Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry it's taken me so long to update things. I was holding out until Eli's next appt. which was today. Christmas around here was great! The boys got everything they wanted (Evan had to have a Chad Johnson jersey and Eli just wanted video games). Big Eli even got the one thing he wanted, but didn't actually ask for. Elijah loves the poem "Footprints In The Sand". It refers to a man questioning God about why, when he needed God the most, did he only see one set of footprints in the sand. God goes on to inform him that the set of prints in the sand are his own because he was in fact carrying the man during his time of need. Elijah knows that God is the one carrying him through this battle right now. Well I bought Elijah a poster with the poem on it years ago, but it was kinda cheesy. It was very difficult to find something nice, that would go with our house with the poem on it. When Elijah was hospitalized he kept saying he wanted to get someone to handwrite the poem for him so he could get it framed. So of course, that's what I had made for him for Christmas. I found a lady (Marie Adamson - writtentreasure.com) in Rockwall, TX, who did an absolutely fabulous job. I'll take a pic and post it when we get it framed. The smile it brought to his face was wonderful. He had to admit that it was exactly what he wanted.

I wasn't able to go with Elijah to his Dr. appt. today because I have a cold. I have yet to figure out with all the additional handwashing and hand sanitizing I've been doing how I caught this cold, but oh well. So I have to stay out of Eli's face because I don't want him getting sick from me again.

I typed up a long list of questions and things I needed the doctor to address, gave Eli's friend who took him to the appt. my notebook to take notes in and Eli took a little pocket recorder to tape record the appt. for me. So I just listened to the tape and it sounds like Eli is continuing to do well. We should know by the end of the week what his new M-spike number is. That's the number that measures the amount of myeloma in his system. Hopefully it would have gone down again. The plan is to prepare Elijah for a stem cell transplant, using his own cells. That procedure should help ensure that the myeloma is pushed further back into remission for a long time. He's still feeling tired, but that's just a side effect from the chemo. The recovery time for the transplant should be about 2-3 weeks. Prayerfully Mr. Man will be able to start getting back to normal pretty soon. My dad will come back to help out which is truly a blessing. He just left today after being here for a week. I was so glad that he was here because he was able to keep an eye on the boys and keep them entertained. I'm hoping he'll move here soon, but I'm going to have to keep working on him.

I'm going to run now because this cold is wearing me out. I just spoke to a friend of mine who said I need to go to the doctor in the morning, so I'm taking her advice.
PUH-LEEZ keep the prayers coming, but also keep our friends Matt and Jenny Stinchcomb, Eric and Danielle Beverly, Bobby and Cecilia Romanski as well as Tony Dungy and his family prayed up as well. Good night folks!

That's pic of Evan, age 7 and Elijah, age 10 - My mini-husbands.

Hello all! I know, I know, long time no speak. Well no news id definitely good news. Elijah received his 3rd of 4 chemo treatments today. According to the blood work that was done he continues to respond positively to the treatment. THANK GOD! After the fourth treatment he will be reassessed and then they will collect his cells to do a transplant later that month. When I tell you that the Alexander's are literally counting down the days till January, please believe it. My husband has finally accepted the fact that working out during chemo will not give him his body back. The chemo just makes him too tired and weak. He's looking forward to getting some weight and muscle back on him in a few weeks.

Elijah's initial cancer reading was 3.7%, that's the percentage of cancer cells that were in his body. As of today that reading has dropped to .70%. The goal is for the cancer to be declared undetectable and all signs are pointing to us being there soon! Once that happens we'll begin getting our lives back to normal and doing whatever it takes to maintain his remission.

Let me brag on my husband right quick, you guys. I think I mentioned to you all that Eli and were supposed to be taking a trip to Orlando this month. As the day for our departure grew near I was not too happy about going because Eli was still feeling bad due to his cold. I told him I was going to cancel the trip a few days before we were scheduled to leave. Because I was raising such a stink about it he went ahead and admitted to me that the plan was never for us to both go, but that he had arranged for my Jodi, my dad and my brother to meet me down there to give me a mini-vacation so that I could recharge my battery. His friend Gumbo came out and helped him with the boys while I got to hang out with my family and do a little shopping (y'all know I loved that). I'm glad it happened the way it did though because the original plan was for him to keep me in the dark until we arrived at the airport and then he was going to inform me that I was going to be going on the trip by myself. I told him that would have made me an emotional wreck because I would have been worried sick about him and the boys. At least this way I had a few days to plan accordingly.

Well let me run. I'll be back soon. I am trying to not stay up too late these days.
Love ya!
Kimberly

You all know I need to be asleep, but I figured I'd jump on here right quick sinceI'm in a better mood. I was soooooooooooooooooo glad to see my husband up and about today. I'm starting to realize that I feel better on the days he feels better and vice versa (I guess that's understandable, huh?). He'd been pretty out of it since Thanksgiving thanks to that cold. Today he was finally starting to show signs of getting some strength back. We got the numbers back from the doc and the only one that was down was his white blood cell count. That was to be expected though since he had the cold. After school me and rugrats went to get flu shots. To my surprise one of my neighbors called and informed me that she had prepared dinner for us. I was so appreciative because since I'd been running errands all day I hadn't had a chance to take anything out. She told me she was preparing fish, but I'd have to make the sides. I was so glad. But when she showed up at my front door not only did she have one of favorites (salmon), she'd gone ahead and made beef patties, green beans, rice, rolls, brought a tin can full of cookies, two bottles of apple cider and plastic plates, cups and forks for the four of us. Talk about RIGHT ON TIME! I couldn't believe it. It's people like her that I learn lessons from. I learned that when someone offers help, accept it. That's kind of been an issue for me. I'm the type that tries to handle it all when in all honesty, I can't, at least not right now.

I'm still behind on t-shirt orders and I'm going out of town this weekend. Ughhhhh. My husband surprised me with another Christmas gift last night. He felt I needed to getaway so he's sending me to Florida for the weekend to do some shopping and visit friends. For those who know my husband you know this is a big deal because Mr. Budget doesn't fund too many shopping trips. LOL! You know I don't care though because his financial savviness is paying off now. I'm torn about going to Florida though because I hate leaving him here. He was supposed to be going with me, or so I thought. I just found out that that never was the plan. So he and the boys, along with his friend and my brother-in-law will be running the house this weekend. I think I'm going to have to slip my kids a $20 to make sure there are no parties going down.

You know the drill, please continue to pray for us. they are truly appreciated. Also keep our friends Danielle, Shellie and Matt lifted in prayer too. I can't be selfish, we're not the only crew that the devil is messing with.

Good night!

Hi everyone! If some of you have not heard, there was an article published in yesterday's paper about Elijah and his Wildcat football team. I think the reporter and photographer did a great job in describing what happened during our ceremony Tuesday night. If you missed it, there's a link below.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/collin/frisco/stories/DN-frcoach_01met.ART0.North.Edition2.13b7280c.html

He was so proud of the boys.

Right now fatigue is kicking his butt. It's a side affect of the chemo that we look forward to ditching come January. My once go-go-go husband is now learning how to adjust to slowing down. He's taking care of priorities and business first and resting often in between. Staying busy and keeping his mind going is good for him.

The doc says his numbers are still looking good, even with his cold.

On a side note, I know some of you have tried to post comments and have had trouble. It looks like that may have been my fault because, despite appearances, I ain't the most computer literate. I have a touch of ADD (all busy mom/wives do) and I didn't follow directions for allowing comments. Hopefully that bug has been fixed, if not, continue to e-mail me directly, I love hearing from you.

As devastating as this diagnosis has been the outpouring of support, reconnection with old friends and the creation of new friendships has truly been enjoyable. Now let me run. I'm trying to stop going to bed so late. Oh yeah, please excuse my typos too. I went back a read some of the stuff I typed and I'm sure I embarassed my mom and dad. My bad.

Love ya much!
Kimberly