Welcome home Mommy!

On July 12th while I was at the playground with Kari and her kids, I got a phone call from birth registration. (I called them a couple times a day to see if they had heard anything on the passport) They told me the way it worked was they would hear from the consulate in Germany and then contact me to let me know it was in Frankfurt and then the next day they would send the courier to go pick it up. So when I got the call, I was expecting them to say the passport was in Frankfurt and I could get it tomorrow (which would've been Friday) and hopefully could fly home that weekend! Well, they said they already had the passport in hand! The courier had gone down there, picked up stuff and Deacon's passport was amidst the stuff.

 The previous night and that morning I had a rough time and just wanted to go home and be with my family. I was more frustrated that I didn't know when I could go. It could be the next day or three more weeks. It was hard to wait and not know. So I had planned what we would do. The plan was that the kids and Denver would get on the rotator (he would ask for his 10 days paternity leave) so the flight there would be free and the flight home we would pay for.  While we were there for 10 days we would go see Eastern Germany (a part that I have not seen yet and enjoy our time together).  At this point I didn't care about money and how much it would all cost, I just really wanted the kids to meet Deacon and be together as a family.  Well, those plans were thankfully thwarted and I flew out of Germany on Friday, July 13th.  The flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon was good.  Deacon pooped 3 times in that 2 1/2 hour flight and pooped on his clothes.

In Lisbon I had a 3 hour layover so I found a place to eat.  Smoking is allowed in the airport there and it stunk!  I'm so glad it's not allowed in the states because even though there are designated smoking areas in the airport, the smell doesn't necessarily stay in that area- it's all over.  While waiting at my gate, I found out that we would have a delay and wouldn't leave for another hour.  That hour turned into 3 more hours of delay.  I would've been frustrated by that, but because I was so excited to go home, I didn't care.  There was the fear that we would have to stay overnight and I prayed that wouldn't happen.  Because the delay, the airlines gave each person a 16 Euro voucher to eat at the airport.  They wanted to give me two vouchers, one for me and one for Deacon, but he doesn't eat real food so I told them just to give me one.  I went to Pizza Hut.  You had to use all 16 Euro at one restaurant so I got 2 desserts with my pizza slices and 3 water bottles for the next flight.  I found the other Americans that were going back to the base and sat with them and talked while we waited.  Finally at about 10pm Lisbon time (11 Germany time and 9 Azores time) we boarded the plane and took off.  The flight was good again with no one in the middle seat (on both flights).  Deacon slept most of the time.  It was about a 3 hour flight.  We landed and I had to get my luggage and car seat before leaving security to meet my family.  I wasn't sure if Denver would bring the kids or leave them at home because it was so late.  I landed around midnight Azores time (2am Germany time so I was very tired).  I was the 2nd to last person through the doors because I had to wait for the carseat and my luggage.  All the kids were there (some very sleepy) and we had a wonderful reunion.  Garrett was in a daze or something because he saw me and then, as if he didn't know I was coming, said "Mom?"  I gave all the kids a hug and they got to see Deacon.  He was hungry so he wasn't good company for anyone.  We got in the van and drove the 5 minutes to home.  The kids had decorated the home with papers and balloons.  It was sweet.  Because it was so late, we told them they needed to go right to bed and they could hold Deacon the next day.

Saturday morning they each got a turn holding their new brother.

Sterling was tickled pink that we were home.  They all were very happy actually.

A woman in our branch knew I was coming home on Friday so she made this cake for Deacon.  We lit the candle 4 times so each kid could blow it out for Deacon. 

Maelie is a little mom.  She does a great job holding him and holding his head up. 

Denver got this for father's day.  It says My Dad Rocks.  If you can see Sterling's hands, he's making an I love you sign and Cole is trying.

Saturday was a beautiful day so we had a BBQ outside and the kids swam in the pool.

Cole is no longer the baby.  Look how big he is!  He changed the most while I was gone.  He talks a ton now and is just very different.  He's really funny to.

They are all very glad that Mom and Deacon are home!

After church on Sunday (we have a 2 hour block now until we get more people moving in. It was really so small on Sunday.  Normally the chapel is full and it was 1/2 full on Sunday- so about 8 families were there) we went for a walk and took a lot of pictures.  Most of the pictures were taken by Maelie.

This poor skinny horse.  He is just skin and bones.  It's sad to see.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures because of their faces. 

I really missed my ocean views!

Cole put all these bandaids on because he had an 'owie'

He also found my makeup and had fun with it.

For activity days, Maelie and these girls (the Parkinsons) made this pioneer home for display at the upcoming Branch Pioneer Celebration.   Maelie, Kaelani, Rebekah, Erin and Megan.