Welcome Home Adam!

The yellow ribbon was hung . . .

The welcome sign was written on the drive . . .

Spider man was there and a Wubzy representative was in attendance . . .

Dexter and Cooper were there (after a long hard day at the zoo) . . .

The dogs had been trimmed and bathed . . .

. . .  and we waited for Adam.

We had had a sneek peak at him last weekend.  He called Saturday morning to say that he might be getting released that day.  We got ready to leave the house to pick him up while waiting for a call back.  20 minutes later he called and said he wasn't getting released but he was given a 3 day pass.  HURRAY!  We left ASAP and drove to get him.  It was soooooo good to see him and hug him.  We stopped for a quick bite to eat then started the long drive to his home.... lots of time for visiting in the car.  Justin met us in the city and took him the rest of the way.  After his pass Adam drove himself back to the base and finished up all the details and is now DONE!!  FINISHED!!  IT'S OVER!!!

I spent a good part of the week in between that first weekend when we picked him up for his pass and the weekend after he was released calling him... just because I could!  I love hearing his voice answer the phone... or seeing his name on the caller ID if he called us.

It was a nice long weekend with Adam, Sarah, John, Cooper, Dexter, Zak, Caycee, Scott and I.  We missed Justin (someone has to work!) and Dayna and Lynzee but they spent time with Adam that first weekend.  Bittersweet... Dayna's brother left the country the very day Justin's brother landed back in the U.S.

Adam said he hadn't seen any kids the entire time he was gone.  He made up for it this weekend. It seemed like he had a niece or nephew (or several!) around him nearly all the time.  We kept pictures up and talked about Adam with the kids while he was gone and it paid off.  They remembered him and weren't shy at all.  Just before I shot this picture he had the three olders ones - Zak, Caycee & Cooper - on his lap at once.  My camera wasn't fast enough to catch it  :(  or maybe it was the operator that wasn't fast enough.

I've been trying to think of a way to describe how it feels and I keep falling short. You know when you watch a toddler climb the monkey bars alone for the first time and you are holding your breath and then they make down in one piece and you finally breathe. Or when your 16 year old takes the car out for the first time and they come home safe and sound and you relax. Or, if you don't have kids as a reference, you're waiting for a grade on a really important test and you get a good one and your nerves are settled. You don't even realize how tense you have been... you think you are taking it all in stride but it's over and parts of you relax that you just didn't realize had been tensed. It's like all those things only 100 times over. One, big, giant sigh of relief, your shoulders drop, and your heart swells.

Thank you Lord.  And please continue to watch over all our military men and women who are still on active duty wherever they are.