Good Saturday morning!!  Yesterday was a fun and relaxing day for me.  I didn't have to take care of anything medical yesterday and it was a welcomed break.  Tyler and I just hung out and played and played.  My friend Susan Beach opens up her home a couple of times a month, sets up lots of tables, and anyone that wants to, can take their stuff and do scrapbooking.  So after Tyler was picked up, off I went.  I love to scrapbook pictures and it is wonderful to devote a whole evening to doing that.  Very relaxing to me.  The girls that show up are awesome to talk to and get ideas from.  If you are a scrapbooker and ever want to go let me know.  To have a day like I did yesterday....relaxed....was an answer to prayers.  Thank you and for your continued faithful prayers for not only me but for my family too.  Oh yeah.....Mike also stopped by while I was at Susan's and surprised me with flowers!  He is the sweetest and I love him with my whole heart and soul.  He wanted me to have a really great day.

A lot of people have been asking me what my son Jeff's plans are now that he has graduated from college.  Believe it or not Jeff has dreamed of going back to Japan to teach english for a year.  He loves it in Japan and is already learning the language.  The application process to do this starts in September and it is a 9 month long application. So he isn't looking to be going until probably next summer.  In the meantime he will keep working and saving his money until he goes.  When he gets back to the United States he will then get into a law enforcement career.

It will be so hard for me to see him move that far away but I know that this is the perfect time for him to go.  He is done with school, not married, no kids, and hasn't started his career yet.  We told him you will probably not get a chance like this again and you are young, so do it!  I told him that he had to skype his momma all the time though and if any major earthquakes etc....happened who was the first person to call?  You got that right....ME.  All of the earthquakes and radiation doesn't bother him a bit.  He just told us that maybe he could help them rebuild etc...  Jeff has and always will have a servants heart.  I am very excited for him.  Please keep Jeff in your prayers that God will lead him in the right direction with this and that he ends up in a great place in Japan and that he stays safe.

Here is a picture of Tyler falling asleep with his new favorite toy.....a guitar.  Our little angel. 

"Happy Birthday" today to my Mother-in-law Jodi!!!  Also "Happy Birthday" tomorrow to my brother Donald!!!  Woohoo......have a very fun weekend of celebrating you two!!  Love you both!!

Prayer requests:  Please continue to keep my brother-in-law Gregg in your prayers for healing from his eye surgery and also for our friend Roger Irving as he heals from his surgery too. Pray that they were both very successful.  Pray for our Uncle Herb as he goes to a neurosurgeon soon to see what they will be doing to fix the herniated disc in his back.

Psalms 66 verse 8:  Let everyone bless God and sing his praises, for he holds our lives in his hands.  And he holds our feet to the path. 

Read the bible in a year:  Today......Psalms 66 - 69.  Sunday......Psalms 70 - 73.  Monday.....Psalms 74 - 77.

Have a super great weekend everyone!  I will see you back here on Monday! Today is another precious gift from God and He is so Good!

Question: What is everyone up to this last June weekend??

One day at a time......

Good Friday morning!!  I have my sidekick with me again today!  I am ready for another day of fun and laughs with him.  He is so precious to this Nani!  God's timing with Tyler being in my life was so perfect!

Mike and I had an interesting morning yesterday.  We were on our way up to San Diego to go to the class for the new drug treatments that I will be taking.  We were just about to Alpine when my nurse Tressa called and said that we did not have to come all the way up there, that she could do the class with us by phone.  Since we had another hour to get there (Encinitas) we decided to just drive to El Cajon, ran an errand, grabbed a drink and headed back home.  It was frustrating at first because it just seemed like a wasted trip, but God must of known that Mike and I needed to get out and have a nice long drive and just chill together.

Once we got home Tressa called and we took care of everything by phone.  I will have the Gamma Knife treatment done first.  Once that is done I will then call Dr. McClay's office and schedule a day to get my treatments started.  Please keep in your prayers that the insurance company will cover this treatment.  Both this Yervoy treatment and the gamma knife procedure are very expensive.  I know now what is going to happen and all of the blood work that is required.  I am going to try to get through this without getting a new port.  Please pray that I am successful in this and that my veins will hold up.  Pray that my body will tolerate these treatments and that I won't get the nasty side effects.  Tressa was so positive and encouraging about these treatments and their success.  She is a God send to me.

My daughter Jenna is my researcher.  She is always great about that.  No matter what it is, she researches it for me and tells me what I need to know.  My whole family has been a rock and are already taking good care of me.  I am so thankful for all of them.

Thank you again for the tremendous outpouring of love and prayers.  I want you to know that each and every word that has been said/written to me came at the most perfect time.  God knows exactly what I need at the time I need it and He is using all of you for that. My spirits are lifted!  I am still focused on the direction I feel that God is leading me and I won't let this major bump in the road deter it.  God is in control.  More on that at a later time.

Here is a picture of Ryan and Tyler in Tyler's little pool on Father's Day.  So cute!

Prayer requests: Please pray for a co-worker of Mike's, whose son was in a serious motorcycle accident with lots of injuries.  Pray that all of his future surgeries go smoothly and for his recovery.  Also for a friend's Dad who has had some serious health issues lately.  Pray that the medical staff will get everything under control and that he will be doing better soon.  Eye surgery went well for my Bro-in-law Gregg.  He is in some pain.  He had the corrective eye sight surgery done.

Hebrews 4 verse 16:  So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need.

Read the bible in a year:  Today.......Psalms 58 - 65.  Saturday.......Psalms  66 - 69.

Have a fantabulous day everyone!!  Today is another gift from God and He is so Good!!

Question:  How hot is it where you live?  Very hot here.  Over 110 yesterday.

Good Thursday morning!  Thank you everyone for being a part of my life.  I am so very touched by all of your sweet, sweet, kind and very funny words.  I am already seeing the mighty hand of God working through all of this.  I cannot help but be strengthened and encouraged by you.  Don't you see that God is using all of you to help me through this?  We are a team and I am incredibly blessed by all of the prayers that are going up on my behalf.  God is definitely holding us up in the palm of His hand, because there are moments in the day where Mike and I just can't hold ourselves up.  Thank you for praying for my family too.  It is hard for me to see them go through this again.  I had Tyler with me yesterday which of course gives me incredible joy and lots of smiles.

I received the call from my neurosurgeon, Dr. Ott yesterday morning with the news that I did indeed have 5 new brain tumors.  That was the bad news.  The good news is that they can treat them all with the Gamma Knife procedure.  While I dread going through that again it is better then going through brain surgery.  Dr Ott told me that the Gamma Knife Center will call me soon and arrange to set a date to have it done.  Probably in 2 or 3 weeks.  I have to check with Dr. McClay first to see if that is okay.

Mike and I are headed up to San Diego to see Dr. McClay again today.  We will know more from him about the final report and also will be attending a class to inform us of what is going to happen when I start treatments.  Please pray for us strength to get through today too.

On a much, much happier note.....I wanted to update you all on my sweet Taylor Aguilera and the money she raised by making and selling her beaded bracelets for cancer research.  Her goal was to reach $500.00.  She not only met that goal but it looks like she will triple it!!  Yay!!  So happy for her and all the work she and her family did in making them!  Love you Taylor!!

I have two Father's Day pictures to share.  This one is of Jenna and Mike in Tyler's hippo pool.

This one is of Jeff and Mike sticking their heads out of the sunroof of Mike's car.  I wanted to get funny creative with their pics this year.

Terrie O......Thank you so much for yesterday.  Still laughing. Thanks for everything!  Got my red boxing glove with me.

Prayer requests:  For my bro-in-law Gregg who is having eye surgery today.  Pray everything goes well.  For our friend Roger Irving for a speedy recovery from his surgery yesterday and that it worked and he will be fully healed quickly.  Attention to everyone.......just because I am going through this does not mean that you don't have to tell me or feel like you are burdening me with prayer requests.  I will pray!!  I WANT to pray for you!!  If you have a request e-mail me at leslie@mgilbert.net

Ephesians 3 verse 17:  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.

Read the bible in a year:  Today...Psalms 51 - 57.  Friday....Psalms 58 - 65.

Have a super day everyone!  Today is another precious gift from God and He is so Good!

2 Corinthians 12 verse 9a: But I am with you; that is all you need.  My power shows up best in weak people."

Good Wednesday morning!!  Wow!!  Thank you all so very much for the sweet and encouraging comments, e-mails, texts and phone calls.  I truly do feel the love!  It is because of all of you that I will be able to get through this again.  Your prayers, strength, support and encouragement are a treasure to me and my family.  I will put on my boxing gloves and go another round because I know you all have your boxing gloves on too.  It is not just me fighting but I feel like you are all right there by my side fighting this too.

To hear the reports yesterday was very hard.  I was very teary eyed while talking to Dr. McClay, my oncologist.  He has a great plan for me.  I will be doing treatments again but not exactly chemo.  It is a type of immunological treatment by IV.  I will start in about 3 weeks pending insurance approval.  It is very expensive so I am praying that it goes through okay.  The drug is called Yervoy.  It is no walk in the park to go through either.  I will have one treatment every 3 weeks, for a total of 4 treatments.  I will be closely watched as it can have terrible side effects.  I am asking for prayers that I won't.  Dr. McClay still did not have the final report while I was there and will call me today or tomorrow with it to see what exactly we are looking at.  He does know that they found a tumor in my left shoulder, left arm and the back of my skull.  As soon as I know more I will let you know.  Mike and I have to go back to San Diego tomorrow for a class to teach us about what all is going to happen when I start this new treatment.

Then I went to my neurosurgeon for my brain scan report and felt sucker punched when he said there are new tumors.  He couldn't give me a final report because he wants to take all of my scans to the Gamma Knife center to look at them with the Drs. there and make sure that it is not tumors that have already been treated.  He will then call me sometime this morning to let me know what is going on there for sure too.  He said he will schedule me for the Gamma Knife treatment again in about 3 weeks.  I couldn't breathe after he said that.  I had to leave and ran to the car and bawled.  It was so hard at first to digest all of this news.

As Mike and I were driving home we were so uplifted and encouraged by all of your kind messages.  I am taking this one day at a time.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I am thankful for all the miracles God has shown me on this journey.  I am thankful for all the people I have had the pleasure to meet on this journey.  I am thankful that God decided to choose me to help Him tell everyone about how GOOD He is and how much He LOVES us!  I am thankful for the power of prayer.  Please don't think that your prayers weren't answered.  God heard.  He has chosen a perfect plan for me and this is it for now.  Don't get me wrong...this is HARD and I am teary eyed!  But I cling to HOPE!  And my HOPE is in the Lord.  I know God will use this for great things.....He already has.

One miracle I have already seen is that the nurse that will be teaching me about my treatment tomorrow is my very first favorite nurse Tressa!!  God has blessed me with Tressa again!  She has been with me since the beginning.

I have so much more to say but I am running out of space.  I will keep you all updated on what is going on as soon as I know.  THANK YOU for being here for me and especially for your precious prayers.  I love you all so much!  Today is another wonderful gift from God and He is so Good!

Bible- Psalms 46-50 

Unfortunately, more bad news at the 2nd doctor appointment.  He believes there are at least four more tumors in her brain.  He will confirm the number tomorrow.  She will also need to go through the gamma knife treatment again.  Leslie was hit hard with this news.  She is having a tough time of it.  Please pray my friends!  God is Good!

It is not the news we had hoped for.  Preliminary reports show the cancer has spread to three different parts of her body, the back of her head, arm and shoulder.  The doctor has a plan for her but it is VERY expensive and needs insurance approval.  Please pray that the insurance is approved!!  Leslie still has HOPE and knows God is Good and in control!  She will provide more details on the treatment and what the doctor says tomorrow.  Thank you friends for praying!  Monica the sister

P.S. Leslie called back asking for prayer that they don't receive more bad news at the 2pm appointment!