HE'S HOME!!!

HE'S HOME, HE'S HOME!!! Some of you may have known and some may not, but Joe has been deployed for the past 9 months to Afghanistan.  He finally got home Friday morning at 1am.  It's been a long deployment after only being in our new NC house for 6 weeks before he had to leave.  Everything that could go wrong with the house or the kids getting sick, happened literally the week after Joe left!  Broken air conditioning (resulting in a new unit to include a gas line being put in), removal of trees, two new toilets due to leaks, broken refrigerator, demolish-in of two bathrooms, two car accidents, Croup, ear infections and stomach flu just to name a few...but the moment I saw Joe get out of that van Friday morning made me forget all of these "challenges" and thank God for the return of my husband, my best friend and Daddy! Moments like this really test you, your faith and your strength and I can officially say that we made it and conquered the challenge.  Thank you to all of our AMAZING family AND friends that traveled from all corners of the country to help me.  I couldn't have done it without you!  I've been working on a video that documents Joe's deployment from beginning to end.  It's a little long but truly worth the watch (don't forget to turn your volume up)!


The kids had a "surprise" waiting for them when they woke up Friday morning to see Daddy! I had kept it a secret that he would be home that day. All they knew was that Daddy should be coming home "soon". Keep in mind that when Joe left, Emma was only 10 months old so she had just started standing. As he walked in the door he witnessed for the first time her walking and talking! She was so sweet just staring at him as if "he's real and not just on Skype"! Since he's been home she hasn't left his side!