we were heading to her funeral. That morning as we were backing out of our garage, we saw a perfect cross in the sky ( lines from the jets) and at that same moment the words from Natalie Grant’s song came on that said, “I’m in better hands now…”, all of us just looked at each other and started laughing and crying at the same time. As we drove over the spillway and looked in the sky, we saw just how huge the cross was. I will post a picture of it soon with all the other pictures I would like to share with you. About two weeks after Bailey passed away, I was getting ready to go and say a prayer, in Bailey’s honor, at Orestimba High School where Randy teaches. There was a beautiful rainbow in the sky that morning. As Blake and I drove down the street that runs straight into the high school, we were astonished to see that the bottom of the rainbow was shining brightly at the end of the road! Blake and I just looked at each other. I want to thank all of you (students and staff) who have come to the Tuesday morning prayers around the flagpole. I pray that each of you will come to know and love God they way we do. We went to the coast for Christmas with my family, knowing it would be too hard to be home without Bailey. Our first morning there, as we sat out on the deck, four dolphins came swimming and jumping by. The next morning one came all by itself. It played for a while then swam away. (Bailey loved dolphins) A very special sign came on Christmas Day. We hadn’t had any pretty sunsets during the days before. However, on Christmas evening, as we were preparing dinner, we saw the most beautiful sunset that we have ever seen. It just got redder and redder with the sunbeams shining brightly through it all. All of us were amazed and knew it was God showing us, just a glimpse, of the beauty Bailey was enjoying. If we didn’t believe in God and the amazing things to come in Heaven, I don’t think we could make it through this journey.

Throughout this time, even towards the end, Randy and I chose to focus on Bailey living, not dying. Many people think we were in denial. We were not. We know and believe in the power of our Lord and He helped us stay positive for Bailey and our other children. We prayed fervently for her healing but also that His Will would be done and that He would bring more good than bad out of this horrible time. Along with that, we prayed that God would give us the strength to face what was ahead of us. He has given us peace and definitely has brought much good out of Bailey’s life. We will never quit missing our baby girl or wishing that we had her here to hold and love, but we do have peace in knowing where she is and whom she is with.

We continue to hear stories of how Bailey has touched so many of your lives. Hearing those stories helps us to know that Bailey and what she stood for, hasn’t been forgotten. Thanks to wonderful people in our community there will be scholarships given in Bailey’s honor this year. Also, her school Von Renner is working on raising money for a climbing wall in her honor. She would have loved it. Thank you to all of you who have donated money in Bailey’s name to some of our favorite programs, Make-A-Wish, ROCK Program, American Cancer Society, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, among others. We will continue to work on getting personal thank you cards out to all of you who have been so loving and generous to our family. Just because you haven’t heard from us doesn’t mean we have forgotten how amazing you are. We will be transferring credits from Bailey’s Delta Blood Bank account to help other families…thank you to all who have donated blood…it truly saves lives.

I have to say that the last couple of months have been harder than the first couple. I think the reality of her not being here with us has set in. I laugh and cry each day as I think of her and look back over her life. She wasn’t perfect but she was a special little soul who was wise beyond her years. She understood what God wants each of us to do…and that is… to not spend our lives only focusing on ourselves. He has a plan for each of us but it is up to us to stop and listen long enough to understand what his plan is. That is why Randy and I will be leading a small group Bible study, through our church, every Wednesday night from May 21 to June 11. It is called the Revealed Campaign and it is specially designed to help you understand what God’s plan is for your life. We are excited about this program and the potential that it has to change people’s lives. There will be groups meeting in Gustine, Newman, and Patterson, on different days, during this time so if any of you are interested in finding out more about it just e-mail me. You do not have to be a member of our church in order to attend the bible study.

We have been keeping busy trying to get things back in order around the house and just living life. Overall, each of the kids has been doing well. I can’t imagine going through all that they had been through and still being able to do so well in school. We are so proud of all of them. Blake and Brooke have kept busy with school while Bryce has been giving us lots of laughs while watching him play T-ball. Can I just say, if you want to make your heart happy, go to a T-ball game. You can’t help but smile watching those little ones run around. Every time Bryce comes across home plate, he runs over to the stands to wave at all of his fans.

Now that I have gotten this big journal out of the way, I am going to try to do a weekly update for any of you who are still interested in reading what I have to write. We have many friends who continue to fight this battle that could use your prayers. In fact, there is a young girl named Nicole, who lives in Crowslanding, who was recently diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia (the same thing Miranda had…by the way, Miranda is doing great). There are others I want to write about but I will save that for next week.

On Sunday, we will be going to watch Big Daddy Weave at the Chowchilla Fair. I would encourage all of you to consider going to see them. They put on a great show and are wonderful guys. Bailey loved listening to their music.

One more thing I forgot to mention. I know many of you have had a hard time understanding why God would have us go all the way up to Seattle if he wasn’t going to cure Bailey. You feel bad for our family because we had to leave our home and friends for so long. Believe it or not, Randy and I feel that going to Seattle was a true blessing for many reasons. The generosity of Randy’s co-workers, his administration, and our wonderful community enabled our entire family to spend everyday, during those six months, with her. We lived ten minutes from the hospital, the kids were able to go to school in the same building where we lived, and Bailey was able to do things in Seattle that weren’t available to her here at home. She was also able to spread that Bailey charm all around Seattle. If we had stayed in California, more than likely, Bailey and I would have been down in L.A. and Randy would have been home with the three other kids. We would have only seen each other periodically and would have had all the worries that come from being apart. We trusted God and surrendered our precious baby over to him the night she relapsed in Oct of 2006. He knew when Bailey would be going to Heaven and he gave us that last year to be with her in a way we could have never planned better ourselves.

FYI-On May 8, 2008, both Brooke and I were involved in the bus accident that occurred in Yosemite National Park. Brooke has a pretty good case of whiplash but was checked over at the hospital and by Dr. Kailey. They both agreed that she should be fine. Hopefully, she will only be sore for a few more days. Once again, God had his faithful hand in the situation. So many other things could have happened that would have been tragic. The two bus drivers handled the situation in the best way possible. Luckily, I was not hurt so I was able to be with her at all times, including the ambulance ride to the hospital in Mariposa. She was more uncomfortable from the neck brace and backboard than from her actually injuries! Bless her heart she was so calm that the paramedic thought something might be wrong with her. (shock, concussion, etc.)

We would like to hear from all of you and to know how you are doing. If any of you have a story of how Bailey touched your life, we would love to hear that too. You can either write in the guest book or email me at the address listed below. Please let others know that I finally updated her site.

May God bless each of you and may you continue to trust in Him. He is an awesome God who loves each of us more than we can imagine.

Love,

Randy, Kathy, Blake, Brooke and Bryce

Read Journal History

Links:

http://www.liftinglives.com/dailypostcard.php   Daily Moment of Inspiration by Duke Duvall

E-mail Author: nevergiveupbr@hotmail.com

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