Put a stamp on and mail it!

Parley's home. *sigh of relief* I love having him home! And so do the kids! His coming home was all really confusing. For the longest time, we thought he'd be home by the 12th of July, then we found out that he wouldn't be able to leave Afghanistan until the 22nd. Bummer deal! But then he called me on the 9th to tell me he had left Afghanistan and that he would be home on the 16th! Yahoo!!! I was one happy woman. BUT, it gets even better...he called me the following morning to tell me he would be home the next evening!!! ???? !!!!!!!!
He told me he would fly in at 7. I called one of my friends, told her about it and she was so excited to help me out (thanks Erica!) by taking my kids for the afternoon so I could get everything ready.
On the day of I put up a sign I threw together the day before:
Finished cleaning the house. And then made a last minute decision to clean the car. I was frantically putting away the vacuum when I decided to check the time. I looked at my phone and realized it was off. Ay Caramba! Holy crud! What if Parley called? I turned it on. Whew. Only 6:00. Then beep. One message. Again Ay Caramba! It couldn't be Parley. Could it?
Well, I listened and it most definitely was Parley saying the plane had arrived 20 minutes ago. Again Ay Caramba! I hurriedly got dressed then ran and got the kids. This is the kids "excited" on the way to pick up Dad:

We ended up getting there in plenty of time and had to wait about 30 minutes before he was able to come out. But the kids were so excited the entire time, even Paige despite not quite understanding what was going on.

Then, it got really sweet and exciting once Parley arrived. Parker ran right up to him and gave him the biggest squeeze ever (he and Paige had been practicing their big squeezes since I had told them Dad was coming home)!

Once Paige saw her dad, she said, "Daddy!" And toddled right up to him and let Parley scoop her up into his arms. Oh, so sweet!

We're so happy he's home!
Thank you to everyone for your prayers in Parley's and our entire family's behalf! Parley has been so blessed in his time spent overseas and we have felt the Lord's blessings in our lives at home!