One year ago....part 2

As I talked about in my last post, we really miss Italy. But one year ago we were beyond ready to leave. We had quite a bit of excitement: new adventures in Alaska and seeing Darnell's family. Most of Darnell's family had never met Dani before Sept 2012 and she was almost 4 years old by that time; in fact, his mom was the only one who had met her and that was when Dani was only 1 month old. I guess in reality, no one in his family had truly met her in the real sense of the word, so that was a very exciting time for us.

But our excitement was somewhat dampened by some very strong scared and sad feelings. Darnell has a great family, but I am particularly close to two of his cousins (who are sisters) Robin and Samantha. They are more like sisters to me than cousins. Even though we never see them and rarely talk, there is always going to be a special bond there. I can't tell you enough how I LOVE these two women! I could probably go on for PAGES on the reasons why I love these two,  but I will get back to the original point. Being that Sam and Robin are like sisters, their children are our nieces and nephews. In June 2012, we found out that one of Sam's children, Esther who was 3, had been diagnosed with cancer. Stage IV Neuroblastoma cancer, which is often fatal in children.

While that news was sad in-an-of itself, it felt even more emotional for us. See, Esther was born 1 month and 10 days before Dani. She has a twin sister, Zinnia, but the resemblance between Dani and Ester is uncanny.

Dani (left) and Esther (right)

When I saw Esther in her hospital bed, I saw my own child. It was gut wrenching! The uncertainty of her future, the unknowns of her treatment, and ultimately the question of her ultimate survival were almost more than I could think about. I spent many hours in front of the computer crying while reading updates from her parents. We were also discouraged with the fact that we were not there with Sam and the family; we wanted to badly to be able to help them in tangible ways. But being across the ocean, we weren't able to do anything except pray...and pray we did. 

Zinnia (left) with twin sister Esther (right)

Fast forward to now: Esther is doing, in my opinion, GREAT! She has almost completed her treatment and is finished with her chemo and radiation. She is finishing up some therapies to help her body continue to fight this cancer for the long term and will be having some final scans soon, but all indications are that she is no longer being plagued by this awful disease that has robbed her and her family of so much! But praise God that she survived! Her parents have an unwavering faith that at times, I am jealous of! 

Everyone struggles with problems in their life. God never promised that Christianity would be easy; He never promised that a believers life would be easy. In fact, it was often indicated otherwise. 

• James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."
• John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
• I Peter 1:6-7 "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire---may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

These are just a few verses in the Bible, where it is shown that those who follow Christ WILL suffer trials. I think people, particularly those outside the Faith, often think that if you believe in God then nothing bad should {or will} happen to you, but that isn't the case and it isn't something Jesus ever claimed. It is how we handle the trials that shows our true character. Sam and Anthony have more faith than anyone I know, they never gave up on God, they never blamed this on God, and they never doubted that God had a plan. 

One year ago we mourned over the diagnosis and uncertain earthly future of Esther, but today we rejoice! We rejoice over clean scans, successful treatment, no more "tubies", and hair! This year we rejoice over LIFE! 

Look at all that gorgeous hair!

If you would like to read more of Esther's story and some PHENOMENAL blogs by her family, you can visit their blog: http://spendandbespent.blogspot.com/

To be continued.....

One year ago...

One year ago. That seems like an eternity ago! There were so many things going on in our world that I don't even know where to begin.

We were preparing to move from Italy to Alaska with a 30 day vacation in Colorado in between. By this point we had no car, no house, no anything except our suitcases and Stretch.

 If you had told me one year ago I was going to miss Italy, I would have laughed in your face! Of course I had my "I hate Italy" days, but I have come to realize that no matter where you are, you are going to have those days. I still tell anyone that asks that Aviano, Italy is a HARD assignment,  but I would go back in a heartbeat.

I miss my house and Dani misses her "home." Since she was born 4 months after we moved there, that house was the only house she ever knew. There are days when she says that she doesn't like Alaska. She says that she hates {such a strong word for a little person} this house and she wants her "house in the sky back." I never moved as a child...my parents still live in the same house they lived in when they were married and I always wondered what it was like to move, to be the new kid, to experience change. Dani seems to not like the change so much.

Our Italian Casa

I miss the food. I miss gelato. I miss the culture. I miss the travel. 

We were able to see some of THE MOST AMAZING things during our four years there. By four years, I was ready.to.go! But now, I would give almost anything to be able to hop in the car and go check out something in Austria, or jump on the train to grab lunch in Venice, or to catch a plane and see the Colosseum. 

 Rome Colosseum

 Lake Bled, Slovenia

Church in Milan, Italy

to be continued....

New Blogger on the Block

Well, it has {finally} happened, I have joined the blogging world. I have decided to try to use Facebook less and less for various reasons. There is quite a bit of drama associated for one and for another I can get sucked into "checking on things" FOREVER! It takes away too much of time time from Darnell and Dani and that MUST change.

There has been quite a bit going on with our family, myself in particular, and I don't have the extra time to spend trying to track down everyone. I get worn down with people never making an effort {I'm one to talk} to notify people they care about what's going on...these days you are expected to say "Oh, my friend so-and-so is expecting, let's go see if she posted the gender on her page." And honestly...I am OVER IT!

I won't {likely} delete my page, there is too much actual information that gets put out on Facebook that I would miss out on...base events, news, and information for example.

I think Facebook is great for posting those funny things your kid did or birthday shout-outs, or sharing events, but not for 'real' posting.

Maybe, I'm just looking for a way to get my thoughts out...maybe I should just buy a diary {lol} or maybe what I have to say will relate to others, comfort someone else, or just let them know "Hey, what you are thinking is normal or you aren't the only one."

The name "Team Straus" is a nickname for our family "The Strausheim's" that was given to us by an old friend and it has quite a bit of meaning and nostalgia behind it. After I've gotten the hang of this "blogging" thing, maybe I'll come up with a better name. Until then, this blog is going to be all about Team Straus!


~Rebekah