Early Saturday morning, I picked Joel up at the Amarillo airport. We hadn’t seen each other for almost a week. I couldn’t wait to see him, I had so enjoyed being with him the weekend before. We had dropped the kids off in OKC with Jami and spent 24 hours alone before he left for more Army training. That time was too short, I looked forward to the brief time alone we’d have on the drive back to my parent’s house.

He took me to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. He reached across the table and held both of my hands as we waited to order and I couldn’t help but love him more than ever.

We’ve had a hard time over the last month and a half. Joel went right to work after returning from Afghanistan. We’ve not taken much time to just be together. Saturday was a good day for that. I won’t pretend that reintegration is easy. It’s not. But somehow, God has done amazing things for us in the last two weeks and I’m so excited to be married to my husband of almost 13 years.

So we had breakfast then drove for about an hour back to where my parents and sister live. Joel made pancakes for our kids and their cousins. He met and quickly fell in love with his amazing two year old niece. That little girl could steal any uncle’s heart. She’s never said my name but she started saying, “Uncle Joel” within a couple hours of meeting him. It must have been the pancakes.

After breakfast, Joel played video games with the boys. Keeping with the super uncle theme, Kurt soon set all of the kids up in a mass Easter egg dying production. One man, six kids, gallons of dye, dozens and dozens of eggs. He’s a brave man. He had to do most of the adult supervision alone since none of the rest of us get very excited about Easter eggs. If it were up to us we’d either boycott the event for stubborn religious reasons or toss candy eggs into the grass the day after Easter so we could buy them for half off at Wal-Mart.

We had dinner with my family and Joel’s dad and step-mom. After a late night trip to town, we tucked the kids into bed and finally got a few more moments together. The following morning we all went to church together then had lunch at Pizza Hut. Eventually we headed back to the airport. With many tears we dropped Joel off at the airport. My children didn’t care that it would only be five more days till they saw their daddy again. They’re tired of him being away. They’re tired of the Army.

We drove home Sunday evening. Driving so far on Friday and then on Sunday totally wore me out. I think I’m still recovering. I’ve been sick since then. I don’t have time to be sick. I’ve got so much homework to do. This semester is quickly coming to an end. I may drown in homework. I might have already done so. gulp. gasp.

Joel will be home soon. I miss him. I know I’ve said that for years. But now he’s in the USA and I miss him even more.