Good Monday morning!!  How was your weekend?  I did a whole lot of nothing on Saturday and rested. On Sunday,  Mike and I had the pleasure of attending Western Avenue Baptist Church in Brawley with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law Mark and Tina.  The congregation (who by the way were so warm and welcoming) of this church faithfully prayed for me for the last two years that I was fighting cancer.  It was so nice to be able to meet a lot of the kind people who prayed for me and to be able to give them an update on me and to thank them very much.  It would be great if I could go to every single church across the USA that prayed for me and personally thank them.  It is my hope that everyone knows how very much I appreciated their prayers not only for me but for my family too.   It was great seeing you Mark and Tina!! 

I am starting to feel a little better.  My throat feels better at least.  I hope this doesn't turn into a  head cold.  I don't think they want me sick when I start my shots this week.  Thank you for praying for me to get better.  Besides going to church yesterday I have done nothing but rest and drink a ton of water!

Tyler can roll onto his tummy now!  He is starting to reach for toys now too.  He is getting so big.  Here is a picture of me and my sweet grandbaby.  I realized that I was taking pictures of Tyler with everyone but me.  So Jenna took a lot of pics of us recently.   Isn't he a cutie?

I want to wish my niece Audrey a very "Happy Birthday" today!!  Have a fun day and eat lots of cake!!

Have a marvelous day everyone!!  Today is another gift from God and He is so Good!!  Thank you God for prayer warriors!

What is your favorite board game to play???  The last one you played??

Good Saturday morning!! How is everyone this weekend??   Here is a picture of Jessica, Randi and I in some of our Mardi Gras stuff.  I look like a big owl!  :)  The kids all loved it when we went out in the morning and greeted them.  The kids were all dressed up too with their beads and masks and green and purple shirts.  It was a fun day!

Today I am not having much fun.  Had a whole weekend of stuff planned to do and here I am SICK...SICK...SICK!!  I have the worst sore throat, I now have no voice and I feel generally yucky.  So now the plan is to stay home and stay down so I can get better before I go up to Hoag Hospital next week. If you could pray that I start feeling better quickly would be great. Mike has the weekend off too so he will make sure that I behave.  Please keep my little Tyler in your prayers too.  He has a yucky cold too.

I won't be blogging tomorrow but I want to wish a friend of mine's son Ethan Cosio a very "Happy Birthday!!" tomorrow!!  He is one years old.  That sure went by really fast Gina!  Also Happy Birthday Jayson Gundy!!

Have a super day and weekend everyone!! What are your plans?  Have fun!!  Today is another gift from God and He is so Good!!  Thank you God for medicines that help us feel better. 

Would you rather be an excellent cooking chef or an excellent pastry chef and baker??  I really like both.  It would be fun to master both of those skills.

Good morning!!  Yahoo!!!  It is Friday!  I am ready for the weekend!  I have a very sore throat now. It kept me awake most of the night.  Bummer.  It has been going around and I knew it was just a matter of time before I caught the bug too.  Hopefully it won't get me down too much.

 I want you all to know that the power of prayer is awesome!  Last night while I was praying for others I felt this incredible peace about the vaccine that is coming up. I have peace about the whole procedure.   I know it is all of you that are praying for me.  I can't describe it......I just know that yes.....God is holding my hand and that He will see me through this too.  Every single comment, e-mail and phone call I got yesterday was so uplifting and exactly what I needed to hear.  So please know that I really appreciate you all taking the time to encourage and pray for me.    Also I want you to know that I AM VERY GRATEFUL that this vaccine exsists and that I have the opportunity to receive it.  We are praying all the time that it works for me.  It is hard to believe but my whole attitude has changed in 24 hours.

H.O.P.E. is coming along.  Still trying to get all of our ducks in a row with it.  We are waiting on some things to happen before we get started.  Your continuous prayers for this project/dream of ours is so appreciated!  I will keep you all updated on it frequently.

Ryan's grandma passed away yesterday around 4:00 in the afternoon.  Could you keep the whole family in your prayers for comfort at this time.  I want you to know that she did live a good long life.  She is now at home in heaven with our precious Lord.

Hey mom.....this picture of Tyler is for you.  I want you to see that he is on his side trying to roll over now.  (For those of you that don't know, my parents live in Indiana and they want to see pics of Tyler everyday.  I am only too happy to oblige them!)

Have a fantabulous Friday everyone!!  Today is another gift from God and He is so Good!!  Thank you God for encouragement!

Being in the Olympic spirit.......what sport would you compete in if you were participating in the winter olympics???

Good morning!!  I am all set up with a schedule now for starting my melanoma vaccine at Hoag hospital.  I will be receiving my first shot on Wednesday February 24th.  They will be doing skin tests at the same time so unfortunately I have to go right back up on February 26th just to have them look at my arm and read the test.  I asked if there was any way I could have a Dr. here look at it and give them the results but they said that their strict protocal with this vaccine won't allow it.  From the looks of the schedule I will be going once a week till the end of March and then like once a month through August.  About 14 trips total. 

So to be honest here..... while it is very exciting to be on the forefront of this break through vaccine I am dreading all of it.  The staff up there are all awesome.  I can't quite put my finger on it but there is no excitement from me at all.  Maybe once I get started and I realize that I am not going to be sick like I was with the chemo I will be okay.  I guess it is just the unknown that is getting me.  Plus needles are no fun.  (and my last time up there was terrible)

I can't thank you all enough for your prayers for me and my family.  Your continued love, encouragement and support have been tremendous!

I had bloodwork done again on Tuesday and I got the results.  My numbers have not budged since I had the test done 5 weeks ago.  Not even a little bit.  Wow......I guess it does take a LONG time to heal from chemo.  I thank God daily that I have been so healthy and energetic.  I can't imagine how I will feel when my levels are back to normal!  :) 

I would like to wish my friend Jessica Coyne a very "Happy Birthday" today!  It was so good seeing you the other day Jess!  Have a fun day today!!!

So happy to be able to visit with you last night Mick and Peg!  Peggy......you look so good.  Glad you are feeling better and that your recovery is going well.

Another prayer request from me.......my son-in-law Ryan's Grandma Doris is going to die anytime now.  If you could pray for comfort for the family and for peace.

I just had to share with you all the Valentine that Tyler made for me with his babysitter Sylvia.  Isn't it so cute?  It melted my heart.  What a treasure!

Have a great day everyone!  Today is another gift from God and He is so Good!  Thank you God for providing for all our needs.

Any prayer requests???  leslie@mgilbert.net

Good morning!!  So happy that the blog site is back up and running again!  How was everyone's  weekend?  I had a wonderful weekend.......it just flew by too fast!  Monday with Tyler was heaven!  He is such a good baby and I am not just saying that because I am his Nanie.  Jenna and Ryan were really blessed with a happy little guy.  I keep telling them that the next one they have will probably be a spit fire!  :)  Actually Jenna and Jeff were good babies too.  Mike and I were blessed.

Speaking of my Goobie.....while Jenna and I were out shopping Saturday I bought Tyler these sunglasses.  Here are a couple of pictures of Mr.Cool all ready to go.  By the way....could you keep Tyler in your prayers to get over a little cold he has.  Thanks.

My sister is back home from the Olympics now.  She and her hubby had an awesome time!  They were actually at the short speed skating event that Apolo Anton Ohno won the silver medal in.  At the opening ceremonies they were sitting directly behind Captain Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot who made the emergency landing successfully in the Hudson River in New York.  His wife asked Monica to take a picture of them while they were there.  She has lots of good stories to tell.

Terrie O.........Thanks for the baked Valentine's goodies!  So glad you were able to come over and visit.  Tyler loves you!

Yesterday was "Fat Tuesday" and our school was in the Mardi Gras spirit..  The kids and staff dressed in green, purple and gold, with feathers, beads and masks etc....the 5th graders even did a parade.   I took some pics and will share later this week.  We also ate tons of good food all day at work too!  It was great!

The Hoag hospital called yesterday and left a message that they are ready to get started.  Must mean they got enough cells from the plasmapheresis procedure to begin.  I got home too late yesterday to call them back.  Mike will call today and I will let you know what day I begin.  Please keep me in your prayers that this vaccine will work and that I don't get any side effects from it.  I am a little nervous.

Have a terrific day everyone!!  Today is another gift from God and He is so Good!!  Thank you God for blessing us so much each day!

Oh yeah.....one more thing.....a cousin of Mike's family, Maelle Ricker, won the gold medal last night in the women's snow boarding racing event!  She was representing Canada.  Congrats Maelle!!

Dear Aunt Edith and Evelyn.....somehow your comments from last night were erased.  We did watch last night.  Could you please tell us again how Maelle is related to us??