stefa70

Thank him from us for being willing to serve our county.
HUGS

Amazing report Stef! Some laughs, some tears, and a reminder of what is important, family. Hope you guys have a great time together while he is home.

The best TR EVER!!!! I remember Jordan from your TR and also GI Jordan - that was so awesome!
I am SO glad he is home safe and sound for a while and you guys can sleep well.
Please tell him we said "Thank you." And DD says "Thank you for keeping the bad guys away"
:jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy
And, apparently, I do not wear waterproof mascara... :rofl2:

Steph,
Thank you for posting this mini tr. I love seeing a member of our military coming home safe. My hubby was active duty for 20 years and is now a contractor working with the military so I totally understand what you were feeling waiting at the gate. That excitement that you are going to see your loved one soon but the feeling that it is not real and you don't believe it till you see him with your own eyes. I am so happy that you all got to see Jordan, even if it is for a short time. Please tell him welcome home and thank you for your service from MinnieMom's family.
I need to go dry my eyes now. :usa:

How cool Stef! You're exactly the type of person that makes this site so awesome!
God bless you and your family, blood or otherwise!

What a sweet and amazing story....so glad you are getting to spend some time together! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing this wonderful story Stef. Tell Jordan thanks for his service to our country and the Fiends are proud. :usa:

Stef, thanks for sharing. Tell Jordan to not be afraid/ashamed to share his feeling. Tell him that those of us that were there before him are here for him.
Gary Flanigan
Life Member
VFW Post 5302

:jumpforjoy
That was an AWESOME homecoming!

Thanks for sharing this Stef. The feeling you get from seeing your loved one walk through that gate is indescribable. I hope Jordan enjoys every minute he has while he is home and his time back in Afghanistan flies by!

So happy he finally got there, safe and sound!
Thanks for sharing!
Keep thanking him for his service.

One of the best TR"s you've ever written. Please tell him how much we appreciate his service. Pass on a bunch of Fiend hugs too! :heartsmiley:

So I have to admit, I couldn't watch the video. I would be bawling all day if I tried. The pictures and words already took care of the crying!
:heartsmiley: :heartsmiley: :heartsmiley: :heartsmiley: :heartsmiley: :heartsmiley:

For some of you long term fiends, you will know who Jordan is. For those who don't, I will give you a bit of back story.
Jordan is my son's BF. They met a couple of years ago and hit it off immediately! Jordan was essentially raised by a single Dad, who is a nurse at Shands hospital in Gainesville.
Translation: Jordan never really had a Mom around and Dad worked endless hours to support not only his own children, but also another young man (Mike) who's family left a lot to be desired.
Jordan fit into our family like a glove, and I couldn't love him any more than if I had given birth to him myself. He spent most days and nights here, including Christmas mornings.
Jordan had spent his high school years in ROTC, with the plan being to enroll in the Army. But before he left for boot camp, we took him on his first trip to the Fort and he instantly became a fiend.
November 2010 - Jordan's first Fort souvenir.

And back again in January 2011.


He was to leave at the end of January to begin boot camp in Georgia, then off to Washington for training before being deployed to Afghanistan.
We were all sad to see him leave. When we came back to the Fort in March, we brought GI Jordan with us.

He rode bikes

He drank beer

Played cornhole

And went to all the parks with us.


I had started a prayer thread for Jordo on FF.net, and got some great responses. I made an album with his Disney trip pictures and printed all the prayer/well wishes out and mailed them to him at boot camp. It was a great way to raise his spirits and give him a piece of home.
On our annual Nate's birthday trip, he got a brief leave (before being sent to Washington) and drove straight to the Fort at 6:00 AM to be with Nate.

We got one more brief visit in October, and then he was sent to Afghanistan.
We did our best to keep up with him through phone calls & facebook, but we thought about him constantly.
Every time we would get word that he was getting a leave, we would get excited, only to be then told it was going to be a "little while longer"
Frustration is an understatement!
He would post pictures when he could, to ease our fears. (Jordan is on the right)

Now that I've given the back story, we will time travel to last week.
Jordan is finally given a date! He will be arriving in Tampa on Wednesday the 25th, sometime at night.
I was determined to be at the airport, at all costs. Because I open the gym at 4:00 am, I knew it was gonna be a long night/morning, but well worth it.
Wednesday comes and we are informed Jordan is now stuck in Kuwait and his papers aren't complete. It's looking like Friday evening before he arrives. :banghead:
I would go on a military rant right now, but it wouldn't do me any good, so we're just going to grin and bear it.
Friday rolls around and Mike comes over to tell us that FINALLY, it's set in stone.
Jordan will arrive in Orlando at 5:30 pm on Saturday. We had some friends over and "celebrated" on Friday night. Even with many beers and little sleep, we were going to be there when he got off that damn plane!
Continuing in next post...............

Thanks for adding all those pics Ed!
If ya'll ever want to pawn Mama off, please send her my way. I can't wait til I'm her age and can spout out all the rude things that run through my mind, and not care.

I consider myself a bit of a cat person. To me, the perfect cat is one that is small enough to fit in the crock pot, but big enough to feed 7.

Sometimes a quickie is all ya need!

This is a picture of Cheyenne (black) who passed in February at almost 15 years old. She was a frequent FW guest. The Golden in the picture is her "sister" Jesse, who at 14.5 is still with us and going strong.

This is a picture of our newest, Tayla, during a dock diving class. She just turned 8 months and LOVES the pine cones at FW, but traveling is not her favorite thing. She is very routine driven.

This was Zeus's (4 yr old schnoodle) favorite view of the Fort. He would sit on top of the couch, with his favorite stuffed squirrel under his chin, keeping watch from lot 1616.:)

I don't know if I want Fried Pork Chop flavored water....only if it comes with a green mator chaser.

I own guns and I enjoy shooting, always have. Every job I ever had involved carrying guns.
I am Pro Gun. :)
Paid for by the committee to elect H.

Started out with ugly old brown milk jug:

Painted the top black, bottom red:

Once that dried, taped off then painted the yellow band:


Cut the plastic globes, glued & taped til dry:

Cut a pattern out of heavy paper, to paint "buttons"

Put it all together and voila!

I am the opposite of Carol. If we're home, we're out in the screened room and everyone is welcome to stop by (weirdo's especially Mo, they're the most exciting visitors)
If we are home, but not outside, we're inside....but not sleeping, so come back later.

We saw a service mini horse at DHS last year. She was very cute with a Minnie bow in her hair.
Horses are less distracted by people and they have an average life span of 30 years.