He's Home!

Where do I even start?

I know, I know... It has been forever.  I feel like my blog is a good friend that I used to talk to pretty regularly, but life got busy and all the sudden it has been over two months since we talked.  And there is so much to catch up on that I may not even be able to remember it all!

But the most important thing that has happened in the last two months is something I am reminded of every moment of every day.

My husband is home!

So, there has been a lot of catching up between the four of us in the last two months, but that meant that my blog got a little lost in the shuffle.  I may not ever be able to post about all the things we have done in the last eight weeks, but I am going to try.

Let's start with Thursday, February 23rd, 2012.  The day our family was whole again.

For about 6 months, we had been thinking Asa would be home in mid-March.  I had moved to Missouri, stayed by myself for a week, and then decided it would be more fun to go back to Texas until Asa came home.  So, around January 24th, I headed back to Texas.

A few days later, I got online to talk to Asa and he said, "Well, I need you to go back to Fort Leonard Wood around February 15th."  I was immediately thought that he had sent something there or one of the other soldiers had mailed something to the house and I was going to have to go all the way back to get a package.  I wrote back, "Why?"  A few second later I got a response, " Well, fine... if you don't want to be there to pick me up!"

I squealed!  He was going to get to be part of the ADVON party that comes home early, since he was ADVON heading over there.  It was amazing news and I wanted to tell everyone!  But, Asa really wanted to surprise his family.  So, for the next two weeks I had to keep it a total secret why I was going back to Missouri so soon.

Marley, Vivienne, and I got back to our house in Missouri on February 15th and had a week to get everything ready for Asa.  We cleaned, ran errands, stocked up on his favorite foods, and tried to find things to do to use up those last days.  It was hard!  There were many trips to Panera to pass the time!

The morning of the 23rd, Marley and I woke up early.  The welcome home ceremony was at 12:30 in the afternoon, so we had the morning to get ready.  We ate breakfast together, put up the Welcome Home sign, and then I decided to get in the shower to shave my legs while Vivi was still asleep.  I was almost done, when the baby monitor started beeping, the lights went out, and the water turned cold.  I hadn't gotten to wash my hair yet.  So, I jumped out, got dressed and assessed the situation.  We had lost electricity.  I checked the breaker box and everything there seemed normal.  I called Joel to ask about what I could do and we couldn't figure it out.  I called the maintenance number and they said they would send someone.  But this time, it was about 9.  I was literally pacing my living room thinking, "Of ALL the mornings for this to happen!"

10 am comes and no maintenance men.  I decided to call the community center and ask if they had a bathroom I could use to dry my hair and put on make-up.  She said I was welcome to, so I packed up a bag with my hair dryer, make-up, and clothes in case I had to.

10:45 am rolls around and still nothing.  At this point, I am freaking out!  I tested the water and it was still freezing cold.  I weighed my options and I was just going to have to go for it.  I couldn't wait any longer to wash my hair and still have time to fix it.  I prepared Marley for what I was about to do and told her that I might scream a little bit, but it was ok.

Well, I screamed A LOT.  I was literally in tears and screaming and jumping around.  The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I was NOT going to be the wife at the welcome home ceremony with dirty hair.  During my shower, I looked out of the glass door and realized that Vivi was standing up against the door and Marley was around.  I couldn't get out while Vivi was standing against it and I really really wanted to get out!

"MAAAAAARRRRLEEEEEEEEYYYY!  MAAAAAAARLLEEEEEEYYYYYY!"  Poor kid.  I probably yelled her name 10 times and she never came.  So, now I'm freaking out about the fact that she is gone!  Vivi sat down, I got out and grabbed my towel and ran out of the bathroom to find Marley walking down the hallway.

"Where were you???"
"The main-nen guy came to the door. He said 'tell your mommy and daddy that the lights will come soon!'"
"Did he hear me screaming?"
"Um..... yes."

I can only imagine what that guy was thinking.  He's trying to explain something to my three-year-old while I'm screaming my lungs out in the back!

I sat in my robe on the bed for a few minutes waiting for the lights to come on and warming myself back up.

Ten minutes later and they still hadn't come on.  I packed up the girls and threw on some sweat pants and headed for the community center.  We ran in and I fixed my hair and put on make-up and quickly as I could.  As I was finishing up, one of the workers came into the bathroom and looked confused.  I explained everything to her.  She pointed to one of the bathroom stalls and said, "We have a warm shower here if that happens again!"  You have to be kidding.

After we were all prettied up, we rushed home to eat lunch and get dressed.  As we walked in the door, all the lights came back on.  I made Marley a quick lunch and got all three of us dressed.  We were down to minutes before we needed to be there.  We stopped for one quick picture by the sign, and then headed to the ceremony!

We got there just as they announced that the bus was at the gate.  This is when I really started getting excited and nervous.  This was really happening!

There wasn't a huge crowd since this was the ADVON party, so we all just walked outside to welcome the bus!  They were brought in by a herd of loud motorcycles.  That noise made Vivi start crying and she didn't really calm back down until we got home later.

 

I tried to take pictures of everything, but it was close to impossible with the crying baby in one arm and Marley beside me asking where Daddy was.  But someone across the street got a few good ones. 

Asa on the right, looking over his shoulder.  We are on the left, looking for him.  We hadn't seen him yet.  It kind of hard when they're all in uniform with hats and sunglasses on!

Asa's hand is on the very right and we are in the middle.  This is the first time we saw him.  There was a wall of Army guys in the way, but we saw each other!

I was just wanting to jump and scream at this point, but we all had to wait patiently.  After we spotted him and smiled at each other, we clapped for the rest of the soldiers and then all went inside.  They had a formation, so we had to sit and listen to a couple of people talk.  I actually put my camera down and got out my phone to take a picture with my phone to send to my mom.  But before I could get the camera on my phone in position, they were released!

I nudged Marley, she looked for Daddy, and then ran to him.  It was perfect.  The best, happiest hug she's ever had, according to Marley.

I got to hug him next.  It felt so wonderful to touch his face and see his smile.  And it was amazing to know that he wasn't going back.  He was home.  For good.

We were all definitely on a high the rest of the day.  We got to show him the sign we had made him, introduce him to the house, and let him get to know the girls again.  Vivi was crying through most of the ceremony, but once we got home Asa laid on the ground and Vivi crawled right over to him and starting climbing on him.  We got in comfortable clothes, called Asa's family, and relaxed as much as possible.

I made him a chicken and pesto pizza for lunch and we went to Panera for dinner.  And then, just as I expected, Asa was exhausted and in bed by 8:00!  But I didn't mind.  At least I was getting the girls in bed by myself with him in the other room instead of half a world away.

Afghanistan exploded in our living room.

It is hard to put into words the feelings from that day.  There were so many going through my head that it is hard to sort it all out.  But by the end of the day, I felt relief.

Relief that our favorite guy was home, safe.
Relief that we had made it through the last year, alive and well.
Relief that I hadn't lost my mind.
Relief that this year actually brought us closer together instead of tearing us apart.
Relief that our family was finally together again.