Mom...Happy Birthday!

What a way to start my birthday! At exactly 4:00 AM the phone rang and it was Chris. He was calling to wish me a Happy Birthday. The phone had just gotten installed today. I was so happy to hear from him. That ABSOLUTELY made my day. He was doing good and sounded very upbeat and happy (well as happy as you can be, all things considered). He works from midnight to noon and then gets off and plays Playstation 3 with his friend for about an hour before going to sleep. He was a little discouraged about the news they, as well as the rest of the world received yesterday about the tour being extended to at least 15 months. Now he will pin on Captain while in Iraq. It was so great hearing his voice. He assures us he is safe, well and that there hasn't been any excitement. It makes me feel so good that he always has such a good disposition. He never complains! He was very excited that he had gotten several packages, 2 from us, 2 from Patricia and 1 from Nick's Mom. I told him he had more on the way. He was a little frustrated that 7 minutes into our conversation, he was notified that he only had 1 more minute on his 300 minute phone card (was brand new when he started the call). Very quickly we brought our call to an end and said our goodbyes. I need to do some investigating and find a better phone card for him. I think the card he was using was Verizon International Calling Card that I bought him at Costco before he deployed. Sure not a very good value...$30.00 card and we got a total of 8 minutes of talk time. There has to be something better.

It was very hard for me to get back to sleep after I hung up the phone because I was so excited. My day continued to be great as Christen woke me up at 6:40 (my usual alarm time) with hot Krispy Kreme donuts, Starbucks coffee and 3 beautiful red roses. She served me breakfast in bed. When I got to work, I was welcomed by a dozen red roses on my desk from Joey. Wow...I didn't think it could get much better. Several of the employees surprised me with great gifts...one of which was extra special from the Tarvins. They gave me a beautiful lighted shadow box that had an American flag across one corner, the Army seal on the other corner, a tank at the bottom and a picture of Chris at the top with the words God Bless America above his picture. It was such a thoughtful gift and I couldn't help but cry. My day continued to be full of surprises...when we got home, Christen was waiting for us and we all loaded into the car and headed to dinner. They took me to Morton's of Chicago for and unbelievable dinner. We then walked to the Alamo and took a bunch of pictures to send to Chris. Christen even took Henry (the camel that goes everywhere in place of Chris) and took pictures with him at dinner and at the Alamo. My evening concluded by visiting my in-laws and getting some cool gifts from them. It was a great day...even though I am now a year older. I am so fortunate. Thank you son, for starting my day out with such a pleasant surprise! I love you and miss you. XXXOOO