This is Carmen at a camp for kids with brain tumors at Camp Arroyo in October. She is wearing her favorite pink jacket, and doing a puzzle, one of her favorite things to do.
This is our schedule:
Thursday, February 26 from 4-6 P.M. there will be a public viewing at Higgins Funeral Home located at 1310 A Street, Antioch, CA.
Saturday, February 28 we will have a memorial service at 6:30 P.M. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at 2350 Jeffery Way, Brentwood, CA.
Thursday, March 5 we will have an ice cream social celebrating Carmen's life. It will be held from 6-8 P.M. at Knightsen Elementary School, 1923 Delta Rd., Knightsen. For more information or to rsvp to this event please email caringforcarmen@comcast.net.
We are inviting everyone that would like to attend any of these services to please come. Thank you so much for all you have done for us.

Hi, this is Reed (Carmen's dad). Yes, I was at the golf tournament as well. This was one of our more "up" moments. Just a few days after this picture was taken (about 5 months ago), we would receive the news that Carmen's cancer had returned.

Today, the day after Carmen's passing, was spent quietly at home with our family. We enjoyed one another's company and began to make some preliminary arrangements for services. (We are tentatively planning on Fri/Sat 2/27 and 2/28 and will publish the details once everything gets finalized.)

We are so thankful for your prayers and heartfelt sentiments. There is a beautiful feeling of peace and well-being in our home that you all have contributed so much to. We have no doubt that God is watching over us, and we feel His love, and yours.

We look forward to visiting with many of you over the next several weeks (and beyond). We feel that we are now ready to begin receiving some brief visits here at home. Please note that we will be out and about for much of the time over the next several days, so catching us at home will be hit-and-miss. Please be patient with us and we will all work together to get closure as we mourn together and come to understand how these events can lead to greater happiness for all of us.

God bless you all. We love you.

This is Carmen and me at a golf tournament in honor of her about five months ago.
Carmen passed away at about 10:20 on Wednesday night. She fought it tooth and nail, but her little body could not handle the fight any longer. I am very proud of her. She has taught me a lot. As I have said earlier, Reed and I are blessed to be her parents. We know we will see her again, and that she will be helping us through this life. We would like to spend Thursday privately, so if you happen to call or stop by we will have someone else here that can help you. I will write again this week to let you know more about her memorial service. We are so grateful to all of you, old friends and new. The simple cards and thoughts to the dinners and gifts and house cleaning and hauling away of my junk, have helped us so much. I hope I can help someone in the ways you all have helped me. I am honored to be all of your friends.

This is Carmen and her crazy brother James. This is in March of 2008. Carmen was still undergoing chemotherapy at the time.
This has been a hard week. My girl is slowly drifting away from me, and I feel like I am not giving my boys the time with me they need. Carmen never made it downstairs again. Now if I shift her body even a little bit, it puts her in major pain. She can't see much of anything, and for her to hear you, you almost have to yell. She no longer does stickers or anything else. It is hard for me to leave her side, because she says maybe four sentences a day and I want to be there to hear them. She is not eating and drinks very little. The good things are, that she is peaceful and does not seemed bothered by her limitations at all, and she is happy as long as I am in her room with her. Even though all this has happened in a very short amount of time, Reed and I still feel the peace that comes through the Spirit. Thank you for your continuous prayers. I know Carmen is being watched over by angels, and they will help her through her days ahead. I also know that Carmen is very special and being called Home at her young age for a special purpose. Our roles will soon be reversed and she will be the one guiding me and helping me make good decisions, so that I can see her and be with her again. I love her very much, and miss her conversation and her smiles already.
As I said earlier, one of the hardest things about this for me is that I feel like I cannot give my boys the attention they deserve, so thank you to all of you that have spent time with them. I know I would be a mess if it weren't for all of you. All of the dinners have been delicious. Thank you to all of you that have come and made Carmen feel special too. Visitors are still welcome.

This is Carmen about two years ago.
I just wanted you all to know that I am really touched by how many people want to help us. We appreciate all the visits, meals, cards, stickers, presents, packages, donations, etc. Carmen has been keeping to her bed yesterday and today and is sleeping most of the time. She did perk up for a couple of hours tonight, and guess what she asked to do? Yes, she wanted me to read to her while she did stickers. And guess what she ate? A couple of Doritos and drank some chocolate milk. I want you all to know you are always welcome. We love having you and Carmen says she's coming back downstairs tomorrow.

This is Carmen and her good friend Jessee, and one of Carmen's American Girl Dolls, Samantha. This was a day last week when Carmen wasn't feeling so good.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Because of them Carmen was able to talk more, joke around, and read to herself again! We are so grateful for this good week. You have no idea how fun it was to have a conversation again with my little girl. We have enjoyed all of your visits so much. Carmen just told me yesterday how much she enjoys all the different people that stop by and visit with us. Carmen is enjoying her great aunts visiting and her second cousin. Last week she really enjoyed her cousins visit from Washington. She still enjoys stickers so thank you so much for all the stickers that have been given to us. Thank you for the gifts and the dinners. They have been wonderful. Thank you for the bracelets. I love them. We have a website that you can log into to sign up for dinners, and if I need more help I may start using it for other things also. It is http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/611394/. I am not sure how this exactly works, my friend set it up for me. If you have trouble signing in contact my friend Heidi at: hkballer@hkballer.com. We continue to be grateful for everyday that we have, and can feel the support of all of your prayers.
James is sooo cute and intelligent. That's Carmen's brother, and he wanted me to tell you all that.

This is another day Carmen was all smiles. This is after she got baptized and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was a very special day.
This week Carmen started off feeling pretty good, but by the time Tuesday rolled around she was feeling lousy and only ate two bites of food. She was, however, given some money to spend at Michaels (thank you) and was so excited to go and get some things that she did not get the day before when I took her. She also wanted to buy something for her brothers. We were quite the sight trying to wheel her chair around and carry all of her purchases. This trip was very hard on her, and I thought that may be the last time she wants to go out. She informed me today, though, that she would like to go there again tomorrow and replace some stickers that I misplaced of hers. We'll see if she can make it. Wednesday was a lot like Tuesday and she only ate two bites again. I was worried, but Thursday she perked up and was able to eat and not throw up as much. She has trouble seeing now, so I read to her. She can still color, which she enjoys, and she can put stickers in a journal, which she also enjoys. Her pain gets a little worse everyday, but we are able to manage it so far ourselves. She has enjoyed all of your visits and gifts. Thank you so much. She does not like to talk usually, but she enjoys seeing all the people that love her, and she usually enjoys listening to us talk. We all have enjoyed your meals. Thank you for those. Everybody is doing so much for us. We are overwhelmed with love and appreciation for all of you. Thank you. Thank you again for your prayers.