Back in Arkansas!

Last Monday (two days after chemo) Allen left for a week long business trip in Orlando.  We had been prepping for this trip for a couple of weeks - remember the picture of Allen with the big yellow bag on his head?! He was a good boy and followed The Ninja's orders of wearing his mask on the plane.  Check out his super cool mustache courtesy of his co-workers:

In Orlando Allen attended the Year Beginning Meeting for Sam's Club.  And, guess what the theme was for the meeting:

Yep! You are reading that right ALL-EN - they just spelled it wrong! There was a powerful speaker, Gian Paul Gonzalez, (he came up with the All-In slogan for the New York Giants the year they one the Super Bowl) who came and spoke to the entire company about being All-In. He said, "being All-In is SCARY because you have to count on other people, you will be TESTED, and you have NO OPTION but to win."  Well, that about sums it up.  Don't think we could have put it any better, and Allen is definitely on the road to a WIN!

Allen arrived home to some AWESOME cards! Thank you to everyone who has been sending him notes of encouragement! If you would like to send him one email me at leahbates1212@yahoo.com and I'll send you our address.  Check out this one from The Austins:

This week brings treatment #11 on Friday. We are getting so close to that last chemotherapy treatment! This weekend we started planning a trip for later in the year, and Allen was saying how for the first time since he started this process he feels like he can look beyond the next treatment to life after CANcer.  We can't wait to start that chapter!