E I G H T

Every year on Valentine's Day, or to our family, Transplant Day, we celebrate new life.  Eight years ago today, Nicolas gifted Emilie with a second chance of life which also means that Emilie has been in remission for eight years.
God's favor and mercy is something that I still don't understand.  What an amazing gift, orchestrated beautifully by Him so that we could continue on as a family of five.

Read about DNA and God's Plan HERE!

Read about A Hero in the Shape of a Brother HERE!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope! Romans 15:13 (Msg)

S E V E N

Seven years ago today, Nicolas gifted Emilie with a second chance of life which also means that Emilie has been in remission for seven years. Every year on Valentine's Day, or Transplant Day as we like to call it, I just want to thank God for giving us Nicolas and for extending Emilie's life.   God's favor and mercy is something that I still can not wrap my head around.  What an amazing gift, orchestrated beautifully by Him so that we could continue on as a family of five.  I reflect daily on this gift and am so, so very grateful!

Read about DNA and God's Plan HERE!

Read about A Hero in the Shape of a Brother HERE!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope! Romans 15:13 (Msg)

These Two!

One thousand, four hundred and sixty days ago, Emilie received the best gift ever...a gift that gave her a shot at life...a bag of bone marrow from Nicolas (story HERE).  Not only do they have the same cells, but they also have such a sweet relationship. We are so grateful for the love and friendship that these two share and for the grace and mercy that God continues to show us!

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.

Hebrews 13:1

17

Happy Birthday Paul!  Thank you for being a kind and funny kid.  Life is certainly an adventure with you in it.  We love you so very much!

Our Golden Girl

Happy 14th birthday Miss Emilie on this 14th day of the year 2014!!  It doesn't get more golden than that!  You are a joy and such an example of true bravery and courage!!  We love you so very much and are so grateful that you are our Golden Girl!

Thirteen

God is good...all the time!!  He has given us yet another miracle...another year to celebrate Emilie!!  Happy Birthday sweet teenage girl!!!  We love you so very much and are honored to be your parents.  Thank you for showing us what grace, kindness, compassion and love look like.  You are truly a miracle!!!!

365 Days

Today is day 365!!!  365 days ago, Emilie received a very large gift of bone marrow from Nicolas (story here).  We are so thrilled that Emilie has been doing well for the last year.  Her lab results are normal and her monthly clinic visits are now every two months.  She is working really hard at physical therapy and she is getting some return in her right leg.  She is able to walk with her "short" right leg brace and her "long" left leg brace....eliminating rehab equipment is a super good thing!!!  We are so grateful to God for Emilie's health and for the love and support from our family and friends.  Day 365 is a good day indeed!

Sushi, Preschool and Freedom

Last Monday, Emilie had a bone marrow aspirate to check for cancer as well as a chimerism test to check the percentage of Nicolas' cells, which is hopefully 100%.  Three weeks prior, they ran three tests exposing her cells to different "bugs". In order to get "off isolation", her cells had to be able to fight the "bugs" and pass 3 of 6 tests.  While waiting in pre-op, we learned that her immune system is working just like a "normal person's immune system".  She passed the first 3 tests, so she was officially off isolation.  Emilie was thrilled that she was "FINALLY FREE!!!".  Free to eat at restaurants, but not sushi.  Free to go to school, but not hang out at preschool.  Most exciting for Emilie, free to go to the mall with her friends.  We said goodbye to her mask...kind of as she will need to wear it near a construction zone (which means every time we visit the hospital).  While we were all excited and extremely grateful about the freedom report, we had 24 hours to wait until we learned about her MRD (minimum residual disease) results.  Tuesday we found out that the MRD results were negative and Emilie was cancer free!!!!  PRAISE GOD!! A huge load immediately fell off my shoulders and I felt as if I could live again.  Weird, I know, but that was my feeling at the time.  The past couple of weeks have been very hard for me and everyone in our family as we anticipated her bone marrow aspirate.  Nervous, grumpy, anxious....  I had to remind myself daily that the God who has sustained us for the last 2 years was STILL IN CONTROL. Emilie, on the other hand, didn't need reminding.  After thanking God for the good results, Emilie said she didn't know why we were so excited about her bone marrow results and that we should be more excited about her being off of isolation.  We explained that while being "free" was great in that it meant that her immune system is working well, but having no cancer in her marrow was even more important.  She responded by telling us that she wasn't worried AT ALL because she knew that the cancer was ALREADY gone.  The night before her procedure, I couldn't sleep and Emilie couldn't sleep.  I thought, great, we are in for a rough wake up to make it to the hospital by 7 a.m.  At 4:30 a.m. I went into Emilie's room to wake her up, but she was already awake.  Not just awake, but chatty and happy.  What??  Emilie is not a morning person and her "we're going to Disneyland" wake up was odd.  She knew.  She trusted.  She hoped. What a wonderful faith Emilie has...faith of a child...that she believes God for all the good things that He desires to give her.

Overwhelmed!

We are O V E R W H E L M E D!  Not by our daily life of school, therapy, sports, homework, preparing dinner, cleaning the house or grocery shopping, but overwhelmed with GRATITUDE.  Gratitude to God for His provisions, blessings, and grace.  We are also so grateful for so many wonderful people who have shown God's love to us by supporting our family.  Specifically, our gratitude for the staff, students, and families at Baymonte Christian School.  This post has been in my head since Emilie went back to school at the end of January, but it's been hard to post.  When Emilie went back to school, I felt like I was taking my firstborn to his first day of Kindergarten....nervous, anxious, and sad!  Was she going to be okay in her wheelchair?  Would her classmates shun her?   Would kids make fun of her very short hair?  I sat in my car in the school parking lot with my cell phone clenched in my hand waiting for the call....the call that signaled "Help".  No call came.  I sat in my car in the school parking lot strategically parked so that I could see Emilie during lunch in the event that she needed "Help".  No red flag was waved.  I finally dropped Emilie off at school yesterday and left the campus to run errands with my cell phone still clenched in my hand...no call came.  I came to the realization that the staff, students, and parents who supported and loved on our family during Emilie's treatment are the same staff, students, and parents who are loving on Emilie and ensuring that she is safe at school. 

Words can not adequately express the amount of gratitude that we have for everyone at Baymonte and for the love they have shown us in so many different ways.
We are thankful that our kids attend a school where the staff sincerely cares about their students and prays for their students.
We are thankful that the staff is accommodating Emilie and her needs.
We are thankful that the Student Council is selling "Emilie" bracelets to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
We are thankful that Emilie's classmates love her and help her.
We are thankful that Emilie was interviewed for a "Better Together" video by a couple of wonderfully sweet Baymonte moms.
We are thankful that "the boys" have been looked after by parents and staff.
We are thankful that the staff assisted "Nana" during our absence.
We are thankful that a Baymonte mom is running the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and has chosen Emilie as her honoree.
We are thankful that Emilie's friends "run" with her and make her feel "normal".
We are thankful that Baymonte families loved Emilie during her treatment with "happy care packages".
We are thankful that parents and staff not only ask how Emilie is doing but ask how our whole family is doing.
WE ARE GRATEFUL!!!! 

Thank you Baymonte staff, parents, and students!  We have been challenged emotionally, physically, and spiritually, but our hearts are happy due to your compassionate actions, your kind words, and your endless prayers!

Always be joyful.
Never stop praying.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

As I was sitting in my office attempting to come up with a title for this post, I heard the Erickson kids singing "Celebrate Good Times, Come On!".  Perfect title!  Many of you know we have a sign in our kitchen reading "celebrate" and that is exactly what we did last night.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner yesterday with our "crazy train" family!  The Borelli boys did a great job with the bird, pumpkin pies and almond brittle.  We even turned out the lights and opened the slider to enjoy the rain, thunder and lightening.  There's a reason we call ourselves the "crazy train".  Emilie's oncologist emailed yesterday to let us know that her cerebrospinal fluid was free from disease and that her bone marrow aspirate showed "recovering cells, all normal and expected cell types, no disease".  Such great news and a perfect reason to celebrate!  We are grateful for our family and friends who have made our journey thus far very easy and are ultimately grateful to God for giving us the strength and the courage to face each day.  I will leave you with the best photo I got today while trying to get a good Christmas card shot of the KIDS.

Where oh where could those Erickson boys be?