179 days later...

As most of you could tell from the dissappearing 'ticker' on the side of the site. Or by my lack of time to spend blogging and picture posting, Chris is home now. YAY!!!

For all of you that know me, you would expect me to capture every second of the reunion on camera. But I broke away from the norm and focused on the family being together again. But here is a recap of how it all went.

We got up EARLY Saturday morning and headed to Dulles Airport.

Painted signs...check.
Snacks/drinks for the kids (Jacie)...check.
Kleenex for the tears...check.
Stroller...check.
More Kleenex...check.
Call the airline and make sure that we could go directly to the gate to watch the plane land...check.
(This was actually easier than expected. As soon as I said '3 kids' and 'Iraq' in the same sentence, it triggered a sense of actual compassion from the United workers and they had no problem with us going straight to the gate.)

4:30am - wake up. Get everyone up and out the door. This is a normal thing for us, so on a 'normal' day, it would have been no problem getting everyone ready and out on the road. But this was not a normal day. No one got any sleep the night before. Except Jacie of course. But everytime that I fell asleep, one of the boys was up. "My stomach hurts" "I need a drink" "Can you cover me up" "Is daddy still in the air?" "Is it morning yet(despite the pitch black-ness of the sky"

5:00am - on the road, but a bit groggy. Dulles airport is 1 hr away. The flight - scheduled for a 6:45am arrival. No problem at all. Time is on our side.

6:00am - pull into the parking lot and head to an empty space.
Beep beep beep - a text message - from Chris??? How is this possible?'I've landed'

6:15am - finally make it into the International Arrivals area, one quick bathroom break, photo-op, and Daddy was home, walking through the doors.

We were officially all together again.

So, needless to say, we did not have the 'wait for the plane' anxious morning that was anticipated. But all in all, it was great. The boys were able to see him walk out of the doors...and watching their faces made the morning perfect for everyone.

Caden took off running towards him first. Cavin hesitated, but followed a second later. And Jacie just smiled. When Chris picked her up, she laid her head on his shoulder and just smiled from ear to ear. And me, pure happiness. It was a perfect reunion.