We are the Camarena's

 Hi and Salutations! 

Welcome, we hope you sit down and come along for the journey with us. We are the Camarena's! I'm Nicole (the mom and wife), and then there is Josh (the dad and husband). Together we have three beautiful children. Kailey who is our oldest, she is 14 years old soon to be 15, then our middle daughter Mia who just turned 10, and then our youngest, Maverick who is 4 years old. 

I wanted to write this because I felt like if people knew more about who we are they would be more likely to engage with us a little more on social media. So without further ado. This is us... 

We are a family from the Bay Area, California. We recently moved to Utah. Which was a good and bad decision we made. We found out that we absolutely love the winters here and love the snow. Utah is beautiful and all but it is absolutely NOT for us. We are here for now until we have other plans. 

Along with our three beautiful children, we have 4 gatos (cats); Hank, Bella, Dink, and Casper. We also have 1 doggy. Her name is Pheonix. You can say we have some mouths to feed! HAHA And it is not CHEAP! 

We love the outdoors, and we enjoy hiking as a family, and spending time cooking & eating! We love a good adventure! 

My husband is a plumber by trade, however, both of us just went back to school for medical billing and coding. I recently graduated with my CCA certification and will soon take my CCS exam as well. I have been a stay-at-home mom for a while now, however, my husband had to leave his position with the plumbers union due to our daughter Kailey's health needs becoming more dire. I was no longer able to take care of her as well as two other children at the same time. I needed help. 

Let's circle back around, our daughter Kailey is severely autistic and non-verbal. Which is hard enough to deal with but as she grew up her needs became increasingly harder. Kailey, when she started to go through puberty developed seizures. Devastatingly, horrible seizures. The first seizure she ever had was at her school. They called me and said Mrs. Camarena we need to meet you at Drs. Hospital right away, Kailey had a seizure. What they didn't tell me was that she was seizing the entire time I was making my way to the hospital. She seized for over an hour. Had several loading doses of Keppra and Atavan. Nothing was stopping them. She remained unconscious for several hours. When she woke up I couldn't believe that she was alive. We spent the next few weeks trying to get to the bottom of what these seizures were. Many things that happened in the days to come. I didn't know what to do. It to date has been the hardest. Watching someone who has seizures is just the absolute most frightening thing. So now on top of the autism and the non-verbalness. We tack on epilepsy which is so damn unfair if you ask me. 

So a little back story. My husband and I received a knock at the door one summer evening. We answered and it was a social worker. She came to talk to us because Joshes, sister ended up having her daughters taken from her by CPS. They were placed in temporary foster care until they could find family. His sister had mentioned that she had two brothers. They went and spoke with his brother first and he had to decline. Then they came and talked to us. The social worker explained to us that if we didn't the girls had a very good chance that they would get split up. There was a family that already wanted Mia and Kailey would likely stay in foster care due to her disabilities and her self-destructive behavior. 

Josh and I had no idea what to expect from either one of these baby girls, but I knew I couldn't let them be split up! I had no idea how to care for a child let alone a child with autism. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening? Over the course of several months, the girls transitioned into our home. I saw things from this sweet innocent child I had never seen a child do before. She was malnourished and hoarded food all over my house, they came with very few clothes, very dirty, and lots of bruises all over their bodies. I couldn't believe what was before me. They looked like little feral animals, their hair was messy, and dirty, no manners, and very animal-like tendencies. Before you judge me for this statement, this is the best I know how to describe the situation that these girls were in.  

The first night with them in our home in their brand new bedrooms. Neither one of them knew what to do with themselves. Mia wanted to sleep in the closet and Kailey wanted to sleep on the floor. Mia was in a crib still. Kailey was in a twin-size bed. We had decorated their room so cutely with girly things. Warm comfy blankets they could keep, love, and snuggle with for as long as they wished. I swooped up Mia and showed her that this is where we sleep. I covered her up. I then went to very scared Kailey grabbed her hand and walked her over to her bed. I put her in her bed and put the blanket over her and snuggled her in. Josh laid on the floor next to Mia... as she reached out her hand to him. She wrapped her little hand around his pointer finger and hasn't let go since. They are now inseparable. I laid on the floor right next to Kailey's bed and I rubbed her arm. She off and on cried for several hours while she pulled her own hair and hit herself in the face. It absolutely broke my heart. Kailey knew very few words in sign language but she knew how to say "sorry". She would cry and say she was sorry. I would continue to reassure her that there was nothing for her to be sorry about. She's safe and we just want to take care of you. It was the longest night of my entire adult life. But, it was the most rewarding. These kiddos are the air I breathe. They are the absolute best thing in the whole wide world. 

Through our social media, the one thing we strive for is to bring awareness of autism and epilepsy. There are several levels of autism and Kailey is severely autistic. She is non-verbal but does use sign language. Her seizures are severe and have made the autism ten times worse. 

Our entire family is a team. We work together so that we can give Kailey the best life possible. Mia and Maverick are two of the best sisters and brothers. She absolutely loves being with both of them. 

As for Mia and Maverick. These two characters are just the absolute light of our lives. They both are incredibly smart and have the best personalities and happy hearts. 

If you have made it this far, I know you are one of the good ones. Thank you for reading and getting to know us. There will be more to come I promise. Until then, Ciao Bella!