Cinderella Goes to the Ball...In Silver Sparkling Sneakers?

"Hey Cinderella... Where are your glass slippers?" Response from Chelsea
" Right here Mom....silver sparkling tennis shoes, a girl has to be comfortable these days!" Chelsea went to Senior Ball/ Prom last night and had a blast! She looked soooo beautiful! I couldn't stop smiling seeing her so happy and with her Daddy in all her pictures. As she would tell anyone " My Daddy is my Prince, my first love!" It was so nice to be able to get lots of fun pictures with her Dad, brother Austin. She is growing up so fast how blessed I feel to be in this moment right now... Eric doing better and healthier, home as a family enjoying these precious moments!

We are blessed to have Eric responding to his bone marrow transplant and here with us all as a family like we love to be! This is what it is all about....seeing her go on dances, seeing her happy, seeing both of the kids grow up and making wonderful memories that we will always have. This is why Eric fought so hard and continues to fight, this is why we have went through the past years fighting so desperately to save Eric's life.. our Eternal Family! I'm posting alot of pics sorry they are so many cute ones so forgive me! There is one of Eric reminding Chelsea of her curfew " Cinderella remember don't be late" Soooo much fun, we are so proud of Chelsea and we love to see her happy and smile! It's been a little while since we have seen that with her Dad's health worries in all. What a joy it is as a mother to see the happiness on all of their faces, what an awesome reward! I love you guys!! So Chelsea( Cinderella)- GO ENJOY YOUR BALL!!!

Busy, busy week

It has been a very fun but busy week for the Barker's....Chelsea had cheer tryouts for WX High School and she MADE IT AGAIN!!! We are so proud of her and know she enjoys it so much, we tell her often to enjoy her high school days instead of always stressing for her 4.0 and what colleges she will go to. She just filled out her paperwork to start her CNA , she will be busy for sure with her CNA classes and also working at her job but it will all payoff. Chelsea has wanted to be a doctor ever since I can remember and seeing her Dad go through what he has went through has made her more motivated to accomplish that dream. She is not sure yet what type of doctor but she thinks she might want to go into Pediatric Oncology- she has always had a special place in her heart for kids and with her Dad's cancer she really wants to do some good for children suffering with cancer. We tell her what ever she does she will be good at, she is a very smart, hardworking and accomplished young lady who has a heart of gold and wants the best for everyone! She was awarded the "National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine Award"based on in their words " Your Exemplary Academic record, leadership potential" and was invited to attend the Forum on Medicine out of State this Summer. What an honor but unfortunately the costs are so much over $4,000 to attend that she will not be able to go but as we told her what a great honor to be nominated. She is going to Senior Prom this Saturday ( I will post pics later) so we have been getting ready for that as well.....I can not believe Chelsea will be a Junior in Fall in High School and 17 years old, she only has 2 more years of High School left. Time goes by so fast :(

Austin started baseball and he is loving it! He is my true boy- loving ALL SPORTS! He is getting excited for the NFL Football Drafts coming up..if you can believe this kid will sit for hours and hours and watch all of it. He is such a knowledge for professional and college sports- he can tell you the athletes name, what college he is from, his stats, date of birth, position he plays and background. We often joke that if he doesn't play a sport when he is older a sports commentator would be his next dream job- although he wants to be a dentist like his Dad wanted to be when he was young. He has been enjoying spending time again with his Dad. With Eric feeling better these days he has been able to not play the sports again with Austin like he used to be at least he has been able to enjoy watching Austin play - that has been so nice! He as well achieved a 4.0 again and loves competition, he has an unbelievable knack for math his favorite subject. We have been told since he was in 1st grade that he is a natural at math- where he gets that from I have no idea!!

Eric has been doing good. He was so excited last week he was able to go visit all his law enforcements work buddies and co-workers. He meant to just go in for a quick Hi and lunch with a few of them and ended up being there over 4 hours!! He over did it and was extremely tired but he loved being back around all his fellow law enforcements buddies, getting lots of hugs. He came home telling me how much he misses it and how he can't wait to get back to work and be around all of them again! It does my heart good to see him so happy from seeing them and doing good... I have to admit though I am very worried about him over doing it and rushing so soon to get back to work. The doctors tell him that bone marrow transplant patients usually don't go back to work until about 2-3 years after their transplants but Eric has always been a hard and dedicated worker who is determined to make it back alot sooner by the year mark! He already is trying to plant ideas in his doctors heads about returning to work and that he would be fine but as the doctors told him " It's all a fine line and balance, your body has been through so much and we need to let it recover back to normal the safest way possible and right now that is germ free and on the anti-rejection drugs and immune suppressed drugs". Eric blood counts/ CBC are good this week although he did dip lower in most of them then we had hoped but the doctor tells us to not worry and we will just watch and see what they are this week. His white cells went down to 3.0 and his red cells 3.19 with his hemoglobin at 11.5 and his platelets dropped to 91- dang it! We were hoping he would for the first time in years hit over 100 on his platelets but we will shoot for next week I guess. All in all we are doing pretty good and are so grateful to the Lord for our continued blessings. Not a second of the day goes by that we do thank the Lord for Eric's donor and all our blessings. We can't wait to meet him and thank him in person as the letters we write to him are not enough!

If you can believe it or not we already are preparing to fly back in June on the 1st to Texas to meet with Eric's bone marrow transplant doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center and all his follow up tests and appt's.....we just booked our flights,hotel,etc. I was telling Eric how nice it will be when we don't have to spend the money and time to fly out every three months for a few days of hospital and doctor appt's and we can actually book trips as a family instead for fun! Although we are grateful to his doctors in Texas and realize what a blessing it is to be on this side of things now. Our journey is still continuing but a few less bumpy rides right now so we are enjoying the slow down. We are so grateful and recognize it as the gift it is meant to be!!

Doing Good!

Well since we received the good news on Eric's bone marrow biopsies and tests from Texas we have had some good steps forward. Eric's home health nurses do not come now anymore, we just go into the doctors weekly every Friday. That is good.. we miss all his sweet nurses though that became like part of our family while caring for Eric- they did a great job and we are so grateful to them!! Eric's blood counts and level this week look good, they are all still in the critical low abnormal level but doing ok. His white cells are at 3.8 and his red blood cells are doing very well at 4.29, his Hemoglobin at 14.4 and his platelets for the first time in 8 years they are at 99 today!! Can you believe that he has not been this high for 8 years at least- how amazing!! Normal is 140,000 to 450,000 so still way off and low but the best he has been in 8 years so we will take it!!

We are so grateful to the Lord for all our blessings and we recognize his hands in our lives. We have been given so many blessings and miracles that we are so grateful for. We are so grateful for his donor whom without his unconditional love and donating Eric his bone marrow - Eric would not be alive today! As we are coming up on Conference weekend and we remember Christ's Resurrection and the Atonement I am overwhelmed with emotions. I feel a deep appreciation and love for Christ and all he went through for us. Watching Eric come to deaths door and slowly climb out of deaths grips back to life brought such an amazing love and appreciation for Christ and his Resurrection. So many scriptures remind us of all he has done for us and what we must do to live with him again. " I am the resurrection, and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John 11:25-26

I feel like this is Eric's new beginning, like his rebirth from his bone marrow transplant... a new fresh start, a new life free hopefully of all cancer and a rebirth to a new chapter in our lives. I love spring time I always have. The beautiful new bloom on the spring flowers, that come up out of the cold wintery left soil blooming with new life- beautiful colors of hope,new beginnings and new start. I am excited for the spring and the season to change cause with that comes new hope and experiences that we have learned to cherish so much in life! Eric has taught me so much but one of the most precious things I have learned from him is courage and perseverance, to NEVER GIVE UP! He has always shown that but through out his bone marrow transplant he has been a true example of that to me and my children. As Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin quoted " Never Give Up! Perseverance is a positive, active characteristic. It is not idly hoping for some good thing to happen.... It gives us hope by helping us realize that the righteous suffer no failure except in giving up and no longer trying." Eric did this- he did not give up on living, he fought for every breathe he takes and to be alive. For that and him I am grateful... so grateful. We are so grateful and will cherish every second we have forever!!