Leaving to See Daddy and his arrival

Finally the day has ARRIVED!!! Yes this is posted AFTER Frank has returned to the states. This was requested by the commander of his company for safety reasons. Granted I could have posted this the day after he returned however the events leading up to his return kept us packed and very busy, and I did not take the time to do any updates while we were in TX with him.

The house is mostly packed, mostly painted, we are as done at this point as we can be and have not heard back if there are any in flight delays and we have a several day drive ahead of us as I am doing the driving alone with 6 kids and a cat. I have to make sure we arrive there safely so stops are planned for resting, playing, homework as I am still taking college classes, bathroom, and most important eating.

It was not until we were just a couple hours from entering Oklohoma that I got the call letting me know the soldiers were on an unexpected 72 hour layover. UGH!!! 10 hours ago would have been really nice to get this call as I could have stayed home 3 more days and finished the house!!!!

At this point we continued on and found the first hotel that was open and stayed the night. Took our time leaving. We stopped at a park that morning played for several hours as we had an additional 72 hours before daddy would even be landing in TX.

We finally arrived in TX got settled in the hotel, went swimming, checked out the base, and waited. The following days turned into a week before daddy arrived.

When we recieved the call that the arrival day was delayed again the kids were devistated. So we killed time by decorating the hotel room doors, making signs, pictures and posters and more swimming.

The arival day could not come soon enough for the kids. The waiting was almost to intense. Several times they broke down into tears because the time was finally here but not here. What was their daddy going to be like? When was the plane landing? Was that plane their daddys plane? How much longer? Were some of the questions.

Suddenly on the live cam screen a plane came into focus and the camera stayed in on the plane. The entire crowd went silent then every one screamed and cried at the same time. The kids screamed "That's daddy plane! He is almost here, he is almost here!"

 We watched the plane taxi, and a short bit later the plane was greeted and soldiers started to leave the plane. In the terminal each soldier recieved a hug in front of the next camera. As each family reconiged their soldier you could hear the shouts and screams of "Mommy" or "Daddy" from the kids. Each child knew right away even with some kids not seeing his or her mother or father for 18 months or more.

We did not see the soldiers again for amost 2 hours as they all has to turn in their weapons and check in. Nextt hey loaded on the bus then traveled from the far end of base from the large air feild to the Welcome Home Center where we were all gathered and waiting. Each soldier ran in through dry ice fog into formation for a very short ceromony. At the end the crowd was told to go find their soldier.

At this point the kids looked at me and I told them find daddy. They dropped what they had in their hands and scattered in all directions. I took a quick moment to gether their things into one pile, then left to find Frank. By this point it was a mass BDU uniforms. He found me first and the kids were lost in the mass of people.

Once we were all together we simply hugged, talked, gathered our things, collected his things, then left for the room, and relaxed for the rest of the day.