December 27th. Then and Now.

December 27, 2012.  Jon is told by his urologist that his yearly scan shows spots on his lungs and looks like testicular cancer has metastasized to his lungs.  Surgery, lung biopsy, standard round of chemo, then high dose with stem cell transplant and finally thoracic surgery to remove remaining spots…FAST FORWARD.

December 27, 2013.  We walked into Disney's Magic Kingdom as a family with Jon completely healthy and cancer free.  What a great moment!

I'm going to let the pictures tell the story but the kids and the parents had an amazing time!  Disney is truly the "happiest place on earth."  I'm sorry if you do not share in that belief, ha:o)

BTW, it's also the first time Jon and I have been on vacation alone, especially DisneyWorld.  It actually went great, the kids (in particular the twins) have come ALONG way and we can finally vaca as a family of 5, YEA!!

Entering the Magic Kingdom!

These are ponies that the kids got to meet the day before at Ft. Wilderness.  They were so excited to see them in the parade!

These kids love each other so much and I truly believe this past year has brought them closer together!

 We certainly had our moments like when the twins would refuse to keep walking and just plop down.

It was definitely a little more tricky like when we rode Dumbo and Jon can't ride the round and round rides so I was alone.  It was fun though!:o)

 The Strebe's are GODSTRONG!

and so is

GOOFY

MINNIE and

DONALD!

THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS

Dear GODSTRONG supporters,

You guys are the best supporters in the world!  You have been amazing throughout our journey.  We want to write one big thank you note because as of now I think we have written about 5 of them and we have  hundreds to write.  My goal is to write you all thank you notes, but that could take a year or years!

We are blessed!  I cannot even begin to tell you the amount of people that have prayed for Jon and our family.  It has been a huge amount!  We want to say thank you for interceding on our behalf.  Your prayers were felt and it definitely gave Jon a huge boost knowing how many people were supporting and praying for him!

If you...bought a GODSTRONG shirt, mailed a card, sent a package, sent a gift card, gave money, sent an encouraging text/email/FB message, called us, made a meal, took care of our yard, put Christmas lights on our house, got our mail, cleaned our house, signed the blanket, tweeted on our behalf, told a friend Jon's story, gave us tickets to a play, museum, etc in Indy, came and visited us, prayed with us and/or for us, ran an errand for us, babysat for us--even at the very last minute, gave Donna a day at the spa, had a playdate with us even when we were perfect strangers, opened your home for us to stay, gave us buddy passes at the last minute, picked us up and dropped us and family off at the airport, took care of our bills and paperwork, drove the sports car to keep it running while we were gone, checked on our home, gave my kids extra love and hugs, allowed Jon to speak and share his story, gave him the BEST medical care, if you are our doctor and responded to freak out text and emails ASAP, let us borrow your thule, rounded up high chairs and rocking chairs to use in Indy, made the dream of being at Cameron Indoor Stadium a reality, sent Duke gear to Jon, upgraded us to first class, donated a sick day, filled our cubbard, gave us tickets to the Pacers, made a video, welcomed us to CBS-Indianapolis, put your life on hold to spend 3 months being "Mandy the nanny", helped us move in and out of the Indy apartment, took a week or 2 to stay with us in Indy, made the GODSTRONG blanket, took Donna on a lunch date in Indy to feel "normal" for 2 hours, helped us pack and unpack in Bluffton, attempted an enema, took out Jon's stitches, substituted, donated sky miles, donated a children's book,  gave us a hotel room with your points, expedited a path report/slides or medical records, or whatever you did to minister to us we want to say …  THANK YOU! 

We are overwhelmed naming off all the things that you all have done for us(and know we are missing some)!  It's outrageous!  We don't deserve it.  You have gone way above and beyond.  I cannot tell you enough how we will forever be changed and we will minister to people in a whole new way because of the way you ministered to us.   We had over 1,000 hits on our blog the day Jon had surgery.  Knowing there were that many people and more praying was such a huge encouragement.  And then to be able to  share the great news on the blog after that was joyous! We are so humbly grateful for all of you!

I do have one small confession to make.  At the beginning of this journey I was so good about writing down every little gift we got.  As our time neared to an end at the end of October and we were exhausted and overwhelmed and were STILL receiving tons of stuff everyday, I stopped writing things down.  UHHH!  So, of course now my memory has failed me and Jon has chemo brain.  If you sent a package, card, gift, etc and want to know if we received it, will you PLEASE send me a message!  Email me, text me, FB me, whatever.  I promise I will respond!  Also, we did have our Indy mail forwarded to our home so if you sent a card at the end, we got it in Bluffton!

We also want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas as you celebrate the birth of Jesus!  We are not only celebrating the birth of Jesus this year but the rebirth of Jon's life.  As we celebrate the Christmas season when Jesus sent his One and Only Son to rescue us from our sinful nature, we as a family are celebrating Jon's life as the stem cell transplant rescued him--remember without that he would not be alive.  Also, you will have to stay tuned on a subsequent blog for the story of how God has now given Jon yet another chance at life because when he was born a preemie he was given a 30% chance to live.  Jon will write a blog post soon:o)

I will leave you with a funny story.  We were having our prayer time 2 nights ago with Jon.  We have added some people to our nightly prayer.  We have been praying for a little baby named Nash who was born early and his lungs kept collapsing.  So this is the conversation we had the other night right before prayer time.

Momma:  "Guys!  I have great news to tell you.  Nash is doing so good he was able to come home from the hospital."

Luke:  "Momma, that's great.  So he can breathe now?"

Momma:  "Yes!"

Luke:  "That's great, Momma.  We don't have to pray for him anymore!!"

Momma:  "Great, that's probably what everyone said when they found out Jon was clean and clear of cancer."

Luke:  "No!  We still have to pray for daddy and his "doodles"  (power port)

We then told the kids Jon will be getting his power port out right after Christmas and so when we prayed Emma Kate prayed for his "Christmas doodles."

Also, we always end our prayer time with all hands in the middle saying, "Strebe's stick together like glue.  1…2…3, the Strebe's are GODSTRONG!"  And now in honor of the lovely ladies below, we then say "SHHHH, the ladies are downstairs."  The kids bust out laughing and start screaming!  We do this in honor of our lovely ladies downstairs!

Blessings to the greatest supporters in the world!

The Strebe's are…

GODSTRONG!

I'll leave you with some pictures!

 Took a field trip to the Bluffton Fire Department.  We had the BEST time.  Firefighter Joel was awesome and spent so much time with us!  The kids had a blast!  And we learned a ton.  And to top it off, at the end they got a call so we got to see them jump in the truck and rush off with sirens and lights!  It was really cool!

 We like to take our lunch boxes to the park and have lunch!

Ryan's new underwear that he is still trying to warm up to.  He is still liking his diapers too much!

Our Thanksgiving

Sorry I left you all hanging.  We DID make it home for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful!  We celebrated with Jon's parents and my mom. We had a very yummy dinner but most of all we were all rejoicing that Jon was with us celebrating wonderful news.

With my mom staying here, we were able to get all of our Christmas up which was great.  Jon's favorite time of year is Christmas so it's been nice to be able to sit and enjoy the Christmas tree and decorations every night.

Jon is doing fabulous.  He went back to work this past week 1/2 days.  He feels really good.  He has also had basketball games this week at night that he is the Athletic Rep for so he has been quite busy.  I also have volunteered him to coach Luke's 4-5 yr old basketball team, so that adds yet one more thing to his already busy schedule.  Next week he will teach full time so pray that he will have extra strength.  He will also start refereeing after the beginning of the year.  I think he is amazing.  I can't believe he had thoracic surgery 2 weeks ago, had 8 cuts, and is acting like nothing ever happened.  He has a full beard, lots of eyebrows, and his hair looks normal.  Its amazing how quickly he started looking like the Jon we knew a year ago.  The day we flew back home from Indy this last time was exactly, to the day, 11 months after Jon was diagnosed with testicular cancer--lung metastasis.

It has been quite an 11 months.  It has been emotionally draining for both of us.  It was been physically draining for Jon.  Ironically, Jon is feeling re-energized and full of life.  I am blah and extremely exhausted.  I currently sleep more than the kids.  I go to sleep soon after the kids go to bed and some mornings I sleep until 8:30 or 9 depending on Jon's schedule.  I hope I go back to normal quickly:o).  This is a lot of the reason the blog hasn't been updated.

Before I let you go, I just wanted to add something to my funny story about my rings getting stuck on my finger.  This is from Jon's point of view.  He claims that this is what he remembers from the event.  He remembers 2 "garden hoses" (chest tubes) stuck up into his ribs.  He said he would lay in the bed and watch the nurses by pass him, straight to my chair I was sitting in beside the window.  According to Jon, the nurses were getting their cousins, brothers cousins, their brothers' cousins' brother, etc for help.  Calling the ER, and never remembering that Jon was the actual patient.  Jon said for a while he was wondering who the patient was with all the attention my finger was getting.  He cracks me up!

Jon will go back to Indianapolis January 8th for a follow up with the thoracic surgeon, chest x-ray, blood work, and a follow up with his oncologist.  He will also get his power port taken out that week in Atlanta, and see his urologist!  Wow, I'm tired thinking about that week.  We are choosing to enjoy this time of year and the good news.  But please continue to pray for us.  We will definitely have "scanxiety" as January 8th gets closer.  Please also pray for Jon's body.  It has been through a lot this past 11 months.  His body has been filled with lots of toxins.  He has had 2 surgeries, a lung biopsy, and a port placement.  There are consequences on your body to taking this many toxic drugs.   Jon has lost a lot of his hearing.  He has ringing in his ear constantly.   He has neuropathy in his feet (he NEVER complains about it).  Please pray that God will protect his body from long term side effects from chemo such as heart problems, secondary cancers, kidney problems, the list goes on.  Although these side effects are more rare, Jon has had high doses of chemotherapy and we don't want to be naive.  I want you to join with us in praying specifically for Jon's body to be protected from these potential complications.  We will be forever changed because of this 11 months.  I am reminded everyday to give Jon up to the Lord and trust Him with his future.  I have no control and this is good for me!

Philippians 4:13  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Ephesians 6:10 "Finally be strong in the Lord and in His Mighty Power."

Psalm 46:1  "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."

The Strebe's are…

GODSTRONG!!

 This is Luke's "epi pen" that he carries with him everywhere he goes.   Most of you know he has a severe tree nut allergy (he went into anaphylactic shock at 2 1/2 yrs. old after eating a cashew).  He loves pretending all the time!

The kids are very into picnics these days.  They now all have a lunchbox and we pack them up and head to the park, tennis courts, beach, etc to have our lunch.

This is Ryan's new Thomas the train underwear.  He loved it when we bought it but then told me he isn't going to wear it!  We are working on warming up to the idea of potty training.  Fun times.