He's HOME!!!!!!!

Of course,Chris's arrived at Camp Horno around 11:30pm.  I put the kiddos to bed around 8:30 hoping they could fall asleep for a little while before leaving to pick up Daddy.  The girls got some sleep, but Luke was way too excited for shut eye.  He stayed up and watched HGTV with me until it was time to go.

Loading up the van to get Daddy after 8 long months of deployment.

Trying to wait patiently.  Thank goodness we only had to wait about 20 minutes before the bus pulled up.

Here they come!

Hayley spotted him first and took off running!!!!  

Words cannot express how wonderful it is to have our Hero home safe and sound.

The War Games

What happens when you have the BEST piano teacher in the world and the BEST Mrs. Bayer in the world??  The War Games!

My super fun friends gave my kiddos and the Smiths an epic afternoon of relays, madness, and messiness!  

His Provision

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.  He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the LORD has helped us.""

1 Samuel 7:12

We are so close to the finish line with our 5th deployment.  My heart races, my smile widens, and my praise lifts to God as I think of that "first" hug with my husband again.  There is nothing like a homecoming, knowing that God has once again been faithful, supplied every need, lavished grace upon grace, and shown mercy every step of the way.

I cannot count how many times I have been asked, "How do you do it?" or had statements made to me like, "I could never survive a deployment." or "You are so strong."  And in reality, I'm just me.  But My Jesus is with me.  And He carries us through.

God blows me away with His timing and knowing exactly what I need at every moment.  So many of you who read this blog have been apart of His faithfulness to our family and from the bottom of my heart I say thank you.  Those of you who have sent a text, called to say hi, invited us for dinner, sent a FB message,  loved on my kiddos, mailed a package to Chris, mailed a fun surprise to us, made me laugh, prayed with me, and prayed for us there are not enough words to express how much I appreciate it!!!!

My family, who made our Christmas so very special in the midst of our missing Chris.  Thank you for taking our kiddos and allowing me to go to NYC with my sis and also have a weekend away with my college girlfriends.  Thank you for coming to visit and making the 8th months of Daddy being gone a little more bearable.  

Thank you to my Bible Study crew.  What a huge blessing you all have been.  God had so much to say to us in James, and He grew me in big ways.  Thanks for your friendship and coming along on the journey with me.

Thanks to Kelly, Donna, Laurel, Christine, Jen, and Kierstin for being our family away from family.  You all are a testimony of God's provision during this deployment.  I love you all so much.

So here we are, the week before my very favorite holiday, Resurrection Sunday, getting ready to celebrate our Risen Savior and also celebrating Chris's homecoming.

My cup runneth over.  

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me.  

Life on a USMC Base

Such a awesome morning spent with our friends to watch the USMC Drum and Bugle Corps and the USMC Silent Drill Team perform here at Camp Pendleton.  They perform all summer in D.C., but came to show all of us out on the West Coast just what they can do.  Absolutely amazing.  They all hung around after the show to answer questions and let the kids try out some of the instruments.  

And all of this only 2 miles from our house.

Oorah!

Spring Break Spectacular

Disneyland with Mimi and Papa

2014

The pictures say it all!!!!!!