Home From Afghanistan!!!!

CJ's back from Afghanistan...finally! First of all, the young man in uniform above is Kevin, we were all waiting for CJ to arrive. Sunday the 26th of Oct. CJ called and informed us that he was to be back on the base very early in the morning on Tuesday. Kevin was given Tuesday off, so he came out to our campsite and stayed the night with us. We set our alarms for 1:30 AM, based on the info. CJ gave us, and went to bed very early with hopes of getting some shut eye. Fortunately CJ called us at 1:35 AM and informed us that he would be there later than planned...so we went back to bed. :) We ended up heading to the base at 4:30 AM and followed the buses with our Marines into the gate. The buses took the guys to the armory to return their fire arms while we waited in the cold on Victory Field; fortunately we had blankets and sleeping bags to wrap up in while we waited 2 hours on the field for CJ. It was a bit like CJ's homecoming from Iraq except that the crowd was much more quiet. Around 6 AM the police escort came around the corner followed by 5 buses carrying our Marines. We stood proud holding our signs for CJ to see from the fence with pride, excitement, and relief. The buses stopped, doors opened, and 300 Marines filed out. It was very evident that this deployment was much different than Iraq; the crowd was quiet, the guys were quiet, and a few injured Marines sat on chairs in the midst of it all. CJ found us quickly and the first words out of his mouth were, "whew, I'm done!" We made our way to find his belongings and then to his new barracks, which happens to be in the building right next to Kevin's. When we finished getting his things in his room, we made our way back to the trailer for more hugs, food, and naps and then spent the rest of the week relaxing and enjoying our boys. We had to say our good-byes on Sunday evening to both CJ and Kevin as we were heading home Monday morning, this part I hated. It was good in the fact that they won't be alone anymore and will have each other to call on when lonely, but I had a really hard time saying good-bye to both of them...I really don't like this at all. Can you tell? I do have to admit that both of them will be home around Dec. 21!!! And I must give God all the glory for the fact that CJ has been able to be home every Christmas during his enlistment. How often do you hear of that? What now? CJ has a lot of administration things to take care of, he will go back to Golf Co. to make room for new snipers that will be in long enough for another deployment, and then he will be headed to new and exciting things as a civilian in July. Thank you so much for all of your prayer and support for our whole family while CJ was deployed, we are so grateful. As for Kevin...as it stands now, he will be deploying to Iraq in Feb. which means he will be home for Christmas 2 years in a row...and counting we hope.