Day -7 - One Week Already

Wow. I can't believe that it's been an entire week already that Al has been home. How crazy is that? Time sure does go fast when you're not counting it - lol.

We sure hope everyone is doing great - almost everyone should be home or is already home from the the 155 BCT - YAY! I know that it is a good feeling for everyone to not have to worry constantly, wait for the phone to ring or everything else that goes along with a deployment. I am sleeping through the night now and I am no longer married to my computer or the phone - but I have a real, live husband in my house which is wonderful and scary all at the same time. Transitioning from a deployment to being a full time newlywed sure is INTERESTING to say the least - not to mention the fact that I am a terrible control freak to boot. Yikes. Poor Al! It's a good thing he's the most laid back person on the planet!

Everything else is going wonderfully - and we are so happy to be together. Things went great with homecoming and our contact for Al's unit (Sergeant Errington) did an awesome job communicating everything about their arrival. I also was super blessed because two ladies from my Yahoo 155 Board got their hubbies home on the exact same flight as Al - and that meant that we could meet one another and talk before our hubbies showed up - which was a wonderful way to pass the time. Al's mom, Judy, was also able to bring Al's son, Trey, down - so that was super special too. I am really happy that they got that time together. Since I knew I would be trapped down in a hotel next to Camp Shelby for several days, we had Em stay at home with her dad - but, she was thrilled to see him this week.

Demob took several days, but it was a pretty easy process overall. It took us four days to demob - and now we will have a few things to iron out with the VA at the end of the month. Al has done an amazing job so far this week getting things set up - he is definitely a go getter!

I will post just a few pictures of our homecoming for you. Thank you to all of you again for everything!

Tammy & me before our hubbies came


Deb, her beautiful children, Tammy & me


Mama Judy & Trey (they provided games for the kids to play with - that was a nice touch)


Trey & me (we made his t-shirt together at Xmas - it says, "Welcome Home Daddy - Love, Trey"


Everybody is waiting for their soldiers!


Mama Judy, Trey and me right before Al came.


Deb's hubby snuck up on her even before the buses came!


Here come the buses!! Oh my GOODNESS!


Tammy's hubby was the first one off the first bus!!




Here comes Al! He sees us!


Trey ran up to Al and gave him a HUGE hug.


Al, Trey and me after Trey let him come up for air - lol.


All of us together - so happy for for our soldier to be home for GOOD.

Day 362 - This is it!!!

More details later this week - I am leaving to see my hubby!

Day 360 - Almost here!

Well, just 'a few more days' until Al is home for good. Thank GOD! I will be so thankful for him to be home - and for us to just act like an old married couple! I miss him so much and getting to see him again (finally) will be absolutely wonderful.

The Army can still change everything - but I'm praying that we will stay on track. He almost did his entire 365 of "Boots on Ground" time - almost everyone else in his group is home now too. Waiting these last couple of extra weeks has been hard, especially after seeing everyone else's reunion pictures and hearing their stories - but, he hasn't been alone in being one of the last few to get to leave. I have some good friends that I made through a Yahoo National Guard wives group and a couple of those ladies are just now getting their hubbies home - and one good friend, Tammy, is getting her hubby home at the same time as Al.

This whole experience has taught me so much about selfishness - and not thinking about what I need all the time - but I felt myself doing the 'poor me' routine again this morning while I waited to hear whether it would be this week for sure or next week before he would be home. Then, I got the proverbial phone call and everything was "a-okay" again, and I felt bad for allowing myself to get so upset about something that neither Al or I could control.

If you read any of the posts in this blog, I hope you can see how much I love my husband. This year apart has been paradoxical in the sense that in a lot of ways it has brought us much closer together than we ever would have thought possible. I know that a lot of people appear to have a good relationship on the outside, but when you really get into the meat and potatoes of their relationship, that things aren't so rosy - but I believe that Al really is the person that I was meant to spend the rest of my life with, and I can't wait until we can get started on that life together.

I want to thank all of Al's friends that he made in the Sand this past year - you supported Al and kept him laughing this past year - and we will both be forever grateful for your friendship. It will be nice to see all of you again - and for it not to have anything to do with a deployment. You know who you are - and Al never meets a stranger, so I don't want to inadvertantly leave off any names, but thank you so much for what you've done for us.

Thank you also to all of my friends and family that have helped to keep me sane during this time. I have a special group of military wives that I have grown especially close to - and that have become so important to me (a huge SHOUT OUT to Jane here). I want to also thank my friend Stacy, who was the one good friend that I got to know from our FRG and who has had my back more than once. My best friends Matt, Melissa and Renee have come through for me in the past year more than I can count - mainly by keeping it real and reminding me that they have known me forever and that one year of my life is not going to kill me or permanently alter the core of who I am.

To our blog friends, I never knew that we would meet this amazing community of Milblog writers and readers that would become such an important part of our lives - and I want to thank you so much for coming to our site and for all of your feedback and support - thank you also for what you do every day - and for reminding me time and time again that Al and I weren't/aren't alone in this deployment or in our sacrifice.

To the people that adopted Al (and Trey, Emelia and me too) and sent care packages and just plain 'love' through the mail - words cannot express our thankfulness for letting us become a part of your families - we look forward to getting to know you even better over the next couple of months when we won't have to worry about a deployment hanging over our heads.

Thank you to our church families that have stood by us during this time of separation - your prayerful support has meant everything. And, finally, thank you to our families for all of your love and support - especially all the wonderful things that you did for us when Al and I got married this past summer, your belief in us means everything.

Al and I are about to embark on brand new territory - and I know that it won't all be fun and games or easy - but I believe that Al was a wonderful investment of my time and energy - and I am looking very forward to seeing multiple dividends on my initial sacrifices - lol. I hope he feels the same.

There are A LOT of 155 BCT families that are dealing with redeployment and homecoming and reunion - so I wanted to post this website - it's got some wonderful information in it ---

Homecoming & Reunion!

"Hooah!" - We are almost DONE!