My soldier is back from his first deployment and I am so relieved.  I have spoken with him only once and won't see him for a while, but at least he seems to be okay.  Many things I want to say and talk with him about, but, for the moment, there's time for that. 

There are blessings to be found in all things and if not for this deployment, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know our new daughter-in-law, Vanessa. 

Our old dog, Princess, died the Wednesday before Matt's deployment.  That was a really difficult thing to deal with, but our little granddog, Dobbie, came to stay with us, too and she was a nice distraction.  Although, Sweetie, our small dog, was not very pleased with the situation.  She is not ready to be an aunt to Dobbie. 

Life has continued to continue with Matt gone for 3 1/2 months.  Even though we got up each day and did what needed to be done, we missed him so much.  Chris graduated from high school on May 4th with everyone present except his brother.  We've all survived this experience and we'll just enjoy the peace and comfort of family until he leaves again.