and then he came home...

how do i describe these moments???...

let me start here... with the signs... thanks to rachel we each had our very own sign to hold... and i was very happy to have something to do with my hands... i was a bit anxious...

we were supposed to be there between 6-9pm awaiting the return of our marines... brent and i figured out a plan so we wouldnt have to wait... he was supposed to text me when their plane landed in riverside - at march base... i never got the text... so 8pm i couldnt wait any longer and we all went on base to wait...

...as we drove on base it was different... i have driven on base many times while brent has been gone and have not thought twice about it... but i had not driven in this particular area since i dropped him off the very cold early morning that he left for afghanistan.... all of a sudden my heart was racing... i was near tears... and i could not contain my excitment... it was such a happy moment... knowing that in the next few minutes and hours i would be seeing mi media naranja again... yet it was such a sad moment... because all of the feelings i had the night he left came rushing back... lucky for me... it didnt last too long... and only made me that much more excited to see him again...

at the meeting/arrival area we waited and waited... it was quite nice that they had a ton of food, soda, hot chocolate, popcorn... and lots of other stuff... the best part was the huge bounce house... at least it kept jones busy and i could concentrate on keeping myself sane while we waited... then finally at 9:50pm we saw the buses!

... let me say that again...

i saw the first glimpse of buses... they came around the corner... and my heart began to race... once again... flash backs from the night he left... they were the same buses... but this time it was such a happy thing to see them...

the above picture shows how truly excited jones really was... he was yelling and screaming for his brent... it brought tears to my eyes... he was so eager to finally see his daddy...

we kept looking... i stayed in one place hoping that he would find us... so many people and we had not seen brent yet... then finally... it was like the crowd parted and i saw my marine.... generally, they all look very much alike and especially when you havent see one another in a very long time... like 7.5 months... but i instantly knew it was him and loved seeing him walk right to us! it was one of the happiest moments of my life!!!!

our first family hug...

... and second.... and then there were lots lots more...

it was perfect...

many people have asked how we are... and all i can say is that it has been awesome how easy and wonderful and nice and perfect it has been to have him back... it is SO nice to feel like a family and to be together again... we have been loving spending time together...

...october 11th 2010...