Our son, Josh Gillespie, received his
orders (early 2009):
'... has been approved the JUL/AUG09 SHORE
SLATE and
your next duty station will be SSO HONG KONG
as the ADMIN SUPPORT OFFICER.
This was a very competitive slate and I hope you are pleased with being slated
to your #1 choice. You can expect to see orders about 3 months out from your detach date of JUL09...'
We are all so proud and happy for Josh... and
can't wait to visit him in Hong Kong.
I love this picture, it was 2006(?) when our son, Josh (from
my first marriage), was stationed on the USS Blue Ridge based in Yokosuka, Japan (Near
Tokyo). You
can see Mt.
Fuji in the background.
2008/2009: Josh was the Navigator on the USS Frank Cable (AS-40), in Guam.
As most of you know, we've had a few challenges this
year. First, good news: My CT/PET scans have continued to be clear for the past year : )) (Stage 3 Colon Cancer);. . . This
is not one of the challenges.
Secondly, Feb 1, 2010, we lost our son, John (24), due to a car
accident, I can not say more, for even this is too painful to write.
Third is also difficult, in April, Ahmad was diagnosed with
APL (Leukemia... subset of AML). He's amazing, and continues to be the strong wonderful person we all know and love;.... in
spite of nearly daily chemo the past three months. The treatment will be 2 years long.
Many.... most, have said it's such a shame that we've had so
much bad luck since we've been married, we both have thought so too. I joked I should take muffins to people we know... and
look around for dolls that looked like us, just in case we unkowingly offended someone and know who to make amends to (said
with "Tongue in Cheek"...wellll... mostly tongue in cheek); then, something changed... while I was holding Ahmad's hand, during
his bone marrow biopsy. I realized we are truly blessed... and God is so wonderful.
I had a flash memory of what the doctor said... Ahmad's leukemia
was from his job, years of exposure to diesel/benzene fumes. I then flashed the memory of my surgeon, saying my cancer had
been growing for years... 10 years.
This is when I realized how blessed we are.
We were both going to become ill when we did. If either of us
had still been in our old... very stressful lives, we may not have survived.
Not only did God make sure we were together for the very difficult
months... years ahead for both of us; He gave us a gift of a wonderful first year together.
We went places, staying on the river in our RV... A wonderful
wedding... two months honeymoon in the RV at Disney World's Fort Wilderness. We wished we could buy the space we stayed in,
and live there forever.
God gave us a wonderful year together... (Our First Year)knowing what was ahead for us.
So, please don't feel sorry for us. We aren't, have never been,
defined by the difficulties of the past couple of years. Yes we have moments in time we might be tired and even fussy (me
more than him) ... they are just moments of being human, and not at our best, it doesn't define us.
There are daily examples of our happiness of being together,
that overcomes what could otherwise be consuming difficulties.
My favorite memory of this realization was a time during my
chemo treatments, in the middle of the night, I was sick in the bathroom... I tried not to wake Ahmad, then he calls out,
asking if I was OK and if I wanted him to hold my hair; I remember how odd it was that I was smiling, even as I was dry heaving
and called out that I was OK. As I returned to the bed, he's waiting for me, and said "I love you Honey" and then asked if
I was really OK... if there was something I wanted him to bring me... I said 'no thanks', I was OK, then, looking at his face
saying 'I love you so much', and feeling such happiness. I let out a small laugh, said 'I am sooo happy; I should be miserable,
but I'm not... I've never been so happy in my life... because of you'. He responded in kind, and held me until I was able
to sleep.
Often when I was sick he'd bring me Ginger Ale, soup, a boiled
potato (he's right, it does help settle the stomach... especially potato soup). Ahmad wouldn't/doesn't hesitate at doing anything
to make me feel better when he's home, day or night. Even though he had a sixteen hour work day ahead... getting home 12:30am
or so, in bed between 1-1:30am;leaving for work by 7 am....he'd make me soup... potatoes... whatever I felt up to... sometimes
even spoon feeding me.
I'm not as good as he is, I don't have his strength, I do what
I can... and yet, now, when I'm in his hospital room, HE'LL come out of the bathroom, smile and look at me with so much love
and say 'I love my life... I love my wife... I love you sooo much'.
So again I'll say, don't feel sorry for us, even with our health
and financial challenges... we are happy; which often the healthiest & wealthiest people can't say.
We don't have bad luck, we've been faced with the difficulties
that are a part of life, illness, death & near poverty, we're so blessed to be experiencing these things with each other.
Of course... we do look forward to the future of being so happy
with good health and wealth; it'll come, if not... we'll still be happy... but, it'll come... everything in it's time.
XXX
Last PET scan showed I'm cancer free and now having my colon surgery
(colostomy reversed)06/09/09.... Yeah!!!!
Keep me in your prayers... and
schedule you colonoscopy so you
don't ever have to experience treatment for stage 3 colon
cancer.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Cousin Tito's Website
06/08/09
Uncle Stan Whitfield has been diagnosed with two terminal brain tumors, he's started chemo
and radiation. We don't come with expiration dates, we've all seen and heard of miracles. , let's pray for his miracle. We
love you Uncle Stan.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Cousin Barbara (Ashpes) Allen always sends interesting
and entertaining emails. I'm dedicating a webpage to share Barbara with everyone else.
Uncle Dave Whitfield just celebrated his 62 birthday at his home on the Suwannee River
with about 200 other people. It was a great party. I’ll have the pictures soon.
Happy Birthday Aunt Dee (Nov) & Uncle Chick (Oct).
Kathy & Warren Buffett
Cousin Kathy is
one of Warren Buffett’s many lawyers. Of course, you ask any of the family, she is "Warren Buffett’s lawyer"...
his only lawyer.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Cousins Kathy & Bobby (sister & brothet), with mom, Joyce Lease. Kathy & Bobby were visiting their father,
Uncle Chick at the hospital this past July.
We’re grateful to the doctors for literally bringing Uncle Chick back from the dead. Uncle Chick celebrated his 81st
birthday in October.
The Wealth Summit Live will bring together top financial experts to
help you to:
“Learn how to plan for the next 5-10 years of your life in this
type of economy right now.” “
Discover more than 50 ways to make the quality
of your life better right now.”
I told Louie Ahmad & I
will be there, hope you can join us on the weekend of Jan 24th & 25th for this amazing event.If you have any questions give me a call.
6-Day NeuroStrategist Certification Practitioner Certification
in NLP, Hypnotherapy & Time Line Therapy
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heart, and physical metaphors (such as board-breaking and fire-eating!) that are offered in no other training in this field.
Steve Linder's DMAS class was great. After getting back home, I used my Worden's TeleChart
(www.worden.com) and signed up with Investopedia (www.investopedia.com) to start paper trading. Steve insists we successfully paper trade for
a minimum of six months, then…. Of course…. Only invest money that will do no harm to loose. I actually made a
few thousand (on paper), even with the volatility of the market…. But, as my health continued to deteriorate, I just
let it go.
I intend to start paper trading again, once I’m finished with my
chemo and recovered from my final surgery. The DMAS class is great, even if you don’t want to do any trading yourself…
It’s a great way to double check your broker's (or friends’) recommendations. One of the many features of Worden’s
Telechart I love is that you can go back years and see how this technique shows the best stocks to buy or sell.
With NLP you will:
·Discover how the brain processes information and how emotions are
created
·Communicate with anyone, anywhere, at any time, with more impact and power
·Identify the key "filters" we use to decide what to pay attention to and what to ignore
·The "building blocks" of behavior: why we do what we do, and how to change it
·Speak in the mental and emotional "language" of others so our real message and intent
are crystal clear
·Eliminate destructive patterns like phobias, addictions, stress, depression and insomnia
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goals, and other barriers
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·Deepen your relationships with loved ones and business colleagues
·Create instant and warm relationships in a few seconds
·Let go forever of old beliefs and decisions that have limited you in the past and
create lasting changes in any area of your life
·Access the resources of both the conscious and subconscious mind to gain the body's
support in ridding itself forever of addictions like smoking, drugs, alcohol, overeating, etc.
·Identify the roots of relationship problems and create new options for enhanced communication
and love
·Make important decisions by eliminating any subconscious conflicts
·Ease the emotional fallout of learning disabilities and allow children and adults
to access the complete learning power of the entire brain
·Eliminate the emotional impact of past traumatic memories and decrease the power of
negative incidents in your daily life
·Experience positive emotions such as love, peace, forgiveness, courage, enthusiasm
on a daily basis
·Uncover the motivations and patterns of others in business and personal situations,
and use your knowledge to create win-win outcomes
·Positively impact the lives of those in your everyday work or family
environments
Some people are having problems hearing the background music &/or downloading files (it doesn't open in the
Media Player with an option to save, as it's set up to do).
If there's a file you want to save, right click the file, then left click 'save target as' and that should save it to
your computer.
Your Internet Security System may be interfering with your ability to listen, watch or download media files ... I must
turn off my Zone Alarm to enjoy media on web pages (I still have my Norton's active)... I know there's suppose to be a way
to fix the settings, it's just easier to turn it off for a few minutes... I'm not saying it's the wiser move, but what I'm
doing for now.
Thanks for letting me know about this problem.
Something New
Watching my Sunday morning shows and thought I'd start sharing a couple of parts from 'This week with George
Stephanopoulos': The 'Sunday Funnies' and 'This Week In Memoriam'... just click on the words and it'll start playing in your
Windows Media Player. Hope you like this new addition.
If you ever listen to NPR on the weekends you've probably heard Garrison Keillor with his news from Lake
Wobegon. I have several recordings and will share some here : ))
