So Very Proud!

Awesome!! Did she get to help out with ike relief? I am sure she wasn't to far if she did. What base is she at in texas? It is a awesome accomplishment, and I would be very proud too jo! glad you got to see her.

I'm glad that your daughter was able to come and surprise you with a visit. :salute:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cuda

glad to hear that she is doing well. I had a cousin that grew up fast in the army. He left a cocky high school jock, and came back a soldier. It's kinde of cool to see the change, and the level of appreciation and pride being in the military gives them.

---

It surely is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bruce Whitehead

What a great surprise for Mom!

So happy for you Jo, you must have been just missing her terribly.

So? Is she this grown up soldier in person as well? I can imagine you must see some changes, but hopefully that wee baby on the blanket (as per your picture of her) is still in there. :)

Bruce

---

I think it's a mom thing, Bruce, but no matter what they grow to become somewhere in my heart they are still my little babies. It is funny though that the teenager Kate once was, who HATED to get up early, HATED people bossing her around and fought us every step of the way when it came to following rules ended up making this choice for herself and doing so well at it. I would have never thought, back when she was a hard to handle teenager, that she would enjoy and grow within a military framework.

Didn't take long though, once that uniform was off and she was in her comfy pj's to start with the "what's for dinner Mom?" thing LOL.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Slim

Congrats to you and your new Soldier!!! My thanks to her for stepping up to the plate and carrying on a proud tradition, and my thanks to you for supporting her decision.

---

Thanks Slim. With how the world is right now it wasn't an easy thing to hear that my oldest wanted this in her life I can tell you. Now her younger brother, my 17 year old son is speaking with an Army recruiter about his plans when he graduates high school later this year (though he's thinking regular Army rather than National Guard like his older sister). As proud of them as I am, I worry but I've always told my 4 kids whatever they choose in life, as long as it's an honorable choice, I'll support it fully.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rabernet

Jo - what a wonderful Valentine's Day surprise! I know you're so happy to be able to hold her! Enjoy her while she's there! :hug:

---

Oh I will Robin! I'm not ashamed to say once I got her in my doorway I bawled my heart out all over that proud uniform of hers. What else can a mom do. It'll be hard when she leaves next week to head back to Texas but I think that's always hard on parents when your fledglings leave the nest fully.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by stangs13

Awesome!! Did she get to help out with ike relief? I am sure she wasn't to far if she did. What base is she at in texas? It is a awesome accomplishment, and I would be very proud too jo! glad you got to see her.

---

She's just finished her Basic and AIT training so hasn't been sent to do anything yet. She did her first weekend thing a couple of weeks back and apparently goes to Lovett, Texas for that (hope I spelled that right), which is a couple of hours from where she lives in Texas. I don't come from a military background myself so I'm having all sorts of trouble with understanding some of the wording she uses. I think I need to join the online parents groups so I'm not so stupid about all this military terminology. My gawd the Army likes to use letters for EVERYTHING. AIT, MOS, 88Mike, blah, blah, blah - I haven't a clue half of what she and her step-dad babble on about. LOL

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dsirkle

I'm glad that your daughter was able to come and surprise you with a visit. :salute:

---

Thanks Dale! She really made my day. :)

Before she leaves I need to get her to stand still a moment and get some pictures of her in her (some sort of uniform thingy with even more letters to describe it???? geesh!) so I can post them in this thread.

Wow, that gave me chills just reading it. I'm so happy that she was able to come home like that. What a wonderful gift from a wonderful daughter. :happycry:

Awwwww geez, now I'm all weepy! What an amazing surprise!! Seems to me like you done real good with this one, Joanna! What a beautiful woman she has grown into! :salute:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tigerlily

Wow, that gave me chills just reading it. I'm so happy that she was able to come home like that. What a wonderful gift from a wonderful daughter. :happycry:

---

Thanks Christie. It was a wonderful gift to open that door and see her standing there in her army gear. For a second I truly didn't recognize her or my brain didn't immediately accept that this was Kate and she was at the door like that. She and Nicole said the look on my face was priceless LOL.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

Awwwww geez, now I'm all weepy! What an amazing surprise!! Seems to me like you done real good with this one, Joanna! What a beautiful woman she has grown into! :salute:

---

Awww thank you Jude, I'm still a bit weepy myself over it. I can't wait for her to get back to our home so I can get some new pictures of her to share with you all. She's visiting her dad right now but will be back tomorrow. She's planning to squeeze in a quick visit to little Michael's classroom as he wants to show off his big sister a bit before she goes back to Texas.

Well my daughter's off back to Texas as of yesterday. It was hard to see her go but I'm hoping to go visit during the spring break when her littlest brother is out of school for 10 days. Also Kate will be back up here later in the year when Luke (my oldest son) graduates from high school so it won't be so very long until I see her again. Here's some pictures I shot during her visit.

Kate in her uniform.....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...iformFeb09.jpg

Kate and me.....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...teMomFeb09.jpg

Kate and my husband, Mike (her step-dad and it's soooo cute how they bond over the whole army thing, though my husband will complain that I used "cute" and "army" in the same sentence here LOL)....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...eMikeFeb09.jpg

Our family - me, Mike, Beth (age 15), Michael (age 7), Kate (age 21), and Luke (age 17).....
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...amilyFeb09.jpg

Such a beautiful family, Jo!! :sunny: Can't believe how fast your kids are growing up! I swear, it's just as fast as mine are! :O :P (Mine are growing at the speed of light these days!) I've still got a couple more years before my first one leaves the nest...but just reading about "visiting her at spring break" and "trips home for a sibling's graduation"...it makes me all misty-eyed thinking about that sort of future for me and Petra. :tears:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLC

Such a beautiful family, Jo!! :sunny: Can't believe how fast your kids are growing up! I swear, it's just as fast as mine are! :O :P (Mine are growing at the speed of light these days!) I've still got a couple more years before my first one leaves the nest...but just reading about "visiting her at spring break" and "trips home for a sibling's graduation"...it makes me all misty-eyed thinking about that sort of future for me and Petra. :tears:

---

Jude, it's so funny really. I can look at Kate (or Luke or Beth for that matter) and I see this lovely adult woman, living her life her own way, willing to serve her country, all that adult stuff I hoped she would grow into and yet in my mother's heart I will always see this.....

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...firstsmile.jpg

I think somewhere in us, they just never grow up. They were all laughing their goofy butts off this weekend though since only young Michael is currently shorter than me (and he's 7 years old!). It is a very strange feeling to be surrounded by the babies you birthed and you have to bloody well look up at them LOL.

Thanks for your lovely post Judy. Made me misty eyed too. Hugs!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...firstsmile.jpg

---

BAM!!! I know what next month's POTM theme is gonna be! BABIES!! We can submit pictures of our own children...or our own baby pictures if we don't have kids yet. :D

Sorry for the off topic tangent! I now return you to your regularly scheduled moments of nostalgia and parental pride! :salute: