He's HOME!!!!

I am so dreadful about keeping up with things in life.  I start them, and I'm fired up about it and so excited.  And then it fizzles.  I had great intentions for this blog while Daniel was away - I planned to update at least weekly.  But most times it was easier to stay busy and not think about the process of surviving each day, and so I rarely wrote.  And when I did write, it was typically in a moment of strength, and not one of the many moments when I was terrified or distraught.
I remember one night in particular I was missing Daniel terribly.  His internet had been out and I hadn't heard from him, so I logged in to his facebook to peruse around and feel a little closer to him.  I was reading some of his messages and a friend from our previous church had emailed him a few days before saying, "I just had the strongest urge to pray for you and Bony at such and such time on such and such day."  Daniel's response was that he couldn't go into details, but he and Bony so achingly needed prayer at that moment, and he was grateful to our friend Jeff for heeding God's urging.  I was a mess.  In hindsight, I should have felt a peace that God was taking care of Daniel in each and every way.  But instead I could only see that Daniel had been on a mission and had not given me his secret password before hand to let me know.  Suddenly I began wondering how often he went without telling me, and how often the internet was truly out vs. how often he was on mission.  My amazing husband had been selfless and wise enough to lead me to believe that he rarely did anything but twiddle his thumbs back at their main base.  That night I was a wreck.  I prayed and cried and continually went to the window to make sure there wasn't a car waiting across the street.  I'm not entirely sure how the process goes, and THANK GOD it doesn't seem that I'll ever find out first hand, but in my head I was sure that a soldier and a chaplain would show up to tell me the horrible news, and should it be the middle of the night, they would sit like stalkers in their cars until it was a reasonable time to wake me and shatter my world.  Thus, every car door sent me into hysterics.  It was a long, miserable, hard night.  When I heard from Daniel again, I asked him if he was on mission and he laughed and said, "No, silly.  Our internet was out."  My heart couldn't bear for that to be a lie, and so I believed it as much as I could each time he said it.  When he came home for good he told me that he was on WAY more missions that I had even suspected, and I am SO grateful for his wisdom in lying to me all those months.  I could not have dealt with a night like that one a few times a week.  God is so good, and Daniel is so wise.

Daniel is home now.  For good.  Oh, to say it.  To see it in writing.  To breathe it in and revel in it.  I was so afraid this would never be our reality.  I would waffle back and forth thinking, "Of course he will come home alive!" and then, "So many don't...why do I think my husband will?"  But he did!  April 20-something (yeah, i know; it's horrid that i don't remember the date, but it was changed so many times!) I met him in the parking lot at Fort Bragg Kennels.  It was incredibly low key.  He climbed from the van while very few of us gathered around.  The LT, the kennel master, the commander, the 1SG and the wife of JB, who returned with Daniel.  I'll only say that I'm disgusted at the lack of effort in a homecoming for our k9 guys, and I'll leave it at that.  Anyway, I greeted him in the parking lot, and if you remember, I said goodbye to him in a Sheetz parking lot in Bloomsburg when he officially left me for Afghanistan.  Guess we have a thing for parking lots.

Daniel and I spent the next couple days in something of a honeymoon like bliss.  My wonderful mom had ALL THREE CHILDREN!!!! (bless her crazy soul!) and Daniel and I drove to Myrtle Beach in our rented Mustang and hid away from the world for a couple days.  It was wonderful.  I flew back up to PA to prep for our move, and Daniel showed up that weekend to help (and to see the kids for the first time since coming home!). 

Hazel was SO surprised when Daddy picked her up at Preschool.  Happiest.Girl.Ever.  Julian spotted Daniel's surprise attempt at his school before we could capture a picture.

Moving sucked, as it always does, but we had wonderful, amazing friends and family to help.  I am certain that I could NOT have done it without Daniel there, and I am SO grateful that it worked out for him to be there and he was willing to make the effort to do so!  Honestly, if I could have hid away for the process, I would have!  We put everything into a storage unit and the kids and I moved in with Aunt Sue while Daniel returned to Bragg.  Within a month he should be on terminal leave, and by July the military would be a part of our past and not our present.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

"The best laid plans of mice and men..."  Or soldiers and their families, in this case.  We are living in a little apartment in Bragg with only our bare essentials and a lot of yard sale steals surrounding us.  But I'll tell that story another day.  Until then, know that we are HAPPY and TOGETHER and GRATEFUL!!!!!