Welcome Home Banner

About a month before Joel came home, I ordered his welcome home banner.  I had heard about a company who offered free custom welcome home banners and cards for soldiers, but it took a bit of digging to track down the company.  BuildASign.com has a selection of welcome home and "In Memory" banners that are completely customizable.  It took me less than a minute to change the text on the banner to read as I wanted.  The company also has jumbo cards that would be fun to send for special occasions while your troop is deployed or to bring with when they come home.

The banner was free.  All I paid for was the cost of shipping.  The banner is really well-made and I'm sure we'll have no trouble using it again.  It took less than a week for it to be delivered and the communication from the company was outstanding.

Just through I'd pass this on to you - hope it'll be useful.  And I'm more than happy to give credit to a great company who supports our troops in such a practical way!

NOTE:  I am in no way affiliated with BuildASign.com

Homecoming... A Few More Pictures

I'm back with a few more pictures...  Because Joel had such a long delay in getting home and was exhausted from traveling, I just took my girls with me to pick him up from the airport.  He asked that family and friends wait to see him after he had a chance to shower, sleep and get re-acquainted with his girls.  So, my plan to have a dozen people with their cameras taking pictures of our homecoming didn't happen.  It was just me and my camera, which I pretty much forgot I had after I got two shots.  So here they are...

Grace - 4 1/2

Autumn - 9 months

For those of you who have gone through a deployment homecoming, you know that there is a lot of build up and anticipation and then it all just happens too fast.  The week before Joel came home, I was nervous, restless, had a hard time sleeping and could hardly eat.  Grace knew that he was coming home shortly, and asked me a hundred times a day how many days and hours were left until Daddy came home.  And then we had the dreaded delays.  Lots of delays.  Lots of questions.  Some major heartbreak when we knew that he wouldn't come home on the scheduled day. 

I stalked Facebook for days, hoping that one of the other wives would have some big news about the exact time the guys were coming back.  I don't know how many times I check Facebook last weekend, but I know that Grace would just sigh when she saw me back on the computer.

And then there was news that Joel's unit had seats on a couple flights and would be home that day.  My anxiety amplified and I was on-edge all day.  The hours couldn't have gone by any slower.

Finally, we were at the airport, surrounded by the excitement and anticipation of other wives and kids from the unit.  Joel was one of the first guys out of the terminal and it was surreal to see him in the flesh.  As much as I wanted to run and grab him, I really wanted to see Grace and Autumn's reaction to Daddy.  It was amazing to see him with his girls again and finally, after all these months, I felt content, knowing that our family was together.

We had a party with family and a few close friends...  the last several days have been quiet days at home as a family.  We're getting back into our groove.  There's still an adjustment ahead, but I'm optimistic right now.  So, far it's been pretty easy...  I just have to try and stop asking Joel what he's doing every 5 minutes.  If you've been where I am, you know what I mean.

For now, I'm back to cuddling with my husband while our girls are in bed....  will be back soon.





Homecoming

After a whole bunch of bumps and delays.... our troop finally came home!  Just wanted to share a couple of quick pictures with you all.

More to come....  Thank you all for cheering us on along the way!

Pre-Homecoming Jitters

Joel's homecoming is right around the corner... I know I keep talking about how close it's getting, but it's all I can think about right now.

The house is clean, some of his favorite meals are stocked in the freezer and his welcome home sign is up in the front yard.  We're getting so close to the moment I've been thinking about for the past 7 months - that moment that when times have been tough, has helped me to get through.  This is our third homecoming in four years, so I feel like I know what to expect.  But it's that knowledge that makes me nervous.

For those of you who have gone through a homecoming, you know that there's a lot of build-up to the event and then a whole lot of adjustment that happens for many months afterward.  I've done a few posts on our adjustment when Joel came home from Iraq in 2007.  You can read Part I here and Part II here, if you're interested.  I'll just say that the adjustment was tough.

So, I know going into this homecoming that we'll have an adjustment time - a time when Joel needs to slowly step back into his position as husband and father.  He'll need time to adjust to how things have been handled while he's been away.  He'll have to get caught up on all that's happened with family and friends over the last 7 months.  And I'll need to adjust to having my partner back with me.  I've handled all the parenting, finances, house decisions, car decisions, and goings-on with family and friends.  I've mentioned before that I'm a bit of a control-freak - very much a Type A personality.  So, as hard as it's been to be the one to handle everything at home while Joel's been deployed, I've been able to do it all my way.  There have been no negotiations, no conversations, no arguments - whatever I felt was best at the time, was the law of the land.

There will be a time of giving up some of that control.  And it'll be hard for me.  I know myself well enough, and I will think that when Joel asks "why" I did something, that he's really judging my decision making, rather than just trying to understand why I chose to do something a certain way.  I'm going to have to let go of my own will and learn yet-again, to partner with Joel in this awesome blessing called marriage.

We'll also have some adjustments getting back into sync with one another.  For the past 7 months, our marriage has consisted solely on email and phone calls.  Most of the topics we discussed were light-hearted and encouraging.  We told each other "I love you" probably a thousand times or more.  Nothing too-serious was ever discussed.  I'm happy that our marriage was incredibly strong when he left in July.  I'm counting on that to be a good place to build from.  But it's going to take some time to learn about each other after I know we've both done a lot of growing.  Because I know how bad a marriage can get from a deployment, part of me is scared.  I never want to get to that point again.  I never want our marriage to get so out of sync that the D word enters my mind.

I've asked a few close friends to start praying; that God would protect our marriage and that Joel and I would be patient and gentle with one another as we adjust to married life and family life together with our girls.  There will be some awkward moments.  But I pray that that awkwardness will quickly subside and that we're able to get back into the groove of married life.

Right now I still have a few things on my to-do list... those things keep me focused and strong, even though my body, mind and heart are tired.  I can't wait to leave for the airport and see him walking through those doors.  Most of all, I can't wait for him to come back home.