Our Hero is Home

After twelve long months and ten hours in flight delays....Clay is home! It is so hard to put in words what yesterday meant to me and my family. It was an incredible relief to see Clay get off that plane, but heartbreaking knowing that there were families that weren't able to feel that same relief.

I apologize in advance...there are a lot of pictures in this post. If you are a sucker for punishment, I'll post the rest of the pictures on Facebook later.

Starting the day....waiting. The kiddos colored for awhile to try and pass the time.

Once we arrived on base, we waiting some more. Ft. Hood had a soilder reception area for the families. They set up a HUGE airconditioned tent that had a large projection screen. We were able to monitor the flight and this is the picture when they were about 30 minutes away!

Waiting....waiting.....

Waiting....

Addison and Grandmommie.

We were able to watch the plane land at the Killeen Regional airport. There were a lot of loud cheers and tears from happy mommas, wifes, fathers, brothers, sisters, and friends when those wheels touched the runway.

After what seemed like an hour, we were able to watch a plane FULL of soilders get off the plane and load up the buses to come back to base. Clay was one of the last ones to get off the plane and onto the bus.

After they loaded the buses....we waiting some more.

All of the families went from the tent to Cameron Field to welcome home our heros.

This is Heather (Clay's fiance), her dad and brother. Her dad videotapped the entire day...what a great dad!

I thought Heather was going to faint she was so nervous/anxious.

Here is our first glipse of the buses. The fire truck (on the left side of the picture) sprayed water on all of the buses as they made their way to Cameron Field.

Not much longer!!

All of the men and women unloaded the buses and lined up behind them.

Move that bus!!!!!

Once the buses moved, they marched in unison to the center of the field.

A much welcomed prayer thanking our gracious Lord for the safe return of our heros. After the prayer, they recieved their orders to spend 4 days with their family and friends!! Those are the orders we like to hear!!

The first hug. Not a dry eye in the house.

Welcome home, Clay!