Good morning!  I am excitedly getting ready to go to Palm Springs.  I am so looking forward to seeing Mama Mia.  It is also nice to be traveling out of town for something fun.....not painful.  So I am going to try hard today to forget that I am dealing with cancer and have some fun.  I still have to take my oral meds until tomorrow night......but then am off of all chemo for two weeks! 

I have an announcement to make.  My sister Monica has now been named the new COO (Chief Operations Officer) for Mission Federal Credit Union in San Diego.  We are so proud of her!  She has worked really hard to get to this point.  So Congratulations Monica!!  It's time to celebrate!!

I hope you all have a great day today!  I'll let you know how it all went for me tomorrow.

Thank you Tammy Driscoll!  You are so sweet!

God is Good!!!

Good morning!  It's Friday.....Yay!!!  I was down most of the day yesterday just resting and sleeping.  Thursday's are always my hardest days since it is the day after my chemo treatment.  Hopefully today I will have more energy and feel better.  Thanks for your prayers!!

Tomorrow is a big day for me and I am ready for it.  Months ago my friends Cheryl Hargrove, Patty McDonald, Noni Cones, Olga Ortega, Margie Wiggins and Genelle Billings bought us all tickets to see the play 'Mama Mia' in Palm Springs.  My sweet friend Genelle is flying in all the way from North Carolina to be here for this and to celebrate my birthday with the girls.  I am very excited to see her and to spend a day of laughing with them.  My prayer request is for strength which is usually better by Saturday and that I don't come in contact with someone who is sick.  I will be very careful. I promise!   I loved the Mama Mia movie so I am very excited to see the play.  I LOVE plays!

Today will be another kick back day for me.  Hope you all have a fantastic Friday!

Thank you Veronica Wright for the beautiful flowers!

God is so Good!!!

I read this recently and wanted to share it with you.  Happy are those who...............................*Give love rather than demand it.  *Reach out to others rather than expect to be reached out to.  *Desire to be a friend more than to have friends.  *Express appreciation rather than expect it.  *Pray "God bless others" more than "God bless me."  *Think of others' good points, not their failings.  *Forget themselves in doing deeds that will be remembered.

Good morning!  Wow.....what a day I had yesterday.  I decided to bring donuts to the cancer center for everyone to thank them and to celebrate the good news about my test results from Monday and to celebrate "Birth Month."  Well all of the staff surprised me and got together and sang "Happy Birthday" to me.  I was touched to tears.  They are all great! 

But then it was time to get down to business and get the chemo started.  They drew blood from my port like they always do first and after reading it two times the platelets came back too low.  So they decided to draw the blood from my hand in case some how it got diluded from the port.  That test also came back too low.  Example.....Normal range low is 150,000......when on chemo they allow you to go down to 80,000 and still give the treatment.  I was at 72,000.  I was crushed because I did not want to wait another week and come back in to do the chemo.  So after talking to the Dr. and knowing this was my last treatment in this cycle they went ahead and gave me the chemo but at a lesser strength.  I was thrilled to be able to stay on schedule.  I did get stern warnings though about being extremely careful when I am out to not be around sick people.  My immune system is very low now. 

My prayer request is that I recover quickly and that the platelet levels increase fast.  Being off of the chemo for two weeks will help that a lot.  I will stay home and down for two days but Saturday kicks off some big plans that were made months ago for my birthday.  (More on that later)  I will just have to be careful.  Thanks for lifting me up in prayer!

Thank you to Vicki Rush for the fun birthday surprise that I got in the mail yesterday.  You know that will be put to good use!  So sweet of you to do!

Thank you Kelsey Jernegan for my sweet card.  (She is one of my kinder students)

Terrie O. Yes I am loving the books.  I already read one and have started another.  Definitely want to read more of his books.

Happy Birthday Elena Westmoreland!!  Hope you have a super fun day!

Guess what?????  Only one more week until my birthday!!!!   Yay!!!  Can you tell I am excited???

Have a great day today and have some fun!!  God is in control and He is so Good!!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.....Romans 15:13

UPDATE: We are home now.  Things didn't go as smooth as expected.  When they tested Leslie's blood this morning her platelet count was extremely low.  They weren't sure if they were going to go ahead with the treatment or not.  Leslie was stressing because she did not want to come back next week to do her treatment.  After much debate (and Leslie and I praying like crazy) they decided to go ahead and do the treatment but warned her that her immune system is very low and to stay away from anyone who could possibly have a cold.  She got through the treatment fine and is resting right now.  Thank you for your prayers and continue to pray that my wife does not get sick.  God is good!

Good morning!!  It is chemo morning.  My appointment is at 8:30.  This is the last one for two weeks and I am so happy about that!  I still have to take my oral chemo pills until Sunday night but then I will have NOTHING for two weeks!  YAY!!  So be ready to "Happy Dance" again on Sunday night.  Mike will of course come back on here later and give you an update on how it all went.  We are still praising God and giving Him all the glory here for great results.  I am thanking Him for the yucky chemo drugs even because I know that is what is going to make me better.  Please keep me in your prayers this morning that the treatment goes by quickly  and that everything goes smooth.

Thank you Kathy Seeger for bringing out the delicious cake (really good) and the very cute "Happy Dancing" bunny!  Makes me laugh everytime I see it.

Thanks also to my mother-in-law Jodi for bringing over the corned beef and cabbage dinner.  That was so good!  And for taking Lola out for me.

Thanks to my brother-in-law Bryan for the home made soup.  I love it everytime!

Thanks to Yolanda Smith for the beautiful flowers you sent yesterday!  Wow.....that was a nice surprise!  They are beautiful!

Have a great day today everyone and remember how Good God is!

          HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

Good morning everyone!!  There is so much for me to say today I don't know where to start.  I am still "Happy Dancing" and praising God this morning over the news yesterday.  The first appointment was with the Neurosurgeon for the brain scan.  He said things looked great.  There are no new tumors, more of the old tumors are gone and the few tumors that I have left are shrinking and dying.  Yay!!!  We left there so relieved but still knew we had to face my oncologist with his report.  When he came into the room and said that my PET scan looked good and was clear I was beyond excited.  I was doing a little happy dance for him while sitting on the exam table.  WHAT A RELIEF!!  While I still have to do the chemo through July, we at least know it is working and doing it's job killing the cancer cells. To quote my Dr. he said "Leslie....you are one hell of a fighter!"  He is such an encouragement to me.  He is always telling me about success stories.  Just a wonderful, compassionate man.  I haven't grown a new tumor in almost 4 months....Praise the Lord!

Thank you so much for your constant prayers!!!  I so appreciate that more then you know!  God's blessings continue to pour down to me and I am thankful.  I will have a big smile on my face all day today!

Today is the anniversary of the very first date that Mike and I went on.  Yep.....28 years ago Mike took me out on St. Patrick's day to dinner and a movie. The rest is history!   So this has always been a special day for us.

What is everyone doing today?  Are you wearing your green?  I am!  Hey Waggoner staff.....whats going on there today?

Have a super fun "GREEN" day today!  God is so Good!!!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.........