Prayers for Robert, Peter and Rebecca

Thank you to all of you who continue to pray for Robert and Peter. This is a hard time of year for them. They along, with the rest of the troops stationed in Iraq, struggle with being so far away from family. We feel their loss more acutely now as well.

We talked with Robert last night. He is so grateful for the packages he has received from many of you. He said that all of the guys gather around when the packages are opened. When one of the guys get a package, it is as if all of the guys get a package. It is like receiving a "piece of home in a box".

Here are some pictures we have received from them lately.



This is Robert with one of his pals and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.



Peter on duty.




Peter and his adorable girl friend Rebecca.


I apologize to those who have asked me for their addresses and I have not given them to you. So sorry for the delay. Here they are:


PFC WALTON, RUDY PETER
ALPHA CO. 212 CAV
4 BCT #1 CD
APO\ AE 09330


PFC Walton, Robert A
TS IRONSHIELD
MNCI
APO\AE 09342


SPC Rebecca Smith
B co. 27th BSB, 4th BDE, 1 CD
APO, AE 09331


Thank you again for all of your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for their protection as well as their walk with the Lord.


Lord, please continue put Christ-like people into their lives. Please bring them home quickly and safely.

Also Tagged

Alrighty, lets see it I can do this "tagged" thing right.

RULES:

1. Post rules on your blog.- Check

2. Answer the six four items.-Check

3. 4 Things I did yesterday-Check

a. Went and prayed and put together cookie bags with some awesome gals of FBC

b. Delivered some of the cookie bags to some very dear people-love it!

c. Gave Sarah her final final. She passed with flying colors- Yay Sarah!

d. Got a call from a very fun friend from Arizona. We have been friends for 23 years. Had not talked with her for a while. We had a lot to catch up on.

Wow, it was a great day yesterday!! (Just don't ask me what I DID NOT get done:)

4. 4 Things on my wish list.-Check

a. That my children will always continue to seek after our Lord and Savior.
b. That our two sons will return safely from the war.
c. That a miracle would happen and someone different would get into office than who was voted in.
d. That I could build a totally energy efficient home that would not cost a fortune.

5. 4 Things I look forward to.-Check

a. Time with our Lord
b. Morning walks with my Handsome Husband
c. Goofing off with my kids
d. Visiting with dear friends

6. 4 restaurants I like- Check
a. In-n-Out
b. Del Taco
c. Mimi's
d. Gus Jr.s

7. 4 Favorite TV shows- Check

a. The "old" Cosby Shows
b. The Dog Whisperer
c. Bonanza
d. The Andy Griffith Show

8. 4 People I tag (Your it). Kelley Simpson, Katy Nelson, Mindy Holloway, Dana Abla

Hey look I did it. That was not so bad:) Have a great day!

Frist Christmas Season in our New Home

This house has been so fun to decorate. We feel very blessed to live in a home with so much character.

So first...the process YII!!


The time of discovery is so much fun. Sarah enjoys recalling the history behind different ornaments and decorations. She loves the holidays and all that they stand for.



I am so thankful that the kids never seem to outgrow the Christmas spirit. We sure miss Robert and Peter around this time of year. Decorating the Christmas tree has always been a family event.


The final step



The finished product



(Pretend that you can hear the Christmas music and smell the evergreen and cinnamon aroma:)















Thank you Lord for a Special Season to celebrate You! May we carry it with us all year long.
Merry Christmas everyone.

Back in the Loop

I know, I know, I have totally let the ball drop on this blogging thing. I can give a million excuses as to why but none of them would hold much water. The reality is I just have not had much to blog about. Things have been nice and quiet around here. (Thank you Lord!) 

I love this time of year, so the good news is, I have been taking pictures again. We are in the midst of decorating. (A picture of what things look like now would not be good.) Soon we will be done and I will post the final results. 

My computer has been having some issues. As weird as it sounds it seems to freeze up in this cold weather. I have learned that I have to allow it to "warm up" before I start trying to use it. (Yes Dana, it is from California) I guess, like the rest of us, it is still trying to acclimate:)

Now that I can use my computer again, I am just starting to catch up on all of the blogs I have missed. Boy, have I missed a lot! It is really fun seeing all your great holiday pics. I just love this time of year. 

I pray that all of you will have an amazing December. I pray that God will bless you and your families abundantly. More than anything, I pray that the busyness of this season will not override the Reason for the season, our Lord and Savior. Lord thank you for giving up everything that we might have everything when we deserved nothing.

fbcdalhartwomen.blogspot.com

Dana Abla has begun a blog for the women of FBC Dalhart. Please add it to your lists of blogs. Thank you Dana for being "willing" to take on this project. (Great idea K. :) Thank you Lord for the amazing women in the Body of Christ!

In Search of a Great Book.

Our Sarah has caught the reading bug! We are so excited. Several times throughout the past few days, I have stopped suddenly and thought, "I have not seen Sarah lately." As I go looking for her, I find her snuggled somewhere with a big, soft, warm blanket reading a book. This is a new thing for her. In the past she has struggled with reading. I have prayed that she would "fall in love with reading". 

Brian and I can look back to the point where we began devouring books. We were both about the age that Sarah is now. When I find Sarah reading, it warms my heart. It brings back memories of slower times in my life when a good book could carry me to far off places. There were times when I was younger that I would spend the whole day reading! O the good ole days:)

Anyways, Sarah is just finishing up HuckleBerry Finn. I am looking for suggestions for a book series for her. She is thirteen and loves adventure. As you could probably guess from the book she is reading now, she is not really into girly, girl books. She has read most of the American Girl books as well as Anne of Green Gables. We would love some suggestions. Please let us know if any come to mind.

Sweet Friends

This morning I woke up the sound of the gentle rain. A wave of gratefulness engulfed me. I felt so aware of the bounty of God's goodness. 

Over the last few weeks and days, we have been surrounded by dear friends who have exemplified Christ through their love and acts of kindness towards our family. This love and kindness has come in many different forms. Some premeditated, some random and spontaneous. All greatly appreciated

So, to all of you, I hope you know who you are, I would like to offer my truest, most sincere, heart felt, thanks. The funny thing is, you might even think that your actions might have been, "just some small thing". To us, it was HUGE. 

As friends you have come along beside us and walked arm and arm beside us. You probably did not know it but without you, we probably could not have stood. You showed up at our front door on a very dark night just to pray with us and surround us with love. You pulled me to my knees to pray when I absolutely could no longer stand. Many of you have prayed scripture over us, you spoken to us out of the Spirit not out of your flesh. You have spoken the truth in love to us. You have allowed us to ask for prayer for us without requiring an explanation. You have been genuine. Thank you.

Thank you to the dear friends who dropped gifts off that we might find them on our front porch and in our mail box. Thank you for the kind notes, phone calls and emails of encouragement and support. Thank you for the sweet "vandalism" on the church windows that has brought many smiles and fun comments over the last few weeks or so. Thank you to the dear ones that prepared a meal for us that seemed to be prepared for royalty, yet it was just for us. It was a delicious meal served with such warmth. It filled our stomachs and our hearts.

Thank you to the gals who spent several hours on their knees with me, reading Scripture and claiming the Lord's promises, reminding me over and over of His faithfulness. One of those dear gals reminded me of the Biblical "sewing and reaping" principle. My prayer for all of you is that you will reap a bountiful harvest of blessing in return for the sweet seeds of kindness you have sewn into our lives. Through you we have been reminded, once again, of the magnitude of the love our Lord has for us. Thank you!

FIRE PROOF... A MUST SEE!

I don't normally give movie reviews. I guess probably because there is not much out these days that is worth writing about. Fire Proof, is worth writing about. It is incredibly well done. The Kendrick brothers have outdone themselves this time. I am a huge fan of their first movies, Fly Wheel, and of course, Facing the Giants. As you might guess from these two, each new movie they make, gets better. I loved the story lines of the first two movies, but the acting left a little to be desired. This is NOT the case with Fire Proof.

I read a great review that summed things up pretty well. I posted it below.


http://www.revelife.com/

Fireproof Movie Review: Kirk Cameron's Saving Marriage, Saving Lives
by miss poppy


Sherwood Baptist Church's media team, creators of Facing the Giants, has just released another film, Fireproof.

The film stars Kirk Cameron as firefighter Caleb Holt, who has an exemplary service record, but a terrible record as a husband. The main part of the film focuses on his efforts to save his marriage and what he learns through a book he follows called "The Love Dare." He attempts to re-win his wife's heart through things like cooking dinner for her and dealing with a personal addiction. It also features realistic fire rescue sequences.

I enjoyed Facing the Giants, but Fireproof clearly has higher production values and a better script, along with better performances. It is a highly enjoyable movie.

The film has a good deal of realism. The tone is heavy in some spots, as Caleb and his wife contemplate divorce and fight intensely with each other, but there is also a liberal amount of comic relief involving several side characters.

One thing I want to emphasize is that this film is not for children. There is nothing that would be offensive to an adult, but it features verbally escalated and physically intimidating arguments. Caleb takes out his anger violently on inanimate objects, and there are also scenes of intense fire emergencies and the aftermath of a serious car crash.

The heart of Fireproof is a mixture of love, respect, and faithfulness. The point it very poignantly reiterates is that marriage is about much more than going with the feelings of the moment. Instead, it is a lifelong commitment that is worth fighting for at great cost.

There is a point in the movie in which Kirk Cameron's character kisses his on-screen wife. However, Kirk won't kiss anyone except his real-life wife Chelsea Noble. So, the producers dressed her like the actress and shot the scene in silhouette. I just saw the movie, and I promise, you can't tell. It's a very sweet, tender scene, and I think that knowing this adds another dimension to the affirmation of marriage.

Fireproof is worth seeing, not only to support a Christ-centered ministry, but because it is a good story. The emotions displayed in the film are raw and moving; people around me in the theater were sniffling throughout many scenes. Kirk Cameron's performance is strong and believable, and he lifts the movie to a new level of reality.

I felt that the gospel message, in particular, is presented very skillfully in this film. It is laid out quite specifically, but in a way that is appropriate to the scene in which it occurs, rather than being wrenchingly tacked on in a place it doesn't belong.

I encourage you to see this movie. It affirms marriage and selfless love in a God-honoring, entertaining, and believable way, and besides, it's an exciting and fun story about likable people. http://www.revelife.com/

There are many reasons why I loved this movie. Aside from all of the obvious reasons, I loved that you can see some of the same cast members from the prior movies, cast throughout this movie. Also if you look closely, you will notice that Caleb Holt, (Kirk Cameron), drives the same truck that was given to the coach in Facing the Giants, with the same plates on it that say, "Jay Austin Motors," which is the car dealership from Fly Wheel. I know, I know, these are small details, but I love them.

I love that these movies started as a church backed project that was never intended for theaters. Three movies later, they are still at it. My entrepreneurial spirit cheers for them. They are facing the giants of Hollywood and standing their ground. My prayer is that Christians everywhere will cast their vote in favor of this movie by buying up tickets. If they have seen the movie already, I pray that they would buy more tickets and give them to their unsaved friends.

BLXLLNR, Dyslexia at its best

Alrighty!! I must confess that, when leaving a comment on many of your posts, I have to put the code in more than one time. Am I alone in this or are the fellow dyslexics that struggle with the same issues? I know, I know, it might just be me:)
P.S. I have no idea why there is a line under my comment. Nor do I know how to get rid of it. Clearly, I have issues:)

Robert, Our First Born.

Alrighty, I already see the irony in the fact that I am writing about our first born son, last. I guess if asked about the order I would probably say that it was just a timing thing. I started blogging just about the time that Peter was coming home, so I wrote about him first and the rest of the blogs just kinda fell into place. In reality though, if I were to be perfectly honest, I would have to say that, Robert is probably our most complex child. Which makes him a little harder to write about.


We are so proud of him and we want everyone to know all about him. There are just many different facets to him. As you see from his pictures, he is incredibly handsome. (How's that for a boastful mom:) (I feel like I am safe in boasting about that because our genes had nothing to do with his good looks. So does that make it OK?:) His heart is so good, but we see a struggling in his identity.


When he first came to live with us, he was three and turned four within two months of being in our home. He was a very angry little boy. He had a very limited vocabulary for his age. The one word he did have down was, "NO". The first few days of him being in our home were marked with his fits of anger in which he would repeatedly scream, "No, no, no ,no!" As brand new foster parents, we had no idea what to do. We were given very little information about him, so we did not even know where his anger was coming from. Sometimes his outburst only lasted for a few minutes, sometimes they would go on for an hour our more. Sometimes he would let us hold him through it, sometimes he did not want to be touched.

As the months went by, we struggled to understand him. Brian and I had both come from very stable families so we did not even really understand that there were little ones being raised in homes that were filled with violence, rage and neglect. So, as we struggled to understand these two little boys who had suddenly come into our world, our eyes were opened to a whole different lifestyle that we did not even know existed.

When were preparing to have Robert and Peter come to live with us, we changed our floofy guest room into a little boy's room. Away went the sea foam green and peach colors and out came the primary colors of blues and reds. The newest 101 Dalmatians movie had just come out so we used that pattern throughout the room. We purchased Tonka trucks, baseballs, in-line skates and many other little boy things for them. We were so excited to have these two little ones become a part of our lives. One of the cutest things we purchased were two little red toddler beds. We wanted the beds to be just the right size for the little guys.

They did indeed seem to like their new room. We noticed something very peculiar early on about Robert. Each night we would tuck him into his bed, pray with him, smooch his little forehead and say goodnight. We would later check on him and his little bother and they would be fast asleep in their beds. Yet, the following morning, Robert would be sleeping on the floor, by the foot of his brothers bed. He could not explain why or even when he had gotten there.

Early on in their stay, their social worker encouraged us to get counseling for the boys. Throughout that year, we learned more and more about their circumstances prior to coming to live with us. We learned that, at the very young age, Robert had attempted to protect his bio mom and his brother from extreme violence that was going on in the home. We do not know, to this day, who was the instigator of the violence. We simply know that it existed and occurred on a routine basis. Robert's lying on floor, at the foot of his brothers bed, was a trait he had learned at a very young age. In his mind, it was his way of protecting his little brother. Robert was only three and he already felt like he was the only resource his brother had.


It took him several months of living in our home before he realized that he no longer had to be his brother's protector. We saw his countenance change, as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. We saw him start to become a little boy who could play without the burden of being a parent to his brother. We also saw much, not all, but much, of his anger begin to melt away.



Looking back on those years, we wish we had understood so many things much better than we did. His counselor told us that, because he saw so much violence during his, "pre-verbal years", he has a hard time articulating his anger. We wish we knew better, back then, how to help him through that. We see him still struggling with that now, and it breaks our hearts.

His heart is so good. We love him so much and we are so proud of him. Our prayer for him is that he would allow his Heavenly Father to unlock some of those hidden closets of his life and be set free. Free to be all that he was created to be.
Thanks again for your prayers.

Josh and the Joy He Brings Us

In 1994, we were neck deep in foster-parenting two very rambunctious, handsome little boys, Robert and Peter. They had already been through a lot in their young lives before coming to live with us. They were, to put it gently, quite a handful. We felt that we were, at that time, a complete little family. After all, there were two of them, and two of us...perfect. The boys had been in our care for almost two years by then and we were just beginning to get the hang of the whole parenting thing.

One early Friday morning, we received a call from the agency that was overseeing our fostering endeavor. They had a little guy who needed a home, "just for the weekend". They had identified a family for this little guy, but they were out of town for the 4th of July holiday weekend.

With that, Joshua, a little roly-poly 5 month old baby boy, bounded into our lives. We had never done the "baby" thing. Robert and Peter had come to us as toddlers, not as babies. "Well", we thought, "it was just for the weekend". "We would survive, and so would he".

That was over thirteen years ago. So much for "just for the weekend". We are so thankful that the Lord chose for him to be a part of our lives. The Lord had a plan for Joshua and for us, way before Josh was ever born. The first five months of his little life were filled with extreme trauma. It breaks my heart thinking of all that he went through, yet God had a plan. We are so grateful that our Heavenly Father is in control of all things. What Satan meant for evil, God has made good.


Josh and his big brother Robert

He has added so much joy to our lives. He is bright, loving and intuitive. We believe that he will be true to his name and someday become a great leader and a "Mighty Warrior", like the Joshua of the Old Testament, for our Lord and Savior.



Joshua has asked me to let everyone know that he now has his own blog page. It can be viewed at believingfollowingleading.blogspot.com. (Yes, in case anyone is wondering, he was much faster at figuring it out than I was:)

Another New Chapter in Life

Sarah, Rebecca and Josh

Its funny how when the kids were little, I always knew there would always be a "next phase", in life.  The first smile, then cooing, first teeth, first steps, potty training, even first days of school, etc.. As a young mom, I never really thought much beyond those early "firsts". 

I knew that somewhere, out there, were the "teenage" years. But they seemed forever away. Frankly, I had always prayed the, "rapture before puberty", prayer thinking that maybe we would skip those years. Clearly, that did not happen. Then, I tried forbidding them to turn 13. They ALL disobeyed me and turned 13 anyways. So, we ushered in the teenage years. 

The first two were a little harder, simply because of our learning curve. Now we are into the teenage phase with the second two and it seems to be going a little easier. I think mostly because we know, a little better, what to expect.

Wouldn't you think that would be an end of the new phases? Noooooo! Then comes the, "growing up and moving away", phase. I would tell you about all of that, but that would take forever. I want to fast forward to the, "Mom, I met someone" phase.

One of the things I have not yet mentioned about Peter's homecoming was that exact statement. (Don't worry, he has given me permission to tell this story.) Shortly, after we met Peter at the airport and we had exchanged some small talk and made a rest stop, he said, "Mom, I met someone and I think you are really going to like her". 

Now first, let me explain a little bit about Peter. Throughout junior high and high school, Peter had many friends, many of them girls. He even had several "crushes". Some of them serious enough to talk to us about, but never a serious girl friend. He laughed at his friends that had one girlfriend after another. He told of how several of his friends that had girl friends long enough to spend a bunch of money on them, only to have them dump or be dumped.

So, when he came home saying that, "he had met someone", we knew this could be serious. All the way home from Amarillo, he told us about Rebecca. Of course, as the mom, I had a million questions for him. (No surprise there) The first question was, of course, her walk with the Lord.

"She's a Christian, mom, she loves the Lord very much". He went on to tell us of her generosity, her kindness, of course of her beauty and of her compassion. She sounded wonderful, but you know, as a mom, the proof is in the pudding. 

He talked with her everyday he was here, both on the phone and through IMs. Rebecca's leave was to overlap Peter's by about two days depending on flights. She flew into Killeen, so he knew he would be able to see her for a very short time before he flew to Iraq. He also knew that she would then leave Killeen and head to Colorado, which just happened to take her right through here. 

He asked if we would like to meet her. That was a silly question, of course we did. Peter told his dad that he was a little afraid for her to meet us because, "Mom might ask her too many questions and scare her away". (Who me?:)

All of that long drawn out story to tell you that we did meet Rebecca. She was all that Peter had promised and more. (It is funny, you pray a lifetime for your children's future spouses, and then you meet someone who might possibly be one of them, and your shocked at how well God answered your prayer.) 

We found Rebecca to be polite, sweet, intelligent and yes Peter, very beautiful. More than that, she loves the Lord and desires to walk closely with Him. Rebecca, is serving along side Peter in Iraq. What a great place for them to truly get to know each other. They have to see each other for who they really are, on a daily basis. There is not really an opportunity for "glamorous dating", they both work long hours under stressful conditions. 

We are hoping to get a chance visit with Rebecca a little more as she travels back to Killeen. We are praying for our Lord's protection and guidance over both of their lives. Thank you to all of you who continually lift both of our sons up before the Lord as they go through the many phases in life. 

Our Sweet Sarah

We have always thought of Sarah as "the icing on our cake". After trying, to get pregnant for years, we had decided we were probably not going to have biological children. Which was heart breaking, but the Lord had put "fostering and adoption", on both of our hearts at a young age. We simply thought this was His way of leading us down that path sooner than later.

The day before the completion of our older two son's adoption, much to our delight, we discovered we were pregnant! I just had to giggle at the Lord's timing. We were also fostering another precious baby named Joshua, at the time. Somehow, we knew she was a girl right from the start. While we looked at many girl names, Sarah was the name that seemed right. We had waited a long time for her. At the age of 30 I felt "old" to be pregnant. (oh to be 30 again:) We felt the joy that Sarah and Abraham must have felt at the knowledge that they were finally pregnant. So, the name Sarah was a natural choice.

Sarah has brought much joy and laughter to our lives. She is an eternal optimist. She sees the good in everything and everyone. She is solution driven. In her mind there is not a dilemma that cannot be fixed or a problem that cannot be solved.

She has a very unique sense of humor, which leaves her often misunderstood by her peers. She seems to be OK with that. She marches to the beat of a different drummer. She reminds me of King David, dancing before the Lord.

She delights in each new season. She was ready to decorate for fall in August. If she had her way, she would already have the Christmas lights up. (I think she gets that trait from her Aunt:)


She has a strong mothering instinct. When any of her bothers were in trouble. She was, and still is, quick to rush to their defense. If one of our sons were on time out, she would stand by their side and pat their arm and say, "it's OK". She still does that now, to anyone in need. She is quick to stand by their side in hopes of making everything OK.

We are so thankful to our Heavenly Father that He blessed us with all of our children. We are thankful that He allowed us our one, "home grown", child. We are thankful for Sarah and all the joy that she brings.

A Man Where a Boy Once Stood

As our time with Peter is nearing the end, we have finally grown accustomed to the "More Grown Up", version of our son. We saw pretty dramatic changes in him right from the start. Things like, he brought US presents, he spoke in sentences that entailed more than one syllable and he wanted to shop at Ross instead of major, name brand, department stores. (Who is this guy and what has he done with our son?:)

All kidding aside, Peter is truly growing up. He seems to have a new outlook on life. He is so grateful for our wonderful country. His patience level for his younger brother and sister has greatly increased. He has become much more frugal. He is quick to express his appreciation. He is just, well, more introspective, I guess is the best way to put it. He seems to be figuring out who he is and where he wants to head in life. While only barely turning nineteen, he seems to have left the "turbulent teen" years behind. He is quick to admit that, while he stills makes mistakes, he is working on walking with the Lord.

We have had many wonderful, "late night", conversations with him. We have laughed often. Our time with him has been sweet. Somewhere over the last year, our boy has become a man. We are so proud of him. We are sad that our time with him is quickly coming to an end.

Camel spiders and M.R.Es...Ugh!!

While Peter has been home, he has shared with us many of his experiences of being in Iraq. It is a amazing to think that, while we enjoy all the comforts of everyday life, there are young men and women enduring great hardship for the freedoms many of us take for granted. He has told of us the scorching heat, (the hottest day for him was 147 degrees!!) the sand storms so thick that you can not see the sun and, of course, the famous Camel spiders.
YIKES!!!

While he is on his base he sleeps in a trailer with air conditioning and he gets to eat pretty decent food. When he goes out on a mission, he looses even those small luxuries.


On a mission, the living arrangements are, at best, primitive. There is no running water and the only water they have available to drink is rationed, bottled water, that is usually hot. For every meal they eat a M.R.E. (The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) is a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging procured by the United States military for its service-members for use in combat or other field conditions where organized food facilities are not available. From Wikipedia, )Yumm!!

So, all that to say, Peter is enjoying being home. On the way home from one of our trips to Amarillo, he said, somewhat wistfully, "Being home makes me not want to go back, everything in the States is so nice". He knows he needs to go back. He has a job to finish. He just has a whole new perspective on all that we have because we are Americans.
Last night at dinner he said, "I hope that people appreciate all that we (soldiers) are going through so that we (Americans) can enjoy what we enjoy". He was recalling how, when the war first began, people were so patriotic. Everyone had flags in their front yard and were proud to be Americans. He said that if feels like they have forgotten that soldiers are still fighting for them.
Our younger son, Josh, reminded him that we would always have a flag hanging for him and the rest of the soldiers.
I woke up thinking about that conversation. I guess my prayer for all Americans is that we will remember that freedom is not free. A great price has been and will continue to be paid for it. May we never take it for granted.

Peter enjoying some of the finer things in life, chocolate brownies and a cold glass of milk:)

Thanks!!

Thank you, to all you who have posted comments to Peter. He has read each one. We all are touched by your kind words. I think that sometimes when the guys are in Iraq, they forget that they have tremendous support here at home.
I have added a few more pictures but I still don't have the whole "pic thing" figured out.

Peter is Home Safe and Sound!!

The day we had been waiting for finally arrived, Peter came home! (I am not sure if it is possible but it seems like he has gotten a little taller). His flight finally arrived at 9:00 last night in Amarillo. He was exhausted but so glad to be on American soil. 

While we were waiting for his bag, he told us a really fun story about arriving in Dallas. The plane he flew into Dallas on was filled with about 120 soldiers, all arriving from Kuwait. He said, when they landed, two fire trucks saluted the plane buy spraying water high into the air. Then when they entered the terminal, he could hear them announcing their arrival over the intercom. Peter said, "Mom, I felt like a celebrity!". There was over 500 people standing and cheering when they walked through. There were people of all ages greeting them and thanking them for serving our country. He told us of a sweet elderly gal waving pom poms and giving them all hugs as they came by.
We are so grateful to those people! Peter and his fellow soldiers had been trying to get home since Thursday. That alone made it all worth while.
As we stood and waited for his bag, others came up and shook his hand or patted him on his back and thanked him. His tired eyes lit up and he flashed his little boy grin. My heart swelled. I am so happy to have him home!

Our Son is coming home today!

It is a big day for us in the Walton household. Our second to the oldest son, Peter, is coming home today. He is on leave from Iraq. He called us at 5:30 am our time, on Friday, to say he was already in Kuwait and was waiting to get on a plane headed for Germany in a few hours. His plane was delayed until the next day. Then he emailed us from Germany to say that he had another delay. UGH! The poor guy. I am not sure where he stays during these delays. We have not heard from him since then but he is supposed to get into Amarillo sometime today. All we can do is wait. 

We are so anxious to see him. Through our phone conversations and emails, he sounds so grown up. We are looking forward to hearing all about his experiences in Iraq. As a mom, I am just so glad to get him home safe, even if it is just for a short time.

He has been without many of the luxuries we take for granted, home cooked meals, candy bars, soft drinks and safe comfortable surroundings. We are looking forward to helping him enjoy some of those things. Thank you to all of you who constantly lift our sons and our family up in prayer.