Focus on the Positive

I knew I needed a week off from blogging because I needed to breathe.

In and out.

Over and over.

To recover from the 4 days “at home” with the darling twins.

“At home” is very subjective and is great material for:

• Another post
• The Book
• The Jerry Springer show

Luckily, I’ve been able to dig deep, pick out the happy pictures and share the moments of Family Day at Ft. Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina and our safe arrival home.

So without further ado, I will continue to…

Focus on the Positive

Watching the Soldiers come out of the woods was simply amazing.

Much more so than the YouTube video I encouraged you to watch.

We were overcome with emotion and pride as Toby Keith’s “American Soldier” played and we tried to find our babies Soldiers…

In case you couldn’t pick them out – because let’s face it – they all kind of look alike in their ACUs (Army Combat Uniforms)…

It was an honor for us to meet many of the drill sergeants.

I was glad to be able to thank them for their service and for taking care of our daughters over the summer.

They were very complimentary of “The Twins” and many of them thanked us for raising such fine young women.

Lizzie showed that her PT (physical training) really paid off.

This was on a dare from Scary Baby over the phone a few weeks before we arrived. We were all duly impressed!

This sign was in the stairway we walked up to see their sleeping bay where they had spent their last 10 weeks…

Such a powerful reminder of who they are becoming.

Picture snapped as we picked up their gear and just before we all got kicked out…

Then we headed for air conditioning.

PhilBillPaul and I had made a pledge to do our best to not complain about the heat. Even though it was about 120 degrees with no breeze and we were all sweating while standing still.

Because we realized that our darling twins had endured this heat wearing full gear for most of the summer so we were pretty sure we could last for one day.

Our lily white Lizzie’s only request was that we spend the day inside – she was so sick of the South Carolina heat.

No surprise that she reveled in her day of freedom with some of her favorite things…

Bowling and nachos with that liquid cheese that is really not cheese.

Happy girl. She earned every bit of that neon orange cheese.

You may have forgotten but we do have a 4th child. He still lives with us.

He did greet us on the driveway at 1:00 a.m. and actually hugged one of his sisters.

The Grunter was also kind enough to do a little decorating before we got home.

He hung the banner and lined the curb in front of our house with American flags.

We’re still not sure if they missed the wiener dogs more than us. Since they are now 18 (which we have been reminded of several times) you’ll have to ask them.

Lord knows and so do we that they can speak for themselves…

GIANT SIGH…

More updates on Wednesday – if you can stand it.