home again :)

So on April 4th my Dad and my brother Willie helped me load all our junk into my parents 15 passenger van and then drove us to my Maw Maw & Paw Paw's house in Baton Rouge, LA. Then Monday morning, with all our junk having been transfered to Maw Maw & Paw Paw's minivan, we set out on the first leg of our drive to Connecticut.

That first day we got to Atlanta, GA where we stayed the night with Maw Maw's niece Dianne and her husband John. Tuesday we drove from Atlanta, to Otto, NC where we stayed with Paw Paw's brother Rich and his wife Velma. Wednesday we drove to Glouchester, VA where we stayed with Jeremy's Maw Maw & Paw Paw Duck. And on Thursday we got all the way from Virginia to our home in Connecticut - despite some navigational challenges along the way.

Reuben and Anna were SO good the whole trip, I was so proud of them! It was such a blessing to be able to drive rather than fly with them. I can't even tell you how grateful I am to my grandparents. It was really neat to be able to show them where we live, and just enjoy the"vacation time" together.

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, Jeremy had flown from Iraq to Kuwait, and Sunday, April 10 he flew from Kuwait to the states. After a week of demobilization at Fort Dix, NJ we were extatically planning to pick him up at the welcome home ceremony in Hartford, CT this past Saturday the 18th. But...his company commander and/or immediate staff goofed, didn't fill out some paper work they were supposed to, and so the welcome home party was cancelled and they will now be getting relased tomorrow in New Haven, CT.

When the word came that we wouldn't be bringing Jeremy home Saturday, we were all obviously very dissipointed. Within a few hours Jeremy and I got the opportunity to chat, and within a few minutes we had decided that the kids and I were driving to Fort Dix to spend the weekend with him. So I started packing furiously, then jumped in bed to sleep a few hours before packing us and our stuff in the car at the crack of dawn. All past aversion to speeding was thorougly obliterated in the excietment of the moment, and we made it in record time.

We really had the greatest weekend too! There are some great playgrounds there on the base, and we got a room at a motel so we could stay the night. Reuben did remember Jeremy, and within hours he had warmed up to him pretty well. Anna took to him very quickly too,very in character for her. Life was definitely more fun with Dad around, he let Anna play in the dirt, fed Reuben donuts & coffee for breakfast, and showed Reuben how to blow BIG bubbles. I was downright giddy most of the weekend, and quickly began to recognize and appreciate the wonderful fact that Jeremy's can make all the decisions now, and he's way better at it than I am too!

We're now just anxiously awaiting the chance to see him again tomorrow, and this time actually bring him home with us!!

the end in sight

In less than three weeks, though we still don't know the exact day, Jeremy will be home. He went on his last mission yesterday and has officially turned over his job to the gunner from the replacement unit. Though it's all unofficial still, he expects to be flying from Iraq to Kuwait April 7, and from Kuwait to Fort Dix, NJ on April 10. Hopefully the "Wecome Home Ceremony" will be April 18...or 20...or who knows!

This week I've been slowly but surely packing things up and preparing to make the move back to Connecticut. Saturday afternoon my Dad and some random siblings will drive us to my Maw Maw & Paw Paw's home in Baton Rouge, LA. From there my grandparents will be driving us the rest of the way home in their minivan, stopping to stay with relatives several places along the way. It'll be a long trip, but at the end of the trip I'll be in my own little home again, and I am really excieted about getting to my own home again!

Our time here has been so many things: precious, hard, fun, overwhelming, irreplaceable. It was really awesome to see my parents and siblings actually getting to know my children, and vise versa. There were many times I thought that would never be possible. I got to know my brothers and sisters again, three years older than when I married and left home. They are without a doubt some of the coolest people I know...which I thought three years ago, but they're even cooler now. My family have been such gracious, generous, and patient hosts. I am really going to miss them, and my new church here, and many precious friends.

The last several months I've been very aware that Reuben's training and education was seriously lacking. Knowing what to do with babies and small children does not come naturally to me. So, I've been reading books, asking questions, and listening to a child training course on CD; trying to learn from others wiser than I. I can't wait for Jeremy to get home! He's so much better at this kind of thing than I am.

Amidst all the training issues, I've noticed that Reuben's speaking skills are not much better now than they were a year ago. So, the last Dr. check up I asked about that, and we were sent to get a hearing test, which happened this afternoon. It seems that he has fluid built up in his middle ear, he can hear most things, but it's all muffled. Now comes the excieting task of figuring out what to do about it.