The Arrival

Hard to believe that one week ago I was on my way to get my soldier!  Last Thursday it was finally my turn.  Our deployment was finally over and I could finally go get my man!  Sorry for all the "finally's" but it has been a long 15 months and I am glad it is "finally" over, hehe

I along with 2 other army wives left out on a 5 hour drive around 6 in the morning.  We meet up, got our maps and GPS's in sync then had a time of prayer for our travel and for our husbands.  It was wonderful and of course, I cried.  After we re-grouped, the caravan set off.  I put a status update on my facebook letting people know the caravan was on the road and to not get in our way, lol.  I loved all the comments I was getting.  "Clear the roads people" and "Go get your man!"  I loved reading all of them =)  We had a smooth ride with no problems at all.  We arrived around lunch time and went straight to the camp our unit was arriving to.  We met up with the rear detachment.  The FRG made goody bags for the soldiers and had the rear detachment place those bags on each one of the beds where the soldiers would be staying. Then we got the banners hung that we made for the unit.  After that, the rear detachment took us all around to get the info we would be needing (such as times and places) so that I could contact the families and let them know the details.  We finished up the business we needed to take care of on the camp and went to grab a late lunch and check in our hotel.  By this time it was after 3.  We decided to relax a little while then grab dinner because we were not expecting the arrival for another few hours....so at dinner our phones start going off...the unit is at the airport!  WHAT!  We knew at that point we had less than 2 hours to call the families, get ready, and drive the 20-30 minutes it took to get back to the camp.  We did it though.  We managed to get everyone notified of the time change.  We managed to get ourselves all fixed up.  And we managed to back to the camp with just a few minutes to spare.  Oh if a camera would have been on us during that 2 hours it would have sure made for great laughs!  lol 
Because of the time crunch we were in, I did not get to take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I am sharing a few of the pictures below:

Banner hanging in front of the building the soldiers were staying.  Love the scripture on it...

another banner:

one last banner welcoming the unit home:

I laugh every time I look at this picture of Wendy, myself and Kim.  We all showed up looking like we planned to coordinate outfits.  We seriously look like we could have Christmas card pics taken we coordinate so well ;)  We did not plan it at all.  None of us knew what we were wearing.  We had all actually told each other complete opposite outfits than we wore....how funny is that??? 

Me and Kim:

Me and Wendy:

Me and Amy:  Amy pulled off a big surprise!  A "voice" convinced her to be there when the bus arrived and her husband did not know about it.  yay!  The look on his face was priceless when he saw his children running for him.  I wish I would have gotten a picture but I was a little distracted ;)  I sure am going to miss this lady and her funny mis-hap stories hehe

We decorated the building with signs for our soldiers too.  It was a very last minute thought to do this.  I mean very last minute...we were seriously applying glitter as we walked out the door...which is why mine looks like I did it blindfolded =)

The unit finally arrives!!!  Off the bus and a quick formation:

I shared these next 2 photos on the previous post, but I thought I would share them again.  I was so excited to have my man!!!  Oh the excitement!  Oh the nervousness!  Oh the butterflies!  The feeling you have when you see your husband for the first time after a long deployment is amazing.  Its a feeling of complete relief, happiness, thankfulness, completeness, excitement, pride, love all rolled into one.  For me its like your wedding day amplified by 20.  There is just no other feeling in the world like it. I can still close my eyes and remember every little detail of watching the bus drive up the road and stop.  Then waiting for what felt like an eternity for the doors of the bus to open.  Then waiting some more because J was seriously one of the last ones to step off the bus (I thought I was going to have to get on the bus myself and go get him, lol)  The feeling of that first hug.  Seeing the excitement and tiredness in his eyes...as well as the look of relief that this deployment was over and he was back in the US safe and sound.  Touching his face.  His real in the flesh face and not some grainy skype image.  Holding his hand. Hearing him say "I'm home, it's over"  There is just nothing like it in the world. 

Shortly after the picture was taken the unit had to leave.  Sadly, they were placed on a 24 hour lock down and could not stay with us.  So, as much as I hated to, I had to say good night and watch him walk away.  :(  It was sad, but I knew I could hang on 24 more hours.  Plus, 3 of us wives shared a hotel that night and we were so silly.  I am glad I had them.  It made the night so much easier. 

I will update tomorrow with more about my time "gettin my man"