Welcoming the Troops

DFW Airport is one of the airports that soldiers come to when they are coming home from the War Iraq and Afghanistan. Volunteers have put together a "Welcome Home Hero's" greeting group that you can join on a daily basis. They have offered this since the war began...and it's been on my to-do list ever since! Today, FINALLY, we went and joined the families of soldiers, veterans, and other greeters in welcoming a group of soldiers home! (It was NOW or never because they will no longer do it after mid March, since there has been a troop reduction!) 

What an awesome experience it was! My friend Kirsi and her two daughters, Taryn and Mazie joined us. We felt so welcomed by everyone...shocker, the welcoming committee made US feel welcomed! It was such a neat feeling of comradery as we waited to see the troops! There were about 100 of us there to greet the troops and there was about 50-75 soldiers that came HOME.

When the first soldiers turned the corner the welcoming crowd burst into cheering and applause! It was a very moving experience! It became even more emotional for me when I saw tears in the eyes of one of the soldiers. I just couldn't imagine what it was like for him.

Even though I have wanted to do this for so long, I am glad I waited until now. Things are so cool to experience through Jonathan's eyes. He and I made "Welcome Home" and "Thank You" signs prior to going and he proudly displayed. But then he quickly put them down and stuck his hand out to shake their hands...melted my heart. Jonathan told every single solider "Thank you".

I explained to Jonathan that these soldiers went away from the families for a very long time so that they could protect Jonathan and our country. He really liked that.

I think the cutest thing was when we got home, Jonathan asked me, "When are the soldiers coming over?" After a few clarification questions back and forth, I still didn't understand, and then he said, "Well, we made a sign that says, Welcome Home, so when are they coming to our home?" :)

Jonathan and Taryn, with Taryn's very pretty sign!

Ben, Jonathan and Mazie. And the matching strollers!! Ben is almost 9.5 months and Mazie is 6.5 months!

We got there really early, so we had some time to kill and energy to burn!

I didn't know this, but you can buy Girl Scout cookies for the soldiers. There were probably 3 or 4 different Girl Scout Troops there handing out cookies to the soldiers! Very neat!

All the gentlemen in the caps are the extremely helpful veterans. We assume that most of these men do this everyday. Kirsi and I were towards the very end of the line to greet and a couple of these men brought us all the way to the front to be with the veterans and the family's. We felt very special being up there! These men reminded me of my Grandpa, who is also a veteran and I know he would be the same way!

Our little spot behind the veterans!

The crowd!

This is when Jonathan put down his sign and flag and stuck his hand out.

Oh how I wish these photo's weren't blurry. But I love, Love, LOVE this photo! This guy was so nice. He said something like, "Hey there buddy, your going to make a great solider one day!" Jonathan got so excited!

Thank you to all of the United States Service Men and Women!