Homecoming..for real this time.

Disclaimer:There are lots and lots of photos in this one! 

Well, as you know from my previous post....Matthew is finally home! The road to homecoming has been a long and trying one. I don't know how I would have gotten here without the love, support and prayers from everyone. I had the greatest support system. Now, onto homecoming!

We got official word on December 3rd that the 24th MEU was "heading west". That basically meant that they were coming home..but incase something changed they didn't want to get our hopes high. But man, were my hopes high. Official freak out mode went into full swing. Why was I freaking out? Oh because my final exams were Friday the 14th and Matthew was due back the 16th. And on top of that, my mac died. Literally. You can read more about that here. But, I finished all of my finals on time. To this day, I cannot even tell you anything that was on my statistics final. How I managed to get a B in the class, I will never know. It was a God thing for sure. But, Friday was full of celebration. I finished my classes, my good friend finished her first semester of hard core paramedic program with flying colors, and we were celebrating our "last" girls night before the guys got home. Needless to say, we busted out champagne. Then Saturday, the fun stuff happened. First, I ran errands and to get "Matthew's" groceries at the commissary. It consisted of things I haven't bought this entire deployment for myself.

Then, I had to hang up homecoming signs. I hung up the first one at my house. You may recognize it from when it was hung up on my wall.

Then a few of my girlfriend and I went to hang our banners up on the fences surrounding Camp Lejeune. Here is me putting up my banner...

It was so much fun. After all the banners were hung, I had to get in gear to clean the house. Now onto Sunday....
Matthew was due back in the late morning. So around 11am, my sister and I got to base. She was awesome enough to take our homecoming picures. You may recognize her here from her own homecoming celebration. Anyway, we had a lot of time to kill so we took a lot of random pictures. Especially of my handsome nephew, Parker.

Here is the sign I made a while back..

In true marine corps fashion...they were late. But, I have never been so excited in my life than the moment I saw him walking around the corner. I was so excited that I forgot my sign and that my sister was supposed to take pictures.

 

Parker was so excited that his uncle matt was finally home. Oh, and please excuse Matthew's hair cut, they made him do it and they ended up messing it up. Anyway..."Uncle Matt" gave Parker a prize. His latest obsession has been wanting two cars. not one, not three but just two cars. He was such a happy camper. Parker wasn't the only one excited pup when we got home.


So there you have it, our homecoming. There are many posts to follow since Matthew has been home, we just wanted some time together. So, until next time!

Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble & never stop praying-Romans 12:12