Wonderful Weekend

Well, this is my second-to-last weekend with the family. We got a pass to come home and it's coming to a close. What a wonderful time of getting to know them just a bit more. I have the best kids and the most amazing wife a man could ask for. We shopped for Juli's new pants at the mall, bought Hunter some new, cool shoes (size 8.5!, now larger than my feet!), and spent far too long in Saturday traffic on Meridian in Puyallulp. We must've watched two or three episodes of Heroes on Netflix (edited, of course, by Daddy) and enjoyed a game of Twister (Daddy spins, doesn't play). I threw the football with the boys and played some Halo with Hunter. Jadin got injured (again) in a tickle fight last night and Caitlin even dared join in for a few minutes.

I'll miss these times. I won't regret going to war, as we will all have eternity together - and what more could I ask than to do that to which God has called me? A year is nothing...but it sure feels like an eternity while we're here on Earth. It feels especially so when I see Jadin, the most obvious of the kids with his feelings, following me around everywhere in order, as he stated, "just to be near (me)." I remember coming home after the first tour, when Jadin would come sit on the bathroom counter and just watch me shave, wide-eyed and curious. Hunter couldn't stop hugging me. The girls wanted to cuddle every moment my bottom hit the couch.

So I will take in the ambiance, the family sights and sounds. Even now Jadin is vaccuuming in preparation for church tonight, wearing the dog tag and picture tag necklace I bought him prior to my last tour. What influence I lose this year on their growth I can only but hand over to God. He has filled in well, both in my absences and in my shortcomings. As I said, I have the best kids in the world. I think mostly I am thinking selfishly when I think about the tour - thinking about what I will miss. But greater rewards await beyond this life, making another year in His service well worth the separation. One day we will be permanently at peace in His Kingdom, where we will no longer learn to make war.