Homecoming: Part Two

Let me back up just a bit.. I forgot to mention before that I never did get the 72 hour phone call telling me that Kevin was on his way!  Apparently the Rear Detachment "forgot" about me, or overlooked me.  Luckily I have connections and called the Rear D and pretended that I had a missed call from them.  After they verified who I was, the released the information to me.  Thankfully there is a redeployment hotline, because the Rear D "forgot" about me again when they give the courtesy 24 call. Me being upset is quite an understatement, I was darn right PO'd.  I waited for 12 months for that call and then NOTHING.  Thank goodness that I was not still back in Illinois relying on that phone call to make the trip back to KS to pick Kevin up.  I had half a mind to throw a fit, but I knew it wasn't going to make me feel any better.  Because of ME being proactive in the days prior, I had his flight number and I'd just continue to check the hotline. 
Like I had said in the previous post, he arrival was delayed by about 12 hours. Originally the ceremony was scheduled for 10pm on Sunday night.  They have suggested in order to get a seat at the ceremony to arrive 2 hours prior to the scheduled ceremony time. They also suggest this because at this point, the soldiers are already at the Army post, signing in, turning in weapons etc...If they happen to be finished early with their tasks at hand, they will not sit around and just wait until the scheduled time. If it is within the 2hr time frame, they will just go ahead and start. 

The day before his scheduled arrival, I found out via hotline, that his arrival was going to be delayed by approx. 12 hours.  At first I was not very happy.  I had been counting the months, weeks, days, and now mere hours until I was going to have him in my arms and now it was delayed AGAIN! 



Honestly it was for the best. I never was too thrilled about a 10pm ceremony in the first place. I knew that I'd have very cranky kids that were ready for bed. God knew what he was doing and the ceremony was now planned for Monday at 11am.




We arrived at 8:55am...the parking lots were already starting to fill up.  Thankfully we were able to get seats in the front row of chairs.  The girls were able to run around and play.  They even had a little room with cookies and juice.  Lauren loved to run in and out of the flags.  They were great for the first hour or so, but after that they were antsy, ready for naps and down right getting cranky.  We had less than an hour before we'd get to see Kevin...or so we thought. Once again we were told they were going to be slightly delayed......

To be continued....