The Homecoming

I pulled into a parking spot in the short-term parking at the airport when Jaren called and said they had just landed. My mom, younger sister and her friend pulled in a minute later. We ran down to the terminal where he would be coming out. I only had to wait a minute before I saw his smiling face. He was the first soldier off of the plane. I couldn't exactly run in heels but walked as quickly as I could before jumping into his arms. This is one of those moments that you imagine but the real thing is 100 times better. That was the best and longest hug EVER! Once Jaren put me down and let go of me a little, my sister Ashley ran over to him to give him a hug and she was crying. It was cute to see.



Ashley made a "welcome home" sign for Jaren the night before and was proudly displaying it while the rest of us held little American flags.



How nice to FINALLY have him home! I missed him so much!



We just couldn't let go of each other once he hugged Ashley and my mom and greeted a couple of soldiers from his unit that didn't deploy with them but were at the airport to welcome them home. It took a few minutes for the rest of the soldiers to make it off the plane. Jaren had been right by the plane door and left all of the other soldiers behind to come find me. :)



It was nice to be at the bed & breakfast for a couple of days. We came back to my parents house for the weekend while they and Ashley went out to Boise to see my sibblings and the grandkids. We'll be heading out tomorrow to take care of some business at Ft. Lewis then we'll start making our rounds to visit family and friends in Idaho and Utah. We'll be seeing you soon!

Latest update...

Jaren will be here before noon today!!! YEAH!!! My mom, sister and I will greet him at the airport then Jaren and I will head for the bed and breakfast. We will be gone for a couple of days but I will post some pictures of the arrival at the airport when I get the chance (in a few days). Just thought I would let you all know he's on the flight right now. It's finally here!!!!!

Really close!

We are down to less than a week until Jaren comes home!!!! Well, it is less than a week as long as the out-processing goes smoothly. I heard rumor that they will be landing in the states tonight but I'm not sure. I haven't heard from Jaren for a couple of days so hopefully I will get a phone call from him tomorrow telling me he's at Ft. McCoy. Unfortunately, they won't be doing any out-processing over the weekend so they have to sit there for two days probably not doing much. I'm hoping they get everything taken care of and get a flight home by the end of next week. He definitely won't be home for my birthday but within a few days would be great too! YEAH!!! I'm almost done with this long separation! I can hardly wait for him to be home with ME!!!!!

Less than a month left...

We have finally made it to that point in our countdown of Jaren coming home in less than one month! If all goes well, he could even be home in less than three weeks! WAHOO!!! My birthday is on the 19th...maybe I'll get an AWESOME birthday present that day! Jaren says I shouldn't count on it though. We won't know exactly when he's coming home until a day or two in advance. The replacement unit has arrived and the advance party for Jaren's unit is already in Kuwait getting all of their gear ready to ship home. Soon enough, Jaren's unit will head to Kuwait to do some out-processing. If no sandstorms delay them, they will spend a few days there then head to Ft McCoy, WI where they will do more out-processing. This could take anywhere from a few days to two weeks. Let's hope it's only a few days! When they leave Ft McCoy they will fly into Portland where my family and I will be there to greet Jaren while waiving little American flags and flashing "We love our soldier!" signs. The bad part about him coming home so soon is that the days seem to be going by SO slowly! We're on the last leg of the race and it's just killing us! Soon enough we will be making our rounds to visit family and friends. Thanks for all of your loving support. We greatly appreciate it!