Our Whole Family!

After seven months, B is HOME! Layla and I drove to Frankfurt and picked him up from the airport on Sunday, September 8 and we've been happily spending time together ever since. Aside from having to go into work for a couple of hours for the first 3 days he was home, B has been off work for a week and a half, and will continue to be until Thursday. The time has been flying by, mainly because we have been SO busy! There was lots of unpacking and rearranging to be done (since I moved into this house while B was gone, I hadn't really allowed enough space for all of his stuff) and I had a whole "honey-do" list waiting, too. B has cheerfully been making his way through that list, and the house is looking better every day. We finally took our first official family photos; a combination of "Layla is one!" and "B is home from deployment!". They were done at a local castle on a really frosty morning. Poor Layla was so cold, I was convinced we hadn't gotten a single good shot but after reviewing the pictures yesterday, our photographer really did get a few good ones! The best part of the last two weeks has been a four day trip to Garmisch, Germany in Bavaria, where we stayed at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort. It's a hotel run specifically for American military set in an absolutely gorgeous area of Germany. Honestly, when we heard we were moving here, this area is what I pictured. It reminded me so much of the mountain towns in Colorado- a mix of Breckenridge and Boulder. Anyway, it was a "slice of Heaven" as my friend CeCe so correctly put it. The room had a breathtaking view, there was a pool to splash in with Layla, restaurants and a coffee shop on site, and easy access to the village itself. I've heard people call it the "ugly American hotel" but I just don't even care. It was relaxing, and let us focus on being a family again without the struggles that can come with traveling in a foreign country. It was a five hour drive with a small stretch through Austria and the last hour wound us through the Bavarian Alps. Layla did so well in the car- playing, sleeping, eating, and watching Kidsongs. We spent our first full day walking into the town to have breakfast at a bakery, playing in the hotel pool, and planning our second day activities over dinner at a gasthouse (German hotel). Edelweiss offered a number of tours daily, and while we didn't go on one of the tours, we used it as a guide for what the area had to offer. I really wanted to visit Neuschwanstein Castle, which is the castle that Walt Disney modeled Sleeping Beauty castle after, but we will have to do that another time when Layla is old enough that we don't need a stroller. Instead, we visited Linderhof Palace- the primary residence of King Ludwig II (click here to read about this beloved Bavarian king). It was only about a half hour drive from our hotel, and the location did not disappoint! Tours of the palace were offered in English, so we were able to visit the inside of Linderhof. It was rainy and foggy that morning, but I think it really only added to the beauty and magic of Linderhof. The palace is really quite small- the king never married and didn't like to entertain- but the surrounding gardens are large and so neat to tour. Of course, there were also a lot of stairs, which mean lugging Layla and a jogging stroller down stairs and up alternate routes. In the end, it was so worth it and really remarkable. We stopped for lunch and shopping in a village on the way home before heading back to the hotel for mother/daughter napping before our carriage ride through Garmisch. The ride had been booked before we realized what a big day visiting Linderhof would be, and I think we all wished that we could cancel it and just spend the evening by the pool. We headed home on Friday, which turned out to be much lengthier than our drive to Garmisch after we were stuck in two huuuuuuuuuuuge traffic jams, or "staus" as they are called here. Since then, we've been unpacking, doing laundry, cleaning, and visiting the annual Pumpkin Festival to welcome the beginning of fall! I know the next week with B home will fly by, and I'm just so grateful for this reintegration time. Layla has really bonded with B, which has been a big relief for us both. After being gone for over half of her life, I think it was a big concern in the back of both of our heads how long it would take for Layla to understand that he was her daddy and here to stay. He really worked at spending time doing what she wanted, playing her games, comforting her when she was upset and not just giving her to me, keeping her so I can go do errands, and showing her that she can trust him. Nothing has made me smile bigger than when B knelt down with his arms open and Layla toddled as fast her her leggies could carry her to him, grinning and giggling.

Our hello is Their goodbye

I can't believe we are finally in the last few days of this deployment- excited doesn't even begin to cover it! But, as thrilled as I am, I can't help but think of the family around the corner from us, the family who is counting down the days until their sad goodbye. The location that B is deployed to is a standing position, one that someone from his office has to constantly man. Now, while B is rotating home, his coworker J is preparing to leave. I know B has served his time, really a month more than everyone else before him, and we certainly have missed him. I cannot wait to see him get to know his little girl again. However, J also has a little girl. She's two and a half, and will notice exponentially more the person missing from her life. When we arrived in Germany, we knew at some point B would need to go to Kosovo. He had the forethought to jump on this rotation, which was really the best timing. Layla would still be small enough that she wouldn't even remember him, and B wouldn't miss any of the holiday season. I had a hard time admitting it, but this really was the best time for him to go. But, for the family around the corner, J will miss Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentines, her birthday, and Easter. It breaks my heart to think about. So, while I look at the yard and think, "It can wait until B is home." I know that M is looking at her yard and saying, "J, will you take care of that one more time so I don't have to try and do it while watching L?" While I decide the box in the garage won't really bother me enough over the next week to haul it up to the attic myself, M no doubt has a list of final to-do's for J. And while I'm making a list of special list of meals to welcome B home with, she is doing the same, only to say goodbye.
So, readers, if you wouldn't mind saying a special prayer for this family, and for all families just starting a deployment, I sure would appreciate it. The anticipation to a deployment is agonizing, and the first few weeks are the very hardest as everyone grapples with what will be the reality of the next few months.