The Webcast of Daisy Merrick's Memorial

Daisy's Memorial from Reality on Vimeo.


Courtesy of the Merrick's site, Pray for Daisy.

Daisy Love Merrick's Memorial Information

ALL INFORMATION FROM THE PRAY FOR DAISY BLOG:

Daisy’s Memorial Info

Date: Saturday, February 23
Place: Reality Santa Barbara (At the Santa Barbara City College Sports Pavilion)
Time: 3 pm
Attire: See words below from Kate
Webcast: Daisy had many friends and supporters around the world for which we are so thankful. In order to honor these relationships we will be streaming her memorial live. Tune in at Pray For Daisy to watch it.


A few words from Kate:

Dear Friends…

Early Saturday morning we had the privilege of witnessing Daisy’s departure from earth to a place outside of time and space where her joy is complete: heaven.

Our darling girl gave us kisses at midnight, with lips dry from thirst and hot with fever.  Tiny and sweet, the words “that’s awesome” came from her tired body after letting us know she was having good dreams. She is safely home… Finally well.

I have refrained from giving details of her suffering over the last few weeks, as it was immense.  Out of respect for her dignity and loveliness we have been keeping these painful moments sacred.

Thank you for your partnership in loving our girl. Please know we are broken hearted for ourselves but so happy for Daisy, who is with Jesus in paradise able to run and eat and play with abandon. We believe that wholeheartedly, and as they say in Narnia, she is going further up! And further in!  She left the Shadowlands for a place more real in every sense.

Please join us as we celebrate the strong, kind, brave, goofy, thoughtful, amazing girl we call Daisy Love. Please wear what you feel best in; sandy feet and boardshorts, tutu and snorkel mask, or the prettiest dress in your closet. Wear black only if you must, but I’m wearing what Daisy would like most.  On her last night on earth, she requested we watch “The Hobbit” (70’s version) and dress like hobbits.  If ever there was a girl confident in her own skin, it was her.  Among her favorite ensembles are animal ears of all kinds, astronaut, flightsuit, monster, pirate, dinosaur, Indian, mermaid, bear, cowgirl, fireman and explorer.

Feel free to laugh and cry and hug. There is no single way to grieve. And while we miss her on earth, we will pick up where we left off when I have the privilege of going to where she is, in the presence of God where there is fullness of joy.

My final request to all who read this blog: love. Love your babies, your husbands, mothers, sisters. Love each day like it’s your last. All you mamas out there, you have been entrusted with the precious gift of a human life who depends on you. Enjoy your gift. Breathe in the scent of your child’s hair, breath. Let them cook with you and make a mess of the kitchen. Play hide and seek with them, build sand castles with them, take them on picnics, read to them!  Listen to them, value and respect them, never shame them.  Your words they will carry with them their whole life and you have the power to give them wings or stunt their growth. Motherhood can be tough but it’s worth it. It can be exhausting, boring, tedious, but never for long. You blink and they’re grown. It has been my honor and privilege to love Daisy these last 8 years. I’m thankful for every minute; the joyful and the terrible alike.

“I know The Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” (Psalm 16:8-11 NLT)

Good-bye, Sweet Freckle-Faced Daisy Love...

  uploaded to YouTube by ForTheMerricks·February 16, 2013

Britt and Kate Merrick did the best of jobs in trying to prepare all who had fallen in love with
their family, all who admire their lust for life, and their willingness to go to the ends of the earth, both in desperation and in hope.  We loved the wise parents, all the more so when wisdom failed them and they put one foot in front of the other, out of necessity and faith, combined.  We loved Isaiah for hanging on to Daisy on top of camels, in the oceans and seas, and for his watchful eye and gracious heart.

And we loved Daisy, standing in perfect first position at the end of her hospital bed, shoulders back, chin up, left arm on the barre of the bed's footboard, right hand gracefully extended -- with a foley catheter bag looped over the wrist -- a perfect Degas dancer's face imprinted on her own impish one.  We loved her surfing, clinging wet and happy to her father, and hovering around the tan legs of her mom, who took more pictures and videos than she was in.  Kate and Britt took their family on that final, desperate trip to Israel, Britt gave his cells for cancer vaccines, they tried new things, and in their trying made cures for others so much more probable in the future -- immunological advances, ways to shore up the body to fight.  Daisy, Isaiah, Kate, and Britt went where Jesus walked.  Daisy, like every tourist, I imagine, tried to walk on water.

I don't know these people.

Britt is the founder of a church movement, a pastor, born into one of the greatest surfing dynasties in the world.  He still calls himself a surf board shaper. Kate is private, but what has gravitated to her is of such wonder that you know she is wonderful, herself.  Isaiah is a young man, and inasmuch as I have been trained to read pictures as well as words (ut pictura poesis), I know he is a young man of gravitas -- with as much capacity for silliness as the next kid.

I did not know Daisy.

But anyone could see the emergence of her freckles over time, not just with the Israeli and Californian suns, but with the power of the pallor that cancer brought beneath them. She was funny, bright, lucky, blessed, but I think she pitied us all, somehow, too.  Or tired of us, is more like it.  She was practically a Foundation before she'd even died, the organization upholding her family was that organized.  (I was heartened at how the Merricks and their family and friends, though, closed ranks in these final months, at how they cherished and controlled their precious privacy.  I was glad and relieved to be a proper outsider.)

Even not knowing her, even with the warnings I gave myself -- that Daisy just happened to be one of the four children with cancer that I follow and support at any given time;  that Daisy was just my happenstance -- I fell in love with her.  I will always love her.

Thank you, Kate and Britt, for sharing the journey, for the funny pictures, and the wrenching ones. Thanks even for the sermons.  Thanks for knowing science and medicine as gifts and arts from God.  Thanks for giving Daisy the freedom to have her moments of doubt.

This is what they wrote yesterday:

At 2:40am this morning our sweet Daisy went to be with Jesus. She was sleeping and in no pain.
Christ is with us as the God of all comfort. We are thankful.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Daisy believed this and so do we. More than ever.
Love,
The Merricks
(At this time funeral plans are still forthcoming. Please check back this week for more info and details.)

Britt Merrick: "When Sparrows Fall": Matthew 10:28-31

To see previous posts about Daisy Love Merrick, click HERE.  For lots of info on Daisy, her family, and background to their story, visit Pray For Daisy.

This is a 55-minute long video of a sermon delivered by Britt Merrick* at one of the network of churches he founded called "Reality." This is, I believe, his home church, in Santa Barbara.  You can learn more about Reality churches and missions HERE.  They see their growth as part of a process called "church birthing," to emphasize their own emphasis on family, as a reality and as an idea.

Reality is a family of churches. Reality Carpinteria was born on September 7, 2003. Since that time we have birthed churches in Los Angeles, Stockton, and San Francisco, CA. We also have a grandchild in London, England, that was birthed from Reality LA. Our next church will be in Boston, MA and is scheduled to start in the fall of 2012. God has called Reality to be a church planting movement.  We never sought to be this, but it has become clear that this is what God is calling us to do and be, and it is something we are passionate about.

Though planting is the common metaphor for starting new churches, we prefer to call what we do church birthing. Birthing is more labor intensive and relational than the planting metaphor suggests.

Britt is on a leave of abscence from his pastoral duties and this is a sermon that he felt called to deliver to update the community about his daughter, Daisy, Daisy Love, Daisy Love Merrick.  A very cool, brave little girl who is actively dying, trying so hard to die with grace, within the love, grace, and faith of her family, whom she knows to be around her here and waiting for her in Heaven.

The Merricks took Daisy to Israel over the summer for some treatments not available in the United States -- immunotherapy, cancer vaccines, much of which involved the transfer of cells from Britt to Daisy.  They road camels.

Daisy and her brother Isaiah

They surfed and swam.  (The Merrick family is, well, a surfing dynasty.)

Daisy surfing in Israel

Matthew 10: 28-31 reads:

28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a small coin? But not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father knowing about it already. 30 Even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 Don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

I look at this picture -- among others -- every few days, when I wonder what is happening within. and to, Daisy, Daisy Love, Daisy Love Merrick, Daughter of the Surf. Freckled Little Girl of Inspiring Imagination, and I don't pray.  I prayed for Daisy once, and that -- from all I understand
about omnipotence and stuff -- ought to have been enough.  Whenever Britt or Kate call for prayer, I bow my head, think of them and their terrible pain, of Isaiah's probably anger and confusion, and always, in that dumb bowed head, see Daisy's face, which, although I know its beauty must be greatly changed, I forever see this way:

And while no prayer comes out, I try to send them love from my heart, and I imagine holding their hands -- thin, dry, damp, sweaty, clenched in a fist, open in a stroke, seeking -- scuttling hands, worrying thumbs, wavering fingers.

*******     *******     *******     *******     *******     *******

*His biography at the Reality Santa Barbara website reads:

I am the founder of Reality and the current Pastor for Preaching and Vision. This means that I do the bulk of the preaching on Sunday mornings for all three campuses, that I guide the church doctrinally, and lead the effort to discern in community (with a plurality of elders) Christ's leading for Reality. The passionate pursuit of my life is to enjoy Jesus. I love my wife Kate, my son Isaiah and my daughter Daisy. I also love surfing, guitars, motocross and books.

::rocking::on::the::water::

Back on December 16, 2012, Daisy's Dad tweeted: "Scan results are in & apart from God's supernatural intervention Daisy’s prognosis is bleak."

Three days ago, the Pray For Daisy website blog reported:

Difficult day
Today is a difficult day for Daisy… with large tumors in her abdomen and trying to recover from two weeks of chemotherapy, her body is struggling. She is extremely fragile and weak.
[followed by an invitation to prayer and fast]
Tyler Morgan
Executive Director
The Daisy Merrick Trust

Daisy and her father Britt

Last night I dreamed about surfing, and, trust me, surfing is not in my repertoire, not even in my impressive and intrepid athletic Days of Yore.  Daisy comes from a surfing family, a surfing heritage. Her grandfather, Al Merrick, is a famed "shaper."

Professionals and amateurs alike have "paddled for Daisy" all over the world...  And so my dreams and my heart are telling me to tell you that and to show you Daisy, and other similar souls, rocking on the water.

Maui, HI
Launiupoko, Maui, HI

Honolulu, HI
Diamond head side of the Hilton Hawaiian pier

North Shore, HI
Ehukai Beach Park and paddle to Waimea Bay

Pacifica, CA
Linda Mar Beach (South side of the beach)

Santa Cruz, CA
Location: Cowells Beach
(north side of the pier in front of the Dream Inn)

Carmel Beach, CA
Bottom of 13th St at Carmel Beach

Pismo Beach, CA
South Side of the Pismo Beach Pier

Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Claus Lane Beach (southside)

Oxnard, CA
Oxnard Shores – 5th St.

South Bay, CA
EL Porto (45th St)

Huntington Beach, CA
HB Pier (South Side)

Newport Beach, CA
Newport Beach Pier (South Side)

San Clemente, CA
The San Clemente Pier

Oceanside, CA
Oceanside Pier, South Side (200 The Strand)

Encinitas, CA
Moonlight Beach

Minneapolis, MN
Lake Calhoun North Beach West Lake Street

Rockaway Beach, NY
Rockaway Beach 90th St, NY

Manasquan/ Spring Lake, NJ
Ocean Ave and Pitney Ave (by the Arches)

Virginia Beach, VA
1st street jetty

Avon, NC
Avon Pier

Surf City, NC
Kinston Street Beach Access next to the pier

Emerald Isle, NC
Bogue Inlet Pier

Wrightsville Beach, NC
Oceanic Street (Access #28)

Carolina Beach, NC
Hamlet Ave Access

North Myrtle Beach, SC
Cherry Grove Pier, 3500 North Ocean Boulevard

Myrtle Beach, SC
Myrtle Beach State Park
4401 South Kings Hwy Myrtle Beach, SC

Charleston, SC
The Washout

Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville Pier

St. Augustine, FL
FA’s at the North side of St. Augustine Pier

Ormond Beach, FL
Granada approach, A1A at Granada Bvd. (SR-40)

New Smyrna Beach, FL
Flagler Ave. Beach ramp(on the beach)

Flagler Beach, FL
South Sixth St.

Melbourne Beach, FL
Ocean Avenue (beach access)

Deerfield Beach, FL
Deerfield Beach Pier

Panama City, FL
Panama City Beach Pier

daisy surfing

Fort Worth, TX

Kuta Bali
Pantai Kuta, Jl. Pantai Kuta, Kuta 80361


All photos are property of Al Merrick, Daisy's grandfather, from his company website, Channel Islands Surfboards by Al Merrick.  I have a feeling there's no finer place to satisfy your surfing needs...



FLOW from Koastal Media on Vimeo.

"The story focuses on Channel Islands Surfboards founder and world-renowned surfboard craftsman Al Merrick and his special relationships with the team of world champion Channel Islands Team riders and arguably the two best and most influential surfers ever: Kelly Slater (6 time world champion) and Tom Curren (3 time world champion)."