Some people I’ve met upon hearing my husband has been gone for four months assume that he has some lucrative work opportunities that are keeping him away so long.

No, not at all.  But we do have a priceless investment in the US, our dd18, and dh went to the US to be with her for medical reasons.  Four months is a long, long time but he and I both felt this was important and necessary, and neither of us have regretted this decision at all.

A lot of people have asked me about how I managed and the answer is, you do what you have to do.  It hasn’t been easy and dealing with all the consequences of the situation on this side of the ocean by myself has sometimes been very difficult and unpleasant.  But you do what you have to do.

Finally, finally – dh is home again!

I went to the airport alone to pick him up last night, so that we’d have time to talk ourselves before he saw everyone.  I also didn’t tell the littles that dh would be home until the next day, because I knew they would get hyper and wild due to the excitement and being overtired.  I wanted them to be asleep when he got home so he could spend time with the older five kids, and then he would be able to focus on the younger kids first thing the next day.

It worked out beautifully.  We enjoyed the quiet trip home together, the older kids enjoyed time with him – then ds4 woke up from a deep sleep and had such a sweet smile on his face when he saw who was home!  Dh scooped him up and held him for a long time, and the smile didn’t leave ds4’s face the entire time.

This morning ds5 and ds7 woke up and were discussing between themselves that ‘Today Daddy is coming home!”  Ds4 woke up and sleepily said, “Nu uh, Daddy already came home.”  They told him he was still sleeping and he was having a dream, and then knocked on my bedroom door to verify that they were right.  I was asleep and when ds5 called out, “Is Daddy here?” I thought they had heard from someone that dh was home and just wanted to know if dh was sleeping, so I answered, “No, he went to shul.”  They were shocked and excited – that wasn’t what they were expecting to hear! – and ds20 took them to shul to meet my husband, who was very pleasantly surprised to be greeted by his happy and cute sons!

Yirmiyahu is very easygoing but doesn’t like being held by someone he doesn’t know, and after dh not being here for four months, he has no idea who he is.  So he smiles at dh from the safety of the arms of someone familiar.  As soon as dh comes close enough to for Yimiyahu to think dh might hold him, he tightly clutches the person holding him.  I keep seeing him scoping dh out, watching him intently like he’s trying to figure out what he’s doing here!  This is how it was until he got used to ds20 when he came home a couple of weeks ago, and I think within two or three days he’ll be as happy to be with dh as with everyone else in the family.

Though I know there will probably be some sort of resettling process for everyone, it feels normal to have dh home again.  Normal but very wonderful at the same time!

Avivah