Homecoming.

Hiya, blog readers. It has been awhile ... I'm sorry about that. I've been busy staying busy, if that makes any sense. We overhauled my house in preparation for Dan coming home. One of my best friends on island loves to clean, organize, and decorate so we set to work. If we weren't busy deciding what should go where, or what curtains to get for Evelyn's room, we were hanging out at her house.

While I was dogsitting, her female dog was accidentally mounted. She's most definitely pregnant, judging by the size of her teats. Even if we couldn't tell by her under-area bagging up with milk, we have each felt the puppies. Jess' husband works the night shift so on the nights he works, Evelyn and I have been spending the night. We call it Whelping Watch 2012. So far, no puppies. Our days and nights kind of melted together in the last few weeks before Dan came home, it just felt like one giant adult sleepover. Sleepovers are just as fun as adults, though getting two kiddos to sleep when one isn't ready for bed adds a unique challenge that were not part of sleepovers as a child.

Anyhoo, down to the good stuff. Dan was scheduled to come home yesterday, Tuesday, early in the morning. Late last week, we were informed that there was a tropical storm that might be headed our way. I tried not to think about it too much, and thankfully it blew over (no pun intended) without much of anything. We didn't even leave TC-COR3, which is typhoon speak for a level of readiness. During typhoon season, we are always in TC-COR4. So TC-COR3 is the next level of readiness, but it goes down to TC-COR1 and TC-COR1E (emergency).

As I was saying, we didn't leave TC-COR3 but I got a call Monday evening saying that their return time was pushed back. Okay, not a big, big deal. Last year when we was on mainland for pre-deployment training, their arrival on island was pushed back nearly a week and a half thanks to Typhoon Songda. I could handle a few more hours.

Tuesday morning rolls around and we're relaxing at Jess' house. I start to feel the nervous butterfly feeling that I used to get whenever I'd step off the plane in California for a short weekend visit. I started to wonder if I had food poisoning or some sort of bug because I was feeling downright nauseous but Jess' husband assured me it was just nerves.

Mid-way through Tuesday morning, I get a phone call saying that the arrival time has been pushed back again, but this time by only 2 hours. Hurry up and wait, then hurry up and wait again.

My friend Amber did my make-up (but it wasn't waterproof ... big oops) while we tried to wrangle kids and dogs at the same time. I got Evelyn into her special homecoming outfit, and then got into my dress.

I left Jess' house to go to the expressway so I could once again hurry up and wait. I was so excited though that I didn't want to take the long way. I just wanted to be there to wait.

The rest of the homecoming story will come with the remainder of the pictures. I just wanted everyone to know that Dan is home safe and sound! I know that all of our friends and family are super grateful. Most of you may already know from seeing the photo on Facebook, or through the family-friend grapevine but I wanted to share here, too.

Evelyn wore the cutest little onesie that said, "Out of my way! I'm here to pick up my Dada" on the front with an eagle, globe, and anchor. On the back, it had his rank and our last name, with "my Dada & my hero" underneath. I blurred out our last name on the picture for personal security reasons, but it really takes nothing away from the photo whatsoever.

Oh - one last thing. I was able to have the photographer that did our first family photos last fall come to photograph our homecoming. She is the regional coordinator for OpLove, which is a really great organization that provides free photography for military families. OpLove offers a free pre-deployment session, one during deployment for a morale boost, and one post-deployment session. They may offer one more too, I'm not quite sure. I haven't read their website extensively, I just wanted to say what a great program it is. Danielle was originally booked for this homecoming but the woman who initially had booked her decided to have a friend photograph their special reunion instead.

Without further adeiu, here is the sneak peek photo that Danielle posted last night. I'll be back sometime soon to share the rest of the details surrounding Dan's homecoming.