NEARLY PERFECT DAY

 (only way it could have been better would be to have the girls here)

I had shown a bit of foresight and cancelled speech today. There was no drama or weight management class for me.

Jared, Arielle, Nolan and I hung banners, put up balloons, and bows this a.m. I'll show pictures later - I'll need to blur names on uniforms and signs before posting.

Heather and Kelli came over and helped sort produce today! What a BLESSING! They stayed and passed out produce, put away tables and such. There was a bit of a mix up today...seems we have two new women today Sandra and Sandy....and I really mixed it up...but all were understanding and it worked out fine.

We ran out of house with 20 minutes to get to the airport. It's just a few minutes down the road. Josiah looked over and said, "Are you a bit excited, Mom?" YIKES I was going 65 mph and I wasn't near a freeway. I slowed down to 40 mph. I simply can't think of WORDS to describe my feelings and such...maybe tomorrow. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words - so I'll post some photos below.

Mike got to talk to the girls. I missed them terribly today. Krista had called last night with orders for me NOT to climb on top of the RV....goodness that girl knows me. She said the boys were younger and would bounce better. ::snort:: We compromised with a ladder and Jared held it. I'll show the photos of the decked out RV tomorrow or so....

Initial Michael Sighting

Cy had the camera and snapped photos....as I wrote earlier home for me is wherever this man is....

Stacia, however, is not so sure of Michael right off the bat. He is GOOD - he had a stuffed pig for her in his carry on.

A Man and His Dog...

Mike removes the last link in our homecoming chain and is home at last!

We were milling around outside, hooking up the battery and about to check out the RV, when Margie came by. What great timing. She welcomed Mike home and took a family photo for us.
We gave Mike the tour of his gift...Zander opened the control panel (right at child level as you enter) and said, "ta DAH!" Then he showed Mike the "master suite" and said, "See - we got you a bed. You can sleep here instead of in the house!" ::snort::
Mike was making phone calls to family and fell asleep. Stacia peeks over the footboard...she seemed to wonder why I was allowing this man to get into "our" bed...but she's warming up...she curious now. LOL

Mike is still on Middle Eastern time. He fell asleep while calling family....I think this means he'll finally get up early with me tomorrow morning! ::snort:: We are starting to figure out what we want to do with the next two weeks. The Air Force gives us 2 weeks of "recon" time. The first week seems to be full with briefings....but I think we are going to get away for a bit the second week. Darshia, Jamin and Mike got those AK plates installed right away on the RV. LOL

IRONY...

Did I say I loved irony? My printer quit working again tonight....how's that for irony? The appliances are going to continue the revolt until the bitter end.

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

I got a call this a.m. from Ch. S in Ramstein AB, Germany. He let me know that Mike had been through there and was on his way to the States.

We got home from the park and Jamin had talked to Mike. He is in America. I believe he is in Baltimore. He'll be in tomorrow at 11:25 a.m. Any local folks that want to be at the airport are welcome to be there. Kelli and Heather have volunteered to come at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow and help sort produce. They may end up sorting it all so that I can make sure children are properly attired and out the door. They'll also handle pick up time for me and lock up the house.

YIPPEE!!!! This is too good to communicate via email..... Below are the posts I've not been publishing all week because Mike's return was classified until he landed in America.

THURSDAY

We're waiting for a call from Mike to say that he is back in America and to tell us when he is coming home for sure. There is simply no way the little ones are going to be able to focus on the Civil Rights Movement today. I set them the task of cleaning their rooms. I'm not fretting my to do list any longer, it really is not going to matter to Mike if I have the garage, the yard and the van clean. He's not going to be terribly upset if the cheesecake doesn't arrive until next week. He won't be upset that I didn't get all the fix it jobs done - he'll know he's needed...dreadfully...around here.

In the midst of cleaning I found Arielle crying in her room. She was feeling what I was feeling, "The girls should be here." It was one of those "ahhhh" moments when Stacia wandered in and gave Arielle a big hug. Of course, by the time I got the camera she was done patting and was brining the hug thing to a close. LOL

Our plan is to work until lunch. Have lunch and then go spend an hour in the park with Tricia and her girls. We need a diversion.

EXCITEMENT

Stacia has no clue what the excitement is all about, but she is willing to play along with us and claps and cheers every night when we remove a link of our homecoming chain.

Our Countdown Chain....

We finally decided how we want to end the chain...we bought a big Kiss and attached the chain to it....We'll let Mike take the last chain off and it will be his gift. Zander is determined we need FLAGS on the chain...so I stuck some flags in the KISS box.

Tuesday/Wednesday (13, 14 March)

We're playing a new game around here. Zander runs up and hugs me and then pulls back and says, "you're not my Daddy - but my Daddy is coming." We are getting so excited.

Heard from Mike today and his journey HOME has begun!!!! I'm walking around with a HUGE grin on my face.

Here is a more recent picture of our countdown chain.....