Movin' on up...to a new state - that is. Hello Maryland.

Well, I am not believing that I have not blogged in a year. I have been so 'overwhelmed' - I guess in getting ready to move, moving, and then moving in. It is a long process...perhaps not a year's worth.

Alot has happened in a year. Where to start...

Great news first - Jona is, for the first time in 8 years, finally off all meds related to Juvenile Dermatomyositis. I really do pray that we go into remission and one day we will not even be able to spell 'Dermatomyositis'. She is 10 now and WOW! She has grown in so many ways. I was telling a new friend of mine, my new neighbor across the street, Amy, that I think in the beginning we get the kids to sleep through the night and we rejoice because 'it will finally get easier' then we hit terrible two's and thrilling three's and we again say 'it will finally get easier'. I do believe now that she is 10 I can honestly say, and not because she is a bad girl - because she is a true joy - but EVERY age has it's challenges. I am now in the "double digit" age/ tween times... Let me just say "IT WILL GET BETTER". I am the little engine that could! Jona, though, is such a sweet girl. If we didn't have hormones I think it would be close to perfect. She is wise beyond her years, though. There is something to be said for having to grow up and mature really fast. I just hate that the ugly JDM disease had to be what made it happen. I guess I should thank God, though, that it was nothing worse. I love that girl.

My precious Meg is growing up too. She is 7 now. I think it is time to put a book on her head and keep her little. She has been growing physically and emotionally. She is having alot of firsts in this house already. Just in the time we have been here she has lost her first tooth and learned to ride her bike with no training wheels...go MEG! We are, however, still having separation issues. She does NOT like to be away from Momma. We thought we were doing really well with the "I AM A BIG GIRL" sleeping arrangements. The last part of our stay in Texas she did always sleep with me (her and Jona) because Jeff was gone to Iraq & Afghanistan, but when she got her new room here in Maryland - well, for a minute we hit the jackpot. She loved it. We have been her now about 8 weeks. THE NEW HAS WORN OFF! As I type this, at midnight (the only quite down time seen in the Strauss House) my sweet Meg is fast asleep almost on top of me. I know one day this time will be gone so I should cherish it. All too soon the day will come when she will want nothing to do with me. Having said that, the phase Meg is in now is .... well .... BitterSWEET!

Jeff's job here in Maryland is keeping him SO BUSY! In busy, I mean, with travel. I have to say, though, even though having him home just long enough to get used to him and then him leave again for a day or two or ten has it's challenges, I praise GOD it is not a deployment. Bless his heart, he, like so many of our soldiers, have seen not one, not two, but three (some even more) deployments. Anything is better than another one of those.

We love our new home and have made some really sweet friends here. We miss our Texas friends terribly, though. I must say too that I have done a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad job at keeping in touch. So, Jennifer, Anna, Keri, and Heather, if you read this...know I think of you daily. I so miss our teas. We just have such crazy lives with hubbys and kids that it makes it hard when we are so far apart...but my goal is to get much better...now that we are somewhat settled in this new home. Just know that even if you do not hear from me everyday, you are in my thoughts everyday.

Now...welcome to our new home:

come on in....

Formal Dining Room

Morning Room/Breakfast Room

Formal Living Room


This takes care of most of the downstairs with the exception of the kitchen and the family room. Both of those pictures I just forgot to take. I will post them later. The upstairs is where all the bedrooms are...that too will come later. Once they are 'company ready'. We also have a basement. Jeff is in the process of finishing it. I will take some pictures to post later. I should take picture of the process...

Change.....

Well, I don't really like change. I can adapt if I HAVE to, but changing things up is not my preference unless that means moving furniture. I get bored easily with the arrangement of my house. However, I get comfortable in my lifestyle and when that starts to change it rocks my whole world. Change is inevitable when you are a military wife. How funny is it that a person who hates change is a military wife.


S0 my first change in my chain of events started with a very close friend moving to DC. We are close and chances are good that if I don't get to move to Germany, I will move to the DC area for Jeff's job. We also get to chat all the time and she is coming to visit me this month to do our annual Women of Faith weekend.


If I wasn't sad enough, only a couple of months later another very close friend moved...and if moving wasn't enough, they had to REALLY move....into another country. It is already in our budget to visit Germany within the year. I feel a little better now. Jeff promised me and the kids that Germany will happen and we will have a BLAST! I am so excited. He is too considering that Tony is someone he considers a very close friend AND my kids love their kids so it makes it easy for Heather and I to get excited about this visit. I cannot wait to taste the rich coffee and see lush greenery and walk on brick streets and visit local markets. I have never been to another country so it will be so wonderful and such an experience. That week they left was so sad not only because they were leaving BUT Jeff decided to take off too. Well, he would have preferred to stay but the Army had different plans. So... four days after the Chandlers leave me, my sweet hubby heads back to Iraq for his third overseas tour. At least this deployment is only six months. That is so much better than the 12 months and 15 months he has done before.


But the blessings still flow as I am fortunate enough to have some very good friends still here with me... Thank you, God. Jennifer and Keri will probably do very well in keeping me sane. I love those girls. They really make me smile.


The kidos have been busy as well...


Jona still has her braces and teeth coming in while baby teeth do not want to fall out. Dr. Barron, her orthodontist, has come up with a system to get these teeth out without us having to pull any. He puts a band around the tooth that doesn't want to come out and pushes it down to the gum. Apparently, the way this works is that it puts pressure on the gums to help it let go of the tooth. It is somewhat painful for a couple of days for Jona but the tooth loosens up in no time. We are still waiting for it to come out.


As posted before, Jona had a great visit with Dr. Perez. We did labs just before Jeff left and they were great. We are now about to start coming off the experimental drug for this disease. It has seemed to be her magic pill. This will be the first time since diagnosis at age 2 that we will hopefully have no medicine. Jona is a little nervous about weaning off this med so pray for her. We'll see how it goes. We should be completely off by Christmas if we have no relapse during this process.


Meg...my sweet Meg...she has decided to ride horses now. She no longer wants to take tumbling. She has wanted to ride for a while but I have been putting it off because she is still only 6 years old. She is also a very young 6 at that. She is super energetic and fun but I am not sure that she is calm enough for riding. However, Jona gave up riding Jiggs (the Shetland Pony) to start riding George (the quarterhorse that is a retired race horse). As you can imagine I am a little nervous. Jiggs weighs 600 lbs and my little wild Meg weighs 3o lbs. Jona is a mere 75 lbs. while George is over 1150 lbs. Those numbers scare me. However, my girls have a love of animals and what kind of mother would I be if I didn't allow them to at least try something that they love... or think they love.


Jona has been riding a couple of months and I must say that she has really taken it seriously. She is fascinated by these 4 legged friends. Lee, her instructor, says she was made for a horse.


Meg, on the other hand...whose in charge, Meg or Jiggs?!?!? Poor baby, she is motivated. She has only had 3 lessons. The first lesson Meg accidently let her foot out of the stirrup and it hit Jiggs in the hip. He thought that ment GO so he WENT. I have never seen a pony move so fast. My heart dropped to my feet, but Lee is good. She took off after him and grabbed Meg who by this point was half off the saddle. Poor Lee had one arm around Meg and the other pulling back on Jiggs. Either all three of them were going down or Lee was going to win. The winner was... Lee, of course. Meg's second lesson went great. At Meg's third lesson she had just finished tacking up Jiggs and was going to get ready to ride when he stepped on her foot. He had no clue and was literally standing on her foot. She broke down and was in much pain but luckily nothing was broke. Even through all of this that girl still wants to ride. Her love stands true so far.
So, with all of this going on, I must just say... God is great and change is good!

Our Cup Runneth Over with Blessings....

Our summer so far...

Well, alot has happened since my last post. Jona now has braces. We love Dr. Barron, her orthodontist. He is so kind and really makes her feel very comfortable. However, my little girl looks like such a big girl in these things. But...she is BEAUTIFUL!

Meg just continues to grow. She is still her same silly self. She is awesome entertainment and just so funny. However, she does have a sweet, innocent side to her. Last night we were sitting at the dinner table. The conversation started while Daddy was being picked on. He is so outnumbered at our house and often jokes about how he needs more testosterone around. He mentioned, "We need to adopt a boy" and some how that led to the discussion of Foster Children. I was explaining to the girls how foster children usually come from difficult circumstances and how they need people to help give them a safe place to live, etc. We discussed how my aunt was adopted and came from a family where she was removed because of abuse. Meg, out of nowhere, said..."that's just sad". I replied, "it is very sad when children are abused." Jeff quickly chimed in, "Do you even know what abused means?" Meg's reply was, "No, but is sounds really bad and that is just sad! So sad! Let's not talk about that anymore." She is precious!

We went for Jona's MRI the first part of June and then spent a week at Crier Creek Family Camp. That was the best place for our family to be while waiting for the results of the MRI. We had a blast...as always. What a remarkable place. So...let me just put in a plug for them. Go to the website...www.pinecove.com and see what they are all about. It is awesome. Here are some pictures from that adventure.

Rodeo Night... my cowgirls.

They fought it out in Crud War. They both gave it their best and got each other pretty good, but...

Jona is claming all the VICTORY!!!

Meg loves the "splash pad"

All smiles... always smiling at camp. There is lots to love there.

Jona and her counselor, Uma.

Megan and her counselor, Nappy.

Show your team spirit...Gig 'em Aggies!

We really are showing our team spirit.

Upon or return we spent Father's Day in Center with my dad. We then went to Houston to get results of the MRI. What a blessing. God works in his time... the MRI shows NO disease activity for the first time in 7 years. We are now entering new territory. Dr. Perez is going to start weaning her off the experimental drug, Cellcept. If she goes until the Spring of 2010 with no flare and no meds the doctor will it REMISSION. Keep praying. Stay tuned...

It's Been Busy...

Busy...Busy...Busy!!!

Of, Course we celebrated Easter. (Picture will be posted of that soon.)We went to church and then to the Chandler home for a wonderful Easter lunch. Afterwards, we took a roadtrip/fieldtrip to Seaworld (pix following)

Then came Meg's birthday. Yes, our little baby turned 6. I had some really great friends help me pull off a last minute party. We had originally planned a party in the park with a picnic. However, out of nowhere it decided to get cold...really cold. It was far to cold for a day at the park (we decided that morning) so my dear friend Heather opened her home for Meg and her friends. We are so lucky to have such good friends.

Meg also got her first American Girl doll, Gwen from the family...she was very excited. Later that day she opened another one, Carissa, from Nanna and Paw.

Jona started riding lessons. Picture of her on Jiggs will post soon. For now...meet the focus of most of Jona's attention these days... this four legged pony, Jiggs. She loves the whole experience from grooming, to riding, and learning. We try to ride at least once a week. Sometimes we ride twice if the week isn't too crazy. What a cute pair they are.

She even takes Meg for a ride after her lessons. Isn't she such a sweet big sister. I love my girls!

Jona is still doing very well with the Juvenile Dermatomyositis. Praise God that she hasn't had to deal with much of it other than just our regular labs and taking our meds everyday. That is a walk in the park for her compared to all she has been through in the past.

Jona and Meg are both continueing to do very well with schoolwork. Third grade will soon be over for Jona and it will be time to get ready for fourth grade work. Meg is reading very well for kindergarten. I am so proud of them both. They are very hard workers. Wow, where did this school year go. Homeschooling is super busy with two kids but what a joy they bring me.

We have taken some field trips in the past months.

We went to the Longhorn Caverns. That was great fun.

We also had some fun with our friends at Seaworld...

Meg was AMAZED with the orcas. You are lookingat a little girl who loves orcas so much that we have watched Free Willy 1, 2, and 3 more times than I can count...in a row... and her favorite night-night toy is a stuffed orca that, during the day, I get to babysit when she is busy. This, my friends, is the future marine biologist in our family I am sure.

We fed the dolphins. That was really fun. I didn't love the smell of the dead fish. Those of you who know me well will probably find it very funny that I let my children handle dead fish. Yeah, I know....it took me a lot of self-talk to get over the whole idea of germs and we did everything short of submerging their hands in alcohol afterwards. It was a fun time. They got to pet the dolphins and it was memories that they will never forget.

What a BIG day she had. She was a tired marine biologist after that trip.

Loving My Life

Well, I haven't posted in a while. I need to update Jona's website too. Her health is great right now, by the way. Meg is doing great too. She lost her first tooth with the help of our dentist. It It seems like I have been so busy latelty, but in a good way.

Ya know, I really think that I have the best family in the world...for me anyway. Yeah, sometimes my girls are girls...filled with the emotion, energy, and that extra dash of what we like to call DRAMA...but... all the same, they are so very precious. As for my sweet hubby, he just spoils me. I find myself missing him alot, though. Jeff has been gone so much lately. We didn't think that this job would take him away as much as his last job, but I guess it is safe to say that any job in the Army is going to take you away. I will say, although it is a different kind of hard, having him home a week or two and then gone a week or two is much better than the 18 month deployments to Iraq that we have had in the past.

Homeschooling is great. Some days it is a little overwhelming I think, both for me and my girls. However, having said that, I still would not change a single thing about choosing this path for our family. It has really worked out wonderfully for the most part...except for the days when I want to pull my hair out and the girls want to run away... :-) Just kidding.

Let me just say a thing about some friendships that I have grown very fond of. (You know who you are...) I will say that I have learned alot about friendship lately. I have learned alot about myself as well. Some people say things are situational or coincidental instead of spiritual, but I choose to believe that God orchestrated the chain of events that led me to the person I am today and to the friendships that I have developed. I have really tried to put my focus on becoming the person that God intended for me to be. In doing that, I have developed relationships with a distinct group of women that I truly cherish. These ladies inspire me, make me think, make me laugh (even when in recent days I would have prefered to cry). I get together with these ladies at least once a week for "tea" (but I prefer my coffee) and again for our "mini co-op" for homeschool. I really treasure this time with these ladies. They are such remarkable women. I just hope that they know how thankful I am to have them and that they make my heart smile. I have also made some wonderful relationships in different bible studies. Wow, it is amazing how God can work to bring women together. I have met some women that absolutely awww me. They are amazing and I have learned some really powerful lessons through the wisdom that they have shared with me.

I just got back from my parents a week ago. I love my mom and dad. I think no matter how old I become, I will always be their baby. I layed pallets of grass with my Daddy. He had no idea I could work so hard. We worked our tails off. I loved every minute of it, though. The girls love going to Nanna and Paw's because they get to ride/drive the golf cart all around "the farm".

I also got to visit with my Mam-Maw while I was visiting my parents. She is currently in a nursing home for rehab. She is making such improvements that I know she will be out of there soon. It really hurts my heart to see her there. I just love her so very much.

Well, today was a great day...as you can tell from my blog. However, all great things must come to an end and it is midnight. Morning will be here soon and my girls will need me to be on top of things. I should get some sleep. We will see what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully, it will be as wonderful as today.

December 7, 2008

Today I am starting this blog. Not so sure what this will look like. I really enjoy working on Jona's website, but would like to have a more family oriented site in addition to hers. I hope this will be a great place to put thoughts. We are getting ready for Christmas. The girls are getting so big I cannot believe it. Jona is doing well. We go for a MRI on the 15th of this month and I pray that it will give us some positive results. Updates and such on Jona can be found on her website, www.jonasjourney.com.

I have started doing precept bible studies. Wow...I absolutely have to blog about this because I never would have imaged learning like this. It is different than any other bible study. I am learning so much and am also having to independently think so I really enjoy it. It is very time consuming. I am currently doing two different ones. I am studying Ruth with a friend of mine and Jeff and I together are studying Abraham with some wonderful people that we met through our Sunday School Class (or Connection Group) at church. What a blessing it has been to find these studies. I would like to start this type of study with Jona perhaps in January after I become more confident in it.

I started crocheting yesterday. My friend, Paula, taught me. At first I picked on her saying she was a "Granny" then I jumped into it with her. I guess that makes me a "Granny" too. Jeff loves that I have taken up yet another hobby. I am still working on my scrapbooking. I love that. I need to work on getting Mam-Maw's pictures together for her.

Jeff left today and will be in DC this week. I miss him when he is gone but at least I have a lot of time to catch up on my hobbies. The girls have their crafts they like to do as well after homeschool work is done. It is nice to sit and do crafts by the fire on a cold day.