Family together again!

So we have been in a bit of a hibernation mode, more like a catching up on the last 7 months mode - and it is wonderful. Being back with my family again is a dream come true. There are many events in life that words cannot explain, and you have to experience them to understand - my reunion with my family has been one of these experiences. It is hard to believe I have been home for 2 weeks, as they have flown by. We have made the most of our time together, trips to the beach, to the mountains, Bush Gardens, parks, festivals, etc. All that is great, but the best moments are in the morning when I wake up to Will calling "momma, you awake yet?" out of his bedroom and happily inviting Will and Claire into our bedroom for some family time that I cherish now more than ever. Below are a few photos from my return...thank you to everyone out there thinking and praying for me and my family as well as all those special people that helped Jami while I was gone - we cannot thank you all enough.

Philip made it home safely late Sunday night. I will post pictures of the glorious homecoming when I get them. It was surreal, magical and a moment I will never forget. We are all adjusting well and can't wait to share more later. Just wanted to let everyone know he is safe on American soil and we are wonderful!!!

love, j

The sight of freedom

In my line of work, we use the phrase "the sound of freedom" when you hear a jet take off in full afterburner. In this case, this was the sight of freedom.



This was my view as I was leaving Baghdad for the last time a few days ago. As I write, I am in a loud, hot passenger terminal (tent) in Qatar, awaiting my flight home. I will reunite with my family in about 24 hours and the excitement and adrenaline levels are high - which is why I have meds to help me sleep on the way home. In the past few days, I have played the reunion with my family in my brain a hundred times. More so than any event in my life. And I think I know why...with my marriage, I knew what to expect but I was still nervous, with Will's birth, I did not know what to expect, but I was nervous. Now, I do know what I am going home to, a supporting and loving, beautiful and caring wife, and two, yep, two children that I love dearly, even though I have yet to meet one. And, I am not nervous. Some might wonder why I am comparing to a wedding or birth, but this is that big of a life event for me. Being separated from my family for about 7 months and reuniting with them is a big deal for us. To us, it is the beginning of our family time again. Jami and I have a new appreciation for all those that are separated from their families for a significant time. Often, they make it look easy, but it is not. Many times we asked each other how we would deal with it when/if we were in that situation. At the time, we did not have an answer. But we do now, we just do it, we deal with it, we rely on our faith and love and get through it. Now, we are on the brink of getting through it and we are happy, and thankful for all of you out there that helped us though our time apart, we appreciate everything.
P

I love the rubber band wrists...or maybe that I just realized her dress was on backwards after downloading the picture just now...too many things running through my mind...ooops!


Making the count down chain for daddy's arrival.


Another day of Will dressing himself...what you can't tell from this photo is it is 85 degrees outside!


Can't forget the goggles while playing in the sprinkler!

Yes, the countdown is on...none of us can hardly stand the wait of anticipation. It can't come soon enough.

On another note, I mentioned in my last post about my dad and his biopsy. Unfortunately it came back positive. He will have a PET scan next week to determine other places in his body the cancer may have spread. Then he will start radiation and chemo next week. At least the doctors are being aggressive with treatment. I just don't understand why this gnarly disease has to take a toll on so many people's lives. My eyes were wide open while working at Duke on the peds bone marrow unit. I have never met so many strong, brave kids and probably never will. They were amazing little souls who taught me more about myself, my well being and my place in life. Taking care of these kids never made me think about my own family being affected. I always felt my family and friends are invincible from this terrible illness since I had worked with it first hand. I talked to my dad on the phone yesterday and he sounds so strong...as always. I know it is going to be a long 3-4 month road for him but I also know he will do it with the strength and courage he possess and so frequently displays. He has given me unlimited strength in some difficult situations in my own life, it just seems so backwards to remind him to keep his chin up or his head down....however you want to look at it. "piece of cake" right, dad? :)

On lighter note we are almost 24 hours out. I will keep the blog updated :)

love, jami

Long Time Coming....

It seems like my posts are so few and far between...but luckily we have been so busy and it has helped our time pass by much more quickly. After my last post we were blessed with many visitors. Philip's sisters, Amy and Mimi, came two separate weekends, our good friends the Phillips and Nonna Principi. The kids and I had such great weekends with all of you and are so thankful for your love and support. We cherished our time with each of you and thank you again for taking the time and effort to come and see us.

We then ventured out west to Idaho. My little brother was gracious enough to fly out to VA only to breathe 30 min. of the humid, east coast air before boarding our flight home to ID. We spent 12 days with family and friends. So wonderful to be able to share Claire and Will with everyone and to break up the monotony of our regular routine. It was rejuvenating to say the least and thank you everyone for the love and laughs. The time ticked too quickly!

I was able to brave the flight home alone. Definitely an adventure and became some what comical after a while. I don't know where the adventure turned funny but all I could do was laugh. Maybe when Will decided to have a tantrum in the long line for Quiznos, throwing his backpack and completely destroying the snobby lady's phone conversation behind me. She was angry with me to say the least and I had to giggle as she has no idea what my world consists of for the past 7 months :) hehe Or maybe when Claire pooed through 2 whole outfits on the plane and I had mustard colored poo all down my leg for the remainder of the day....awesome!!

Aside from our endeavors, we are anxiously awaiting for Philip. I have a whole laundry list of things to do but I don't even know if they will get done. Honestly, I don't care. I just want the family to be complete. The other stuff can wait. So crazy it is only 5 more days. Only 4 more nights of dinners with the empty chair that constantly reminds me of his absence. Only 5 more mornings of waking up to his empty side of the bed, only his picture to stare back at me. you get the point....

I will keep up on the blog as we know the exact arrival time. Sounds like Sun between 3 and 8.

ps... I have to add one more thought that is heavy on my mind. Almost 3 yrs ago my dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He had his bladder removed, replaced by an artificial bladder followed by many sick days/weeks from chemo. While I was home, his 6 month routine check up showed an inflamed lymph node near his bladder. He had a biopsy yesterday while i was on my way home. We are still waiting for the results...please keep him in your prayers.

8 MORE DAYS!!!

Happy Birthday Philip!!! Can't wait to celebrate with the famous Principi pancakes when you get home! Can hardly wait to see you!

Chicken Fried

I told you all I would write about some other "fun" events I have had the chance to do here outside of flying in all sorts of aircraft throughout Iraq. Two weeks ago, the Zac Brown Band showed up for a concert to the troops. One of my friends decided to collect all of our fold up chairs and save the front 3 rows for us. Man, am I glad that he did. The place was slammed and the show was incredible. Zac and his boys put on a great concert! Not only did they travel all the way here to support us, but they gave up a spot on the American Country Music awards for us. That is a huge deal - they are up and coming and were nominate for 4 big awards. They decided that it was better to come play for us than it was to play in the limelight on prime time. Needless to say, they earned instant respect from all of us. They are a very patriotic group of guys and there were a few moments when the lyrics and the words they were saying sent chills down my spine, and reminded me that people all over America genuinely care about what we do and our and our families sacrifice to our great nation. Check out http://www.zacbrownband.com/photos.html?ga=74 and you will see our crowd in pictures 22-24.



We have had other concert events since I have been here, like Bad Company...that dude is old and kept getting winded during the songs - pretty funny, but it was nice that they were here as well. The other good show was Jessie James (young female country singer), Carlos Mencia, and Kid Rock. Jessie is very talented and we enjoyed her music, Carlos was hilarious, his goal was to offend everyone in the audience at some point, and Kid Rock was much better than I thought. I would have never gone to a Kid Rock show in the states, but he is also very patriotic and travels here every year. The guy also has a ton of energy, he put on a much better show than I anticipated.



Today my organization had a big farewell to a bunch of us leaving in May, including me! That's right, I am inside a month! I found out recently that I should be home around the end of May, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Work remains busy, and today after the farewell, we were allowed the afternoon off and we all played sand volleyball for about 4 hours. It is funny how little things like that can really help out all the guys here. We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon off, enjoying a little fun in the sun.

A few congrats to some friends of ours. Sammy, after 20 years of service to our country, is hanging up the fighter pilot boots. Thank you, and Katie for all you have done during your time in the Air Force, we are all grateful for your service. Also, Jeff, congrats on your new addition, John Maxwell, I know you and Jill are proud parents. Now I just need to get home safely and meet my little girl...