Alex is finally Home!

This is a picture of Alex and his best friend with one of our friends. she is also AirForce. She gave him an airforce coin. It was soo cool. Now, on with the story.

And I am a very happy mom. a little tired, but happy. I ended up switching shifts with a lady on first shift to avoid calling in to pick up Alex from the airport. there was a few sleep times where I only got four and half hours sleep and I was burned out. it was so worth it.

The party arrangements are coming along great. we had originally figured on 50 guests. Then it went down to 30, based on the response from RSVP's. Times like this lets really let a person know how important those numbers are. I had a hard time getting alex to help me out on his part with his friends. His best friend didn't even know until I sent him a text and invited him myself. the total is back up to 50 again. we have to give a number to the hotel this weekend and also firm things up with the dj. I am getting really excited.

last night there was a christmas party at the post. the ladies auxiliary put it on and most of us donated the food. there was turkey, taters n gravy, yams, green beans, cranberry sauce, all the fixens. The ladies sold the tickets for 5.00 each. that was the bargain of the season. you cant get a value meal that big from any fast food place for that price. and it was good too.

I told alex about the party and asked him to go with us and he agreed. I didn't know if he had other plans, so I was happy he wanted to go with us. He asked if it was formal, should he wear his blues, how should he dress. I told him he could wear what ever he wanted, it wasn't formal at all. So when he came out of his room dressed in his ABU's, I was so happy. he is so proud to be an Airman, and we are so proud of him.

Ok, here is one of the best parts.He was greeted and welcomed home by the post members standing outside the doors when we walked in. People were shaking his hand and thanking him for his service. I think he was sorta surprised.  When we walked into the post, everyone started clapping. I started tearing up. His best friend was with him and I think they were both speechless. All night the guys were thanking him and shaking his hand. There was a little boy there that wants to be int eh military so bad and he wanted his picture taken with alex. I also have a picture of this other little boy shaking his hand. he just went up to him and shook his hand. I don't know how I got the picture, but i did.

Yep, it was a teary night for me. i know we are all so very proud of our children, but every once in a while, they really surprise us. One of the ladies was telling me what a good guy he was and how good he was to listen to all the stories so patiently. she was watching him, and he seemed so interested. later, she mentioned this to him, and he said the whole experience was sorta humbling. and there went my heart again. I love my son. he really is a good guy.

Ok, on that note, I am going to sign off for today.

I have a minute before I go to bed

so I am going to try and get something written here. I keep thinking I am going to update here, but I cant seem to get past my email. my plan is to read my email, at least the ones I do read. delete the stuff i don't read, then get here and update. I cant even finish my email list. I opened my email the other day and had 78 that had nit been read. WTH! A lot of it was stuff I just hit delete to, but it still takes up my time. then I have to get on with other stuff, so I end up shutting down and updating is again put on the back burner. Well, I am here now, at least for a minute.

I have been spending a lot of my time doing christmas stuff. not really shopping for family, but things like cards. I also did the three boxes of things for the soldiers. That was really a lot of fun for me. I went to big lots and bought a bunch of stuff, three of everything. I added that to the things I bought at our company store. the boxes still rattles a little after all the stuff was in them, so I had to finish them off with a little bubble wrap and news paper. I sent cards with my email, and I really hope to hear from the guys I sent the boxes to.

Yesterday morning I went out with some of the folks from the post and we went out the veterans cemetery and laid wreaths on the graves of soldiers. It is a program called wreathes across america. a friend at the post starts around October letting people know of this program, and starts soliciting donations for the wreaths. I think she said they are only 15.00. I keep thinking I will buy a few, but I don't have my checkbook on me at the time, and I forget. anyway, last year, they had 230 to place on the graves. this year they had 2300. pretty good HUH! Next year I will buy wreaths. I will remember next year. Anyone can do this. all you have to do is look up the wreaths across america site, and donate a wreath to the cemetery of your choice. Every military cemetery has this program.

When i got home from there, John took down al the christmas decorations for me. I decided to set up the tree this year, since alex is coming home. I forgot about the small tree I bought. it was tucked up in the rafters, wrapped in an old sheet. I told john go ahead and bring that down too. I had him put the big tree back up I just didn't want to deal with that one. So I decorated the small tree and the wine rack next to it. it looks nice, and it wont be so hard to take down. and with a fake tree, there are no spiders and bug's crawling in your house from the tree. ewwwww.

this morning after I spent the morning on the phone, i went out and did a little last minute shopping. I still need to get a few more things, but i am pretty much done. my christmas cards are all sent too. I have a bunch of things I need to wrap still. I got tired though so I didn't finish that either. i have time, I'm not worried.

Alex will be home wednesday night. I am so excited. we are finalizing the last of the party arrangements. did i tell you we are flying his big brother home for the party? they haven't seen each other for at least six years. I am not telling alex until we pick up andy. that is going to be hard to do. we hired a dj for the party though and made the down payment on the banquet room. we have a lot of stuff going on right now. I need a vacation.

well, i need to take a nap before I go to work. believe it or not, four hours sleep does good for the first night back. i couldn't do it more than once a week though. so until next time I find time to sit down with you, have a great week.

Ok, I am hearing things are moving here on multiply. I looked and everything still looks the same here. what is supposed to be moving?