I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We did! We had the whole family over and ate until we just couldn't hold anymore, and yes me and Michelle made the whole dinner. We cooked for about 3 days. We had a great time cooking and talking. It was great to hear some of the stories from Iraq that she had not told me before and to maybe get the details she had missed in her phone calls. Most of the stories were good, there were a few that made us all just go silent for a little while. I am glad she is able to talk about those things and I am even more glad that she chose to tell them to me.
We have been having a good time now that she is more accustomed to being around family and finding a routine in the house. We still have some times when things don't go so smoothly but I have learned to just let her be and deal with things in her own way and in her own time.
We have also done some Christmas shopping and that was like old times. I hope we have more times like these.
I know there are some of us anxiously waiting for the return of loved ones from the war and I pray that at this time of year especially all our dreams will come true. That either they will come home safely or stay safe.

Have a good day
Barb

I have decided to try and post some of the things I am thankful for this year, because I have so much to be thankful. First of all there is the return of my daughter from Iraq, then there is all the soldiers who are still over there or on their way home who have fought for our freedom. My family and friends both church and non. My health, home, church, ability to pay my bills and have extra. My ability to drive and to have a car and places to go. I also am very thankful this year for all of the soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to have all these things to be thankful for, I know their families miss them but still they are so proud of them.
I will close my post today by saying: Have a Happy Thanksgiving and may your list of thanks continue to grow with each passing day.

Barb

Just a little update on how things are going since our soldier came home. It is great having her back but as you can imagine it will take them a while to get back into the swing of things. I know the Army did not let them keep their chus this way. We are letting her slide until after the holidays and then we will have to maybe have a few rules.
Thanksgiving for us this year will be a big deal, I am making the entire meal by myself and at last count I am making about 20 different items, as everyone has a favorite. I will let you know how that goes. I really do like to cook so this will be fun for me. I am a stay out of the kitchen this is my territory kind of person. I will probably not have time to post much till after Thanksgiving, so everybody have a happy holiday and be extra thankful for everything you have and even for some of the things you don't.

Have a Happy thanksgiving
Barb

I thought I would take some time to fill you in on all that thas happened in the last week. We left on November 8th for Fort McCoy WI, but there were a few stops along the way, my hubby had business in Ill. and we stopped there first. I can't tell you how anxious I was by Thursday. I could barely sit in the car for very long and you know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, had that all day and had to remember to breathe so I wouldn't go absolutely crazy on the drive. We didn't alk a whole lot, I guess we just didn't know what to say to each other.
We arrived at Volk Airfield about noon and had to wait in line because they weren't letting us in til a certain time:


Then we had to walk to the hangar and have a briefing so we would know what they would have to do when they got home and what was available to them now that they were back. Then we were told that we would be kept informed about their eta and that they were 5 minutes out, so we all rushed outside and on to the tarmac, to watch their plane on arrival, almost immediately we saw the shiny speck in the sky and new that this was the flight we had been waiting 14 long months for:
We were told that they would have to deboard the plane and stow their weapons on a dolly that would load them into a truck to be taken back to Fort McCoy. As we watched them deboardit was hard to tell who was who:
And then you know from the walk that that is the one you have been waiting to see:
There she is in the sunglasses, isn't that the most beautiful sight you have ever seen. I just can't describe the feeling you have when you first lay eyes on them, kind of like this can't be real, they have changed so much even though they had r & r in February. We got to spend about 2 hours with them:
Then there was a brief ceremony for their sae return and to remember the one soldier they had lost in the 14 months they were gone, just to let you all know this was Michelle's best friend and the guy who swore to us he would do anything in his power to make sure she made it home safely and he did just that on April 22nd when he was killed in a IED attack on their convoy, if not for SPC Colburn, we would not have had the great homecoming we had:
Then it was time for them to get back on the bus and head over to Fort McCoy to start the long process of demobing. Then we would go and get her every night and she would stay in the hotel room with us and we would have to have her back in the morning by 7:30 am. Then came Sunday and the long ride home.
IT has seemed at times like this day would never get here but it finally did and now starts the rest of her life:
Hoping and praying to see more of these posts as time goes by. Thanks so much for all the prayers for Michelle's safe return.

Have a good day
Barb

SHE'S HERE! SHE'S HERE! SHE'S HERE! We made it home about 3:00pm yesterday and we had a great homecoming. There were a few people here to great us when we got home. Both of her sisters were here, her neice, our pastor and his wife and about a dozen other family and friends. The girls had made signs and hung up banners for her and everyone was waiting outside(in the rain). It was really great and then we all kind of crashed after everyone left. It was a very long day, we drove about 650 miles all in one day. We are very glad she is safe and home, but we will not stop praying for all our soldiers who are still over there. I will let you know all the details in the next couple of days, as soon as things settle down here a little bit.

We are trying to deal with all the tornado watches and warnings we are having today. So we will have a long night tonight. Will post in the morning to let you know how the night goes.

Have a great day
Barb

I thought I would blog really fast and let everyone know that we are on our way home and Michelle is with us. We had a great reunion at Fort McCoy and then she didn't get released until this afternoon, so we are stopping overnight on our way home because it is too far to drive anymore tonight. We should be home sometime around 3:00pm tomorrow afternoon. Things have been so exciting and different, I will get into all the details when I get home. I just wanted to let all of you who have been praying for this day know that the journey is almost over and it has been a great trip. Thanks for all our prayers and support. I will post more later when I have more time.

Have a good day
Barb

Michelle called at 6:00 am this morning and she must have been having caffiene withdraw, because she was panicking that we weren't going to make it to Wisconsin in time, she has been there a whole year and still cannot get the time change down. Well we are off and will be back sometime next week. She said they are telling her she can leave on the 12th or the 14th for home, so if that is the case we will be bringing her home with us. I just thought I would let you know that we are leaving and I will post agian later. Have to make this short. Talk to you all later.

Have agood day
Barb

We are leaving first thing in the morning! Man the phone calls I will have to remember to make if anything changes. I have made all the family phone calls last night so everyone would have the latest update on Michelle's arrival. Now the excitement is really starting to build, I will probably not be able to sleep and will be up at 3:00 am. That's ok then we will be sure to make it there in plenty of time, but first we have to go to Rockford, Ill. for my husbands' business. I don't think I will be able to sit still in the car for long, so we will probably make some long stops along the way. Haven't heard from Michelle since last Wednesday, but they were headed for Kuwait on Sunday and then on to Germany. I do have everything packed and ready to go, just throw the suitcases in the car and I am ready. I will probably not be able to blog much while we are gone, unless the hotel has a hi-speed connection, my hubby will take the laptop. I know I will have lots to blog when I get back, so stay tuned for further updates. Michelle we are on our way!!!!!!!!!!

Have a good day
Barb

Just thought I would let everyone know that we have an update on our soldiers return. They will be in country on the 10th instead of the 11th or 12th, that is good news. We will be leaving on Tuesday instead of Wednesday and we have to be at the airfield in the early afternoon. We are supposed to be there no later than a half hour before their flight arrives. We will be there Michelle!!!!!! I think they will even have some free time in the evenings, we aren't for sure, but they said they would do their stuff during the day and could possibly have free time at night, so that puts our return on hold for now. We will know more when we get there and the time is closer. We must inform our family support chairman on all hotel and cell numbers in case of changes. I guess things are really speeding up because there just isn't musch time left, especially for those of us who have to travel more than a couple of hours to get there. I will let you all know if anything changes.

Have a good day !!!!!!
Barb

PS And yes the storms that went through Indiana and gave them tornadoes put us in Ohio on tornado warnings and knocked out our power for about 3 hours. But we are all fine.

I went and got the last stuff on Michelle's list of things she wants us to bring next week. I also made sure she had some extra special things just from mom. We are leaving probably on Wednesday and will stop at a few places on the way there, my hubby has business up that way, so that's why we are leaving early. Still don't have too many details about what will go on when we get there. Just know we will get 2 hours with them in the hangar when the bus gets there, but haven't heard anything else. Hopefully they will not have to be there that long and we can bring her back with us. They are saying 5 to 7 days before she gets to head for home. We're hoping sooner then that.
I am having a weird day today and just don't know why. I guess just trying to think of everything we need to take and hoping we don't forget everything, also trying to get everbody to make up their minds so we can get all the arrangements finalized, are kind of driving me crazy. I am we have to have everything ready by a certain time and have everything planned so I know exactly what is going on on our end kind of person. Hopefully this will go away soon and I will be able to enjoy myself along the way. Now if the Army just doesn't change their minds everything will be better.

Have a good day
Barb

Hey everybody, I amback fom Michigan. We cam bak a day early because if we didn't we wouldn't have any clean clothes to leave on Monday or Tuesday for Wisconsin. Yes, it is finally time to leave to go see Michelle and hopefully she will be home shortly after that. We are making our final plans, lots of excitement going on here. I don't know if I will be able to last until next Friday or Saturday before we see her. I know I won't hardly be able to sleep come next week. I still have to go and buy her some toiletries, before we leave and we better have the Mountain Dew handy too. She is a MD freak. Now hopefully they will not get held up in Kuwait or Germany, you know how those military flights cn be, and the weather is probably not very good in Germany either(I think I will look that up on the internet).
Other than that things have settled down here. April is still prett sore from the car accident, but thank God no one got hurt, and she has a rental car until hers' is fixed. Although she will have to learn how to picke her stuff up while she lives her, see they get worse when they come back home and have been gone for awhile. They are just pigs!!!! Well I will leave this discussion for another day.

Have a good day
Barb

Four days until she leaves for home. Michelle called at 3:30 this morning and kept saying over and over again four days, four days, do you think she is a little excited about coming home!!!!!! She will be traveling to Kuwait in four days and then back to the base to be debriefed and then on to Ohio. She is really looking forward to making pies for Thanksgiving,ok that will be her job this year, no arguments. Will keep you all posted as progress hopefully is made.
Everybody please go over to April's site today and leave her some good wishes. She was in a car accident last night, everybody is ok, just a little sore. No one was hurt thank God, but she had her 4 year old niece in the car, so she is really taking this hard. Baby is fine and just a little shook up, wants ma but ma is in Michigan with pa, that went over real well, NOT!!!! As she puts it I told you not to go to Michigan. I will be back home on Friday and will have to check everyone out for myself. Just let her feel the love when you visit her site. Have to go for now.
Have a good day
Barb