Doing the Happy Dance!

We are pretty happy at our house. Our son Andy, who is in the army was on a training mission in the desert in California for the month of October. There was no Internet or phone available so we had no calls or messages from him all month.
It was so nice to hear his voice at the end of last week. He's back in Colorado and will be there until his unit is deployed to Iraq early next year.
However, along with being happy to hear from him, he shared some news that really made our day. He is getting leave over Christmas and will be able to come home! We were geared up for another Christmas season without him, so this is a wonderful surprise. I don't need any other gifts this year - I'll have my son home!

I'm back!

Finally our Internet is up again! Even after getting a new modem we were having trouble, but I think it's finally fixed!

If you have been following the count down on my side bar you know that Andy's homecoming is almost here. He will be home Sunday afternoon. He will be losing time coming back. He leaves Korea at 11:00 Sunday morning and arrives in the States at 10:00 am Sunday morning!

He called tonight to tell us that his Internet and phone will be done tomorrow so we won't hear from him again until we see him on Sunday. He was getting ready to go to another base when he called. They are having a full day of farewell ceremonies for their base. The president of South Korea will be there to thank them for their service.

Be prepared to see pictures of the big homecoming on Monday!

I'll be home for Christmas!

The words to that song have been a lot more meaningful to me this year. I have been blessed to always have all my family around me, and never had to think about being separated from any of them. This year I have been so excited that Andy was coming home for Christmas and thought of him each time I heard that song. I am now one happy Mom - my son is home. Here's a few pictures from the happy event. His plane was about 30 minutes late coming in. Here's part of the group, anxiously waiting his arrival. Can you believe my camera wasn't ready when he came down the concourse, so I don't have a picture of that. I can tell you that he was greeted with cheers and applause. Here he is greeting my Dad.
Here he is with his cousin Nick. There were lots of hugs and happy tears! A few people in the airport stopped him and thanked him for his service to the country.

We all went to the Old Country Buffet afterward. Here you see Andy with Halle and Shaelyn.

Can you see how happy Andy is in this picture - the Old Country Bee wanted his picture taken with Andy too!

Here is the whole family together again.

Heather, Mari, Andy, Bob, Laura, Aaron

As you are together with your families this season, say a special prayer for the soldiers who aren't able to be home for Christmas and their families who are missing them.