Dear Family and Friends,

Hello!! We have had a couple busy weeks this new year. Ella and I went on a road trip with Nana Dawn up to Virginia (visiting our friends Bob, Dana, and Tivan) and then headed up north to Jersey City to see Josh, Andrea, and Aylah. The time went by so quickly!! We had a great time though and it was fun to visit with everyone. Thanks guys for having us!! Dawn flew out of New York a week into our travels to head back to Michigan, and Ella and I took the road trip down the same day while stopping in Quantico to visit with our friends for another week or two. The drive from Virginia to my parents house was quite brutal. Let me just say that their will be no more road trips longer than 2 hours with just Mommy and Ella in the car. ;) Road trips will involve Daddy and lots of breaks to recover from any traumatic episodes to occur. I can't believe Jonah and I were able to conquer 17 hours (probably less) from Niceville to Muskegon with 2-3 potty stops. Which at the time wasn't really all that bad except for the poor guy that we lent a ride to that had to sleep off his hangover in the backseat of our truck. I'm just glad I was able to use my "I'm pregnant" card for that one. ;) At least he got dropped off in Indiana. That was fun though and for sure memorable.

Jonah and I had our 2 year anniversary this 10th of February. I got to talk to him on the phone for a good hour and later in the day was surprised with a beautiful bouquet of roses (pink purple color) and white lilies. Thank you so much Sweetheart!! I get to boast about being spoiled considering the circumstances. I guess I should also mention he bought me some new clothes too along with an upcoming hair appointment. ;) I'm just excited that this year we will be able to share together and celebrate being a couple while feeling like newlyweds all over again. I know that war is not good for families nor distance, BUT it makes you indescribably respect and love your partner and cherish every moment that you get to have with them. I LOVE YOU JONAH AND CAN'T WAIT TO BE HOME WITH YOU!!

Now, speaking of home, Ella and I will be flying out to California this upcoming week. We had a house offer and decided to take it seeing that another wouldn't be available until the 10th of March (the day I'm turning 26 ugh). ;) I told Jonah I would start lying about my age once 30 hits and sit on 29 for a while. AnYwAys... I am just super excited to get one step closer to being home with my family. I'm going to try and attempt to get some things out of storage for us, but I'm perfectly fine with sleeping on an air matrice for a couple weeks and using plastic forks and plates if need be. My mom will also be flying out around the same time to meet Ella and I to help with the move. Thanks Mom!! It will be a long flight entertaining our little one, but easier I'm sure than road tripping. ;)

Jonah is doing good; he has had a flu lately and not feeling so hot. We haven't been able to talk a whole lot recently, however, I did get an email from him the other day and excited to know that he's well. I don't know times or anything about his exact arrival, so pretty much just know that he will finally be home with his family in March!! :) I will make sure to have lots of photos asap for you all to enjoy. Please just continue to keep us in your prayers; let's just say it's not going to take 24 hours for Jonah to get home. Thank you again for all your love and support!!

Lots of Love,
E,J, and I

PS- Please check out the blog below containing new photos!! :)

Ella loves to use her Elmo toothbrush.

Mmmm! Bananas and Peanut Butter! (not to be confused with grandma "NaNa")

It was super windy this day!

Her Uncles from Nashville love this outfit on her.

Ready for "Night Night"!

Valentine cookies from NaNa! Mmmm! They lasted 2 days; Ella must have been hungry. ;)

Valentine's from Daddy and Mommy. We love our Baby Girl!!

I'm showing off my BEAUTIFUL bouquet from Jonah!! 2 years Sweetheart and still Newly Weds!! I LOVE YOU!!

Visiting Great Uncle Mike and Aunt Wanda.

Ella enjoyed going for a wagon ride.

Super Cute Ducky Towel from Uncle Josh, Aunt Andrea, and Aylah. This one is especially for them.

Jersey City visiting Cousin Aylah and family. The girls had a lot of fun interacting with each other.

Visiting her boyfriend Tivan up in Virginia. ;)

Washington DC Capitol Building (It was freezing!!)

Dana, NaNa Dawn, me, Tivan, and Ella in DC (Dana's husband Bob was taking the photo.)

Until they all come home...

I'll have to be honest with you, I may put on a face with a smile, but being away from my husband right now is very painful inside. Of course I have my good days when life seems to continue with it's routine and is accepted. However, today is one of those bad days. 

Today is our 2nd year anniversary of our first wedding. Yes, for those of you that don't know, we got married legally January 5th, 2006 at the First United Methodist Church in Niceville, Florida. As I wrote in an email to Jonah today... "I know that I'll always remember that day. I was so anxious to get done with teaching. I remember getting home and being a little sad that you weren't home when I arrived, but I used that time to hurry up and get beautiful for you. Then I remember going downstairs after I was ready and realizing that I hadn't even noticed the Kay's bag sitting next to the TV which you left unintentionally b/c you figured you'd beat me home. I will honestly say that I did not peek! Then I remember you coming home and everything then happening so fast; we were rushing to the church to arrive on time. I'm assuming we were supposed to be there around 6PM. When we arrived I thought it was so beautiful to be together in that small prayer room and everything was so simple and perfect. I remember being a little nervous about messing up the words that I would repeat to you as my committed vows, but also thinking how lucky I was to have you be the one to say them to." I guess what has been most difficult about today is that I wanted so badly to talk to Jonah and wish him a Happy Anniversary, however, he will have a nice email from me to look forward to. ;) Plus we have February 10th just around the corner!

I can't put into words the emotions I have while knowing that my husband is off at war. I have talked to him 2 times in the past 2 weeks each time for 10 minutes because their are other marines waiting to use the phone to speak to their loved ones. I feel so selfish when I become upset that I wish we could speak longer, but it's also just a relief to hear his voice and know that everything is okay. It's funny the things that we take for granted; cell phones have become such a useful tool in communicating... the usual phone call before your spouse arrives home for dinner as a way of "checking in" becomes such a routine that when it is put on hold because of circumstances like these is highly missed. Perhaps I could try that 800 number that shows up from his satellite phone? Ha! ;) 

So, dear loving family and friends, please continue to keep not only Jonah but all military (especially ones that are away from their families) in your prayers. Please remember that our loved ones are away because they are fulfilling their duty to our country; we seem to forget so quickly what happened in 2001 that we become unappreciative of the sacrifices that our men and women continue to make for us in support of our liberty. 

A Soldier's Wife's Prayer

Dear Lord,

Give me the greatness of heart to see

The difference between his duty and his love for me.

Give me understanding so that I may know

That when duty calls him, he must go.

Give me a task to do each day

To fill the time when he is away.

And Lord, when he is in a foreign land,

Keep him safe and in your loving Hand.

~Unknown

Beary Merry Christmas To You!!

Well, I skipped a Thanksgiving blog, so I'm going to give you a brief ongoing of that event at the Bruner's house in Tennessee.  The celebration occurred with my brother, grandmother, mom, dad, Ella, and I.  Mom cooked a huge feast with everything made from scratch; even fresh vegetables from my parents massive garden this recent summer. We basically did what everyone does on Thanksgiving, stuff yourselves so full that you have to lay down and take a nap for the stomach pain to go away.  A year ago, my brother & I started a little "Walmart Tradition" where we get up at the butt crack of dawn on Black Friday and shop with a million other people to get some of those (as my father-in-law calls them) "steals" of a deal.  Yes, we did get up this year again around 4:45AM and went to the one store (and only store) Walmart.  The sad thing is that we're supposed to be going to buy presents for other people, but we pretty much go to get the $2 DVDs. Haha. I know my husband will be proud. :) However, I did realize this year what great deals they have for toys, so I'm thinking this might have to be a yearly event with all the young generations that are coming into the world. :) So, that was our Thanksgiving and my Walmart promotion for you all.  I look forward to next years celebration with my husband, however, I'm pretty sure him & Ella will be sleeping in the day after. 

Now onto Christmas... we're getting into the holiday festivities around the house.  Ella has done an excellent job with helping with the ornaments.  I'll have to upload more photos b/c our tree looks much different now; the top of the tree is fill with decorations and below it's looking a little scarce.  You pretty much have to check your shoes around here for ornaments before putting them on. ;) While decorating, I'll have to say that she was getting the ornaments off quicker than we could get them on. We've also been doing a lot of baking and making lots of packages and sending them off to Daddy and his fellow buddies.  I'll have to say that having Christmas so soon is exciting to the 3 of us because we know it means a closer reunion to finally being home together in 3 months. I try not to get too excited because I know those last 3 weeks are going to be very slow. :) Less than 100 days to go though and we'll all be home together!! Well, in a motel working on getting a home together. LOL, but that's fine with me!!

Here's an Ella update... she learns new words constantly. We've been working on sign language a little together because she's been learning them off of her Baby Einstein dvds.  She pretty much will say anything you ask her to, most of the words are sounded out correctly but sometimes aren't finished completely. A lot of her sentences are one to two words which I read is quite normal for her age. She's a little chatter box though and loves to explore everything. I've finally gotten her into music; she loves to dance at the beat and shakes her little booty. Her favorite toy right now is a bear that I had when I was younger. (The first photo is of Ella with him.) In the photo you can see he has a diaper on him because Ella decided the other day that he needed a changing, so with a little help from Mommy, he got one. ;) 

I'll try and get another post out soon of more photos from this month; especially during present openings. :) Lots of Love to you All. ~E,J,&I