The boys and I traveled up to Grand Rapids on Thursday...the next couple of days went like this:
Thursday night, Evan and Camden were so excited that we would be seeing daddy the next day...it was WAY past normal bedtime before I got them calmed down enough to go to sleep. Micah called and said he would be getting up early the next morning to get ready to board the plane....I had a hard time sleeping that night too!
Friday morning, we all woke up early and dreaded the few hours we had left to wait until we could see Micah. When you're that close, it kills to keep waiting! Micah's mom and dad met us at the hotel. Micah's dad went by himself to the church where the ceremony was being held. He's part of the Michigan Patriot Guard Riders, and they were doing an escort/welcome home for the troops. Les and I got the boys ready and headed to the church.
We got there early, got a pretty good seat and then had a couple of agonizing hours to wait. I took Evan and Camden for a couple of walks, they played cars, did some "color wonder" drawings, etc. During this time, I got a few updates from Micah on my cell phone, including one pic of him on the airplane, and then a call that they had landed in Grand Rapids...what a relief! There was a slideshow playing in the church and we saw Micah on there a couple of times, only making us more anxious to see him.
Soon, they made the announcement that the buses were coming, and did a "live feed" showing them arriving. That was all it took for me to shed a few tears. Then more waiting as they got the guys lined up, and finally brought them out on stage. Unfortunately, we couldn't pick out Micah in the sea of soldiers, so it was even more frustrating...to know he was right up there, and I didn't know where. He later said he saw us though, and saw the signs we had made...that's all that matters I guess.
We sat through the ceremony, and finally they began releasing us...it was supposed to be an ordered exit so everyone could find their loved ones, but I think our side got a little too anxious and we went early...oh well, we found Micah and Evan ran up and gave him the biggest hug ever. Cam looked a bit confused at first as to why Micah wasn't just "on the webcam", but it didn't take long for him to warm up to him! Of course, I couldn't help but wrap my arms around him too! It was so nice after all this time to know he was coming home to stay with us...almost surreal.
We went back to the hotel, hung out, went out to eat with Mike and Les, and stayed the night. The boys were on top of Micah wrestling with him on the bed right away. It was so nice to finally see all of my boys together again!!! Today was traveling home, and now we're just enjoying being a family again...a family again...that sounds nice. Evan just ripped off the last two links from the chain and started jumping up and down when I asked if it was exciting to be able to do that...I think that speaks for us all! Will post pictures later, as the camera is still in the car.
Thank you to all who have supported us along this long journey. Now we can begin to post pictures/blog entries about our lives together again :)
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