So Excited, Just Can't hide it!

Brian is coming home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I am not one to overuse exclamation points. Occasionally (almost rarely) I will use two, but never more than that. I believe that right now the sentence, "Brian is coming home tomorrow," deserves all the exclamation points it can get.

It has been almost three weeks since his last visit, and of course, that visit was only two days long. Tomorrow he finishes up his rotation at the VA hospital at the Madigan Air Force base, so he has all of next week off. He'll be home for nine whole days! (That actually deserves a whole ton of exclamation points, but that would make this a really, really long post.)

I am so excited to see him. It's been hard having him gone for so long. The Proclamation on the Family says that a family needs a father and a mother. I've always believed that, but until now I've never experienced anything different than that, so I've never had cause to question it. Believe me, it is so true. Not just because it's an extra person to help with the dishes and take care of the kids, but more that both the husband and the wife bring different dynamics to the family, which creates the family atmosphere. If you take the husband or the wife away, things obviously change. We miss Brian so much. We miss him as a person - we miss him - but we also miss having a husband and a father in our home. It's very different without him.

Three months ago, if someone were to ask me why I'm excited for graduation, I would have said I'm excited because we'd be able to get a job, start making money, pay off school loans, settle down, etc. Now I'm so excited for Brian to graduate, because it will mean that he'll be back with us for good.

This decision to be apart like this was a very hard one to make, and so far (even though it's difficult) it has worked very well. I'm thankful that the kids and I are settled, and Alyssa doesn't have to change schools every three months. Brian was lucky to be able to rent a room from a bishop that lives there, so he hasn't been coming home to an empty, lonely apartment every night. He calls me every morning on his way to the hospital, sometimes at lunch time, and then when he's done for the day. We talk on the computer at night time, after the kids have gone to bed. Sometimes we just turn the cameras on so we can see and hear each other, but then we just do our own thing. Last night he was reading, and I was sewing. We'd say something to each other now and again, but really it was just nice knowing that we were both there, with each other...kind of. Actually, since he's been away, we've been talking more than ever. But all the talking in the world isn't worth anything if you can't hug your husband every now and again.

I am so excited for him to come tomorrow, and I'm very excited to have one more rotation done with and be one step closer to graduation and getting my husband back for ever, not just for a couple of days.