Good Friday morning and Happy New Year's Eve!!  This is my new blog banner!!  Thanks to my sweet hubby Mike who knows how to do that kind of stuff and made it for me.  What do you think?  The pictures will change from time to time.   

What is everyone planning to do for the weekend?  Any special plans for tonight?  Mike and I are going out with some dear friends of ours tonight for dinner.  Looking forward to a fun, relaxing evening!

Last night we went to our friend Holly Miller's 30th birthday party.  Holly knew about the party but did not know that her parents and grandparents were coming from the Santa Maria area to surprise her and be at the party.  When they walked in the look on Holly's face was priceless. She was soooo surprised.  What a great gift to her.  I had happy tears too.  We had a fabulous time with lots of great friends and food!  Thanks Dennis and Bonnie for hosting.

I want to start off this year by being able to wish all the readers here a "Happy Birthday!"  So if I don't have your birthday let me know when it is.  leslie@mgilbert.net  Happy Birthday Randi Ross on January 2nd!! 

Here are some pictures of Tyler excitedly helping Uncle Jeff open one of his Christmas presents.  The first one he is saying, "Oh you have a present!"

"I want to help you open your present!"

"Let me at it!"  Tyler did not realize for awhile that we had stuck 2 bows to his head.  :)

My San Diego Chargers are playing their last game on Sunday for the season.  We are playing the Broncos in Denver.  Sadly we did not make the playoffs this year.  :(  But they are my team and I still love them no matter how they do.  There is always next year.  GO CHARGERS!!!  Randi Ryan.....will you be watching??

My prayer request is that God will richly bless you and your families this year with good health, happiness, love, peace, and joy in your hearts.  May you continue to grow in life and with your relationship to the Lord.  May God always provide you with all your needs.

Lamentations 3 verses 23 & 24:  Great is his faithfullness; his lovingkindness begins afresh each day.  My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him.

Have a wonderful, relaxing and fun weekend everyone!!  I am taking the weekend off from blogging again but I will be back on Monday!  Please stay safe when you are out celebrating tonight.  Since I won't be posting on January 1st or 2nd I wanted to give you your assigned chapters to read through the bible in a year.  January 1st is Genesis, chapters 1-3.  January 2nd is Genesis, chapters 4-7.  I am so ready to do this.  I have A LOT of people who have e-mailed me saying they are going to do it.  Remember to not get frustrated if you miss a day or two here or there.  Just continue where we are.  We can do it!!

Today is another gift from God and He is so Good!!

Question......Anyone make any New Year's resolutions??

Good Thursday morning!!  COMING TOMORROW......A NEW REDESIGNED LOOK TO MY BLOG BANNER!!!! 

I read this devotion several years ago and liked it so much that I stuck it in my bible.  Since New Year's Eve is coming, I wanted to share it now with you.........At a New Year's Eve service, a Baltimore pastor encouraged the people to give their problems to the Savior and leave them with Him.  To impress this upon them, he asked them to write their problems on slips of paper.  He then collected them, put them in a metal pot, and burned them.

After the service, he washed the ashes down the drain and set the container aside to be cleaned later.  The next day a woman called who had come late to the service and had missed the pastor's explanation.  She thought he had said promises, and she had wondered why he had burned them.  The pastor assured her that God's promises were secure and neither water nor fire could destroy them.

Later, as the minister was cleaning the container, he found a single slip stuck to the bottom.  It was partially burned, but he could clearly read the promises written on it by that late worshiper.  But more remarkable, the slip, being the last one added to the pot, should of been the first to be destroyed.

God makes no promises that he cannot keep.  God's promises are greater than life's problems.  Isn't that so cool?

Here is a picture of Tyler helping to handout presents.  He is giving this one to Poppi.

Prayer requests:  Please pray for a couple of families who are going through a tremendous hardship right now.  Certain areas in life seem to be falling apart.  They are keeping their faith, hope and trust in the Lord to get them through.  They have asked the prayer warriors here to please keep them in their prayers for strength and for God to guide them in the right direction.  Thank you.

Ephesians 3 verses 20 & 21:  Now glory be to God who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more then we would ever dare to ask or even dream of--infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.  May he be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the church through Jesus Christ.

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

Question.......What is the one food that you have no willpower over?  No matter what, you can't resist to eat it if it is served.  Mine is Ruffles chips and toasted onion dip.  I could eat the whole bowl by myself and have swollen lips from eating so many chips!  LOVE CHIPS AND DIP!!

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3  One of many great verses to start the New Year off with.  Write this verse down where you will see it all the time.
Good Wednesday morning!!  I hope everyone's week is going good.  I am having fun with Tyler and he is having fun playing with his new toys.  Poppi Mike is off today and we are going to take Tyler out and about for a little while today. (weather permitting)  Looks like we might be getting some rain.

I was thinking about the start of the new year and wondering if you wanted to try to read through the entire bible in a year together??  I have done this before a couple of times.  I will post everyday what the passage is that we should be reading.  Now I know this is hard to do. Time is a big factor. You miss a day or two here and there and then you can't get caught up.  Don't try to.  Just pick up where we are.  That way you don't get frustrated and give up.  Even if you read most of the bible, I think that is a great accomplishment!  Let's try it and see how it goes.  We will learn so much together.  If this is your first time to do this make sure you get a bible version that is easy understanding.  I have been told by some people that they don't like to read the bible because it is so hard to understand.  I promise there are some versions that are easy understanding.

Here are a couple more pics of Tyler.  Here he is opening one of his gifts.

Ahhhh.....he is loving on his new toy puppy.

Prayer requests:  Please keep Amy Bonillas in your prayers for tomorrow.  She is having surgery on her arm again to make sure all the edges are clean from melanoma.  Pray that she heals quickly and that everything goes smooth.  Also please pray for a friend who will be getting results from a biopsy soon.  Pray that she hears good news.

If you have a prayer request please let me know.  I want to pray for you.  leslie@mgilbert.net   I will put it on this blog anonymously for our prayer warriors to pray for too if you want.

Ephesians 3 verses 17, 18 & 19:  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; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it.  And so at last you wil be filled up with God himself.

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

Question......So tell me what you do to ring in the New Year??  Any traditions??

Good Tuesday morning!!!  Guess who is 14 months old today??  Yep...my Tyler Michael.

I am enjoying my time off from work and hanging with the family.  I have my Tyler again this week while mommy is working.  I will be sad and missing him so much when I go back to work next week.  My vacation seems to be flying by.  Thanks for sharing what your family did for Christmas.  It was fun reading about it!!

I have a story that I wanted to share with you all that happened to me on Christmas night.  Mike and I got home late that night and right before I went to bed I decided to check my e-mail.  I had received an e-mail from Chris Workman, who is a distant relative of Mike's.  His wife Cathy is the one we were praying for earlier this year who was battling cancer.  She lost her battle and went home to be with our Lord in June.  Chris is raising their two children ages 8 and 11.  Chris took the time on Christmas Day evening to let me know he was praying for me and wrote a prayer out for me to read.  It was the most beautiful, heartfelt prayer.  A prayer full of faith.  I started bawling.  It was by far the best Christmas gift that I had received.  Here is a man trying to get through his first Christmas without his precious wife and he took the time to send me a prayer.  I am in awe of the strength that we get from God when we are so weak and how he uses that strength to help others.  Thank you Chris.  You inspire me even more to help others.  Thank you God for your perfect timing in lifting our spirits.

On Christmas night while we were chillin by the fire, my son-in-law Ryan took this pic of Jenna, me, Mike and Jeff.  Tyler was already fast asleep. 

I would like to wish a very "Happy Birthday' to Jennifer Rider today!  Have a funfilled day Jen!  Also congrats to Randi's father-in-law Steve and his girlfriend Janice on becoming engaged!

Congratulations to Jim & Deanna Mayer on the birth of their daughter Alyson Jade!!!!

Prayer requests:  For someone who needs prayer for emotional strength.  That God will help them in dealing with the difficult past circumstances in life.  Also for someone who is having back surgery.  Pray that everything will go smooth and that the recovery will be quick.

Romans 8 verses 26, 27 & 28:  And in the same way--by our faith--the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying.  For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how to pray as we should;  but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who knows all hearts knows, of course, what the spirit is saying as he pleads for us in harmony with God's own will.  And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans.

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

Question........When do you take down all of your Christmas decorations?

Good Monday morning!!  How was everyone's Christmas?  We had a fabulous Christmas Eve and Day!  We all went to a Christmas Eve candle light service at our church.  It was so nice and heart warming to focus on and celebrate the birth of Jesus. The church was packed and it was very nice to see some old friends that were here in the Valley visiting.  Then we had a super fun time with family and friends afterwards at Ryan and Jenna's house.  We ate some awesome food, played some hilarious games (one we laughed so hard our very full stomachs hurt)  and had an ornament gift exchange.  The kind of exchange where you pick a gift and it can get stolen a few times before it is frozen.  Everyone leaves with a new ornament for their tree. 

Christmas morning everyone met at mine and Mike's house for a HUGE Christmas breakfast.  With all the food I ate this weekend I think I am in a food coma. hahaha.  We hung out all day, played some more games and enjoyed Tyler immensely.  He had a blast with the opening of Christmas presents.  Of course he wasn't really interested with the gift that was inside.  He wanted to play with all the wrapping paper and boxes.  If we would of just wrapped a big box with nothing but wrapping and tissue paper inside he would of been happy.  Here is Tyler in his Christmas glory.......

Seeing a child's face light up on Christmas morning is one of life's greatest gifts.  I will have more pictures to share with you this week.  We all ended the evening sitting by  the fireplace and just chillin.  I thanked God for my family and friends and for all the wonderful memories that were made.  I do not take for granted how richly blessed we are.

I would like to wish a happy belated birthday to Kriss Hobelman who celebrated her birthday yesterday.  Happy Birthday Krissy!  Hope you had a great day and are having fun in the snow.

Prayer requests: I have a lot of them.  While most of us had a great past few days,  for some people it wasn't so good.  Please pray for Samuel Lyndell,  the little boy that we have been praying for to be healed of cancer.  He had another treatment and nearly died from it on Christmas Eve.  He hung in there and is doing better.  Please pray that he will be healed, and for strength for Samuel and his family.  Also for another family who spent Christmas Day together in the hospital while their loved one was recovering in ICU.  Also for another family who spent Christmas Day in the hospital while their baby was sick.  And finally for two families who lost a loved one on Christmas Day.    Let's pray that their spirits will be lifted and that they will be comforted.  I know our precious God is watching over them.  Thank you all for faithfully praying.

Matthew 19 verse 26b: But with God, everything is possible.

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

Question....tell me about your Christmas.......