To my readers,
Did that throw you for a loop? Can I tell you how weird it is to not say Dear Rob? My hero actually told me he misses my daily letters to him so maybe they will come back. Okay I have a few minutes so what about right now.
Dear Rob,
Hello babe, it is so nice to have you home. You have been home for 10 days now. I know things have been interesting.
First let me apologize for last weekend. What was I thinking leaving you for seven hours with four children? I guess I should have realized you had not had the time to really check in with the kids. Thank you for being so patient with me.
We have been so busy doing things this week that we have not had time to really set and talk. Honey, I cannot tell you how much it meant to me to set on the porch and talk to you. I really plan on trying to make this a priority.
Things feel normal right now, you and Michael are off fishing and the girls and I are relaxing around the house. I hope you found a great place to fish and you guys are having fun. Thanks for remembering the sun block by the way.
I am sorry I was so short with you about the chocolate cake. It really was silly. I really was mad that the kids would take advantage of you and do things they know better than to do.
Rob my heart is breaking that our weekend getaway fell through. I know you are as disappointed as I am. Can I tell you that I respect you for standing up for what is right for our children even though it means you lose out on a weekend away. I support your decision.
It feels so good to have you in bed next to me at night, or setting next to me at church or driving me around.
Thank you for driving us to Chapel Hill for Grace to see the GI doctor.
I love you babe, I just wanted to take a minute to say welcome home!!
Pamela

I guess it is really not right to write to my hero since he is right here next to me. So I thought I would tell you about our day yesturday. I did not tell the kids that Rob was coming home. I honestly was not expecting him until today. He called me yesturday at 6am and said he was in Germany and should be home sometime around 4pm. So we went to counseling and then met friends for lunch. Then we went to Lowe's to pick up something to hold Rob's welcome home sign. I even stopped by the butcher shop and picked up a beautiful steak.


We were not home a hour before it was time to go. I wrote the FRG leader and asked if she had heard when my husband would be in. She said my huband was no longer in this unit and that she had given my name to the person whose unit we were with. She was able to give me a number to call about times. So I called and they said there was a flight at 5:45 and one at midnight. I decided Rob would probably be on the 5:45 flight.

We arrived around 5:30. The kids all brought there welcome home signs. They thought they were there as a practice run. I told them this was a way for them to support soldiers who did not have anyone there.
We waited forever for the soldiers to get off the plane. They were waiting on customs. The whole time Rob is texting me to tell me he is there. When they released the soldiers I told my kids we would leave in just a minute but that I wanted to get a picture of them first. So they let me take one picture, then I saw Rob walking up so I asked them to let me take another one. AS I was taking the picture he said BOO. I do not think they knew how to respond. We all snuggled with Rob for 10 minutes before he got on the white bus to go get his stuff and turn in his weapon. There was only one problem. He flew in with a different unit and no one thought to show up for him. Which meant no one was there to greet him, no one to take his weapon. After several phone calls he was squared away and told he could go. By the way he is still in the same unit. Either I misunderstood her or she was wrong. He was starving and it was 8:30. So we stopped at McDonalds and had dinner. Can you imagine your first meal being a cheeseburger. Before he could come in the house the cat escaped and he was chasing her around the yard. He took a minute to say hi to the dog who was going nuts and did not know what to do when he saw him. Then we put the kids to bed with instructions that if they woke up before us to not wake us. Which is comical because everyone knows I wake up early no matter what.

We have had a wonderful day. He had to go to work briefly but they are giving him tomorow off. Rob has fixed the riding lawnmower, push mower, updated my laptop and the main home computer. Mowed the back yard and put pest stuff down. The kids have not left him alone all day. I mean he does not get a minutes peace. This afternoon he was changing in our room and Hope was looking under the door. I could hear her saying OOH daddy took his pants off, OOH daddy took off his underwear. That was all she could see.
I am so glad he is home. I may or may not be around much this weekend. I plan on spending every minute I can with the man in my dreams.

Dear Rob,
short and sweat, thank you for coming home. Help me for keeping it a secret from the kids that you were coming home. So now that the kids have done this.
It is time for me and you to do more of this

. (Sorry dear blog readers but this is my life. Lots of smooching and comments like DADDY YOU ARE NOT IN IRAQ, OR DADDY I PUT MY POOP IN THE POTTY NOW.)
I love you babe and am glad you are home with us.
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Rob,
I love you and cannot believe you have not been able to call today. For some reason I thought you were going to call.
We had a good day. The kids helped me make welcome home signs for the ceremony we are going to this weekend. I figure I can keep them for when you get home. It does get me more excited about you coming home. Speaking of you coming home I think it is time I take your shorts out of the bathroom and wash them. My first thought was HOW DARE HIM LEAVE SHORTS HANGING IN THE BATHROOM. But every day I look at them and it reminds me of you.
I got the laundry caught up and put away so I feel like I can relax a little. Our school stuff has not come in yet and it still has not been shipped. I am okay with it because it gives us a couple more days to relax.
I love you but it is almost 11pm and I still need to make sure the kids are asleep. I sent them to bed a little before 8 but then they refused to sleep so I had them get up and clean up and I think they are finally asleep for good. I do not know what is going on but we are not sleeping well.
I love you babe and PLEASE feel free to call me even in the middle of the night.
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Rob,
We are doing good. We miss you. We had a wonderful day. I went to pick up Michael's testing this morning. Kinda useless. His spelling scores are lower than normal but not bad but his reading is higher. He said that did not make since. His Asperger's test were not done. So I have to go back in a few days and pick up the final test.
We came home and I got all the clothes from the weekend put away. I got the girls closet cleaned out. Faith got her closet and dresser straightened out. The school stuff still has not shipped. So tomorrow I will work on getting laundry put away and basic straightening. I feel like I am nesting (I am not PREGNANT). I have a desire to clean out closets and re organize. I want to work on Welcome Home signs tomorrow. I told the kids we may even go to one this week so they will understand the process and I think it is a nice way to support other people.
I love you babe but I am going to head to bed. I know I have been going to bed earlier and earlier. The sad thing is I am not falling asleep like I should. I am trying to sleep on MY side of the bed and can I just say it is hard. I think we need a king bed. I love you, have I told you that today.
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Rob,
First of all, IT IS AUGUST!!!! Do you know what that means? YOU COME HOME THIS MONTH!!
I love you babe and cannot wait to have you home. Can you come tomorrow? The laundry is caught up, I slept good last night and there is plenty of food. Plus I do not want to take the girls with me to get the results to Michael’s testing tomorrow.
We are thinking about picking blueberries tomorrow. Part of me wants to rush home in case our school stuff arrives. I am almost giddy about it arriving.
Michael’s friend came over today and they had a good time. I cannot wait to get to know the family better. Maybe we will have a cook out when you get home.
I have a lot more to tell you about but I think I am going to go to bed early again. I was in bed and asleep before 10 last night and it was amazing.
I love you babe and hope that you were able to sleep today.
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Rob,
I love you. I love you because you called me back today just so I know you did not hang up on me. You are a wonderful man and I do not know how I am lucky enough to have you.
We had a good day, we went to church for the swap and came home with about 5 bags of clothes for the girls.They are in the garage now but I will put them away tomorow. I did get all the kids school books from last year put away. I even got all the laundry put away. I really need to deep clean the house. It honestly just seems like I am tired all the time and I can not figure out why. I was falling asleep at 4pm today. As soon as the kids are asleep I am going to bed.
I had planned on going to the commisary today but some how while we were at the swap Grace changed into pajama pants and high heels and buy the time we left her clothes were on the bottom of a trash bag in the van.
We are picking up Kim at the airport in the morning and then I think Michael is having a friend come over tomorow afternoon.
I love you babe and can not wait for the time when we can talk without interuptions of fear of one of us hanging up on another.
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Rob,
I love you and miss you like crazy. Today they showed pictures of your unit coming home on facebook. I have to admit while you have not been gone as long as them I felt a little jealous.
We had a good day. I never even got out of my pajamas. I got the school stuff ordered for Faith and Michael. That was a quick $2200 gone. I did get some school work done with Hope today. She wants to learn but only for a few moments here and there. I really think I am going to need to make a schedule for her and Grace and include things they can do like watch Sesame Street. I may even tell them it is part of their school. Our stuff should actually be here by Monday. It will be like Christmas.
Tomorrow is going to be kind of busy. They are doing a free yard sale tomorrow. Basically you set up a table with anything you want to give away and you walk around and take anything you want. I only have a couple of things to take. Then I am going to stop at Wal-mart and pick up a couple of storage things and come home and pack up all of last year’s school stuff. So for a day we will have a neat school bookshelf. Then I just need to straighten up and get laundry put away. That way when everything gets here I can start school without being behind in school.
Can you believe it is 9:30 and your kids are still awake? I swear they are on strike from sleeping and it is killing me.
I love you babe! But for now I need to go quiet YOUR children.
Pamela PETRIE
p.s. Grace sang to me today. I know the pictures are bad but the words are cute.


God is great
God is good
God is always great and good
We sing for your life
God is good, god is always I love you
I am the most beautiful girl
We are the most beautiful kids
We are the prettiest kids
We love you more
I will love you
I will kiss you on the cheek
We are good, we are great
We are a family
We will forgive you
We will give you the best family, the best of our family
Do you want to hear my singing
Do you want to hear me sing guys
Yes you do, you want to hear me sing
Jesus loves me now,
He died on the cross for our sins
Jesus is great, Jesus is good

Dear Rob,
I love you babe and can not wait to see you, can not wait to talk without beeping noises and phone calls and the line getting cut off. I can not wait to roll over and snuggle with you.
We had a good day. The plumber came this morning and of course the toilet worked perfectly the entire time he was here. I was so annoyed. I am trying to stay positive and remind myself at least I have kept the house really clean this week.
When he left we went to the post office and thrift shop and then Wal-mart. When we got to Wal-mart there was a radio station and car dealership outside collecting school supplies. So I let the kids pick up school supplies to donate and even let Grace choose a back pack (tinkerbell of course) to donate. But when we walked outside they were gone. It is all stuff we will be able to use.
We came home and straightened up a little and Michael spent the afternoon playing his new game. Did I tell you he ended up reading the girls 40 books, doing 2 pages of mathh and running 20 laps to earn the last of his money.
I worked on our new budget for when you get home and e-mailed it to you. It will be tight but I think we can do everything. I honestly see the light at the end of the tunnel if we stick to the budget. I got our electric bill today and it was $250 which kills me because I have kept the AC at 75 and made sure everything is unplugged. I guess that is what happens when you have 3 digit temps.
Hope found 2 pictures of horses I forgot I bought her so I hung them up. I was to lazy to go get a hammer so I used this.
I also hung up a couple of pictures in the office. One day I will learn to decorate. We do not have any plans tomorrow. I need to call Bob Jones in the morning. I tried to order the kids school stuff and it would not show me the free shipping option. It looks like it is $2150 for Faith and Michael and then I still need to make sure I have everything for Hope and Grace.
Have I told you that your two oldest daughters have all but refused to sleep recently. They have taken turns staying up until midnight. I woke them both up really early this morning in hopes that I can get to bed earlier tonight. We will see, it is almost 10pm and I have not even started going to bed.
I love you babe and can not wait to have you here so I can tel you "I cold".
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Rob,
I love you and hope you had a great day. We had a good day. The repair guy did not get here until after 3pm. He did not bring a new filter so he will have to come back with a filter for the fridge. At first he said the dishwasher issue was rust. Then he smelled the rinse aid spot and said oh this is vinegar. Which is total trash but whatever, I have used vinegar forever.
We do not have any plans the rest of the week except to mail Michael’s hard drive back to BJU. Speaking of home schooling can you please call me soon? We need to talk about what exactly we are ordering. I am hoping to order by the end of the week so I can get free shipping. I am hoping to start working on school next week.
Michael is determined to get a new DS game. He needs about $6 more dollars. He read 26 books to Grace tonight. I paid him 10 cents a book. The picture is of him reading to Grace.
I love you babe, I am going to try to go to bed early again tonight. I went to bed before 9 last night but it was after 11 before Faith was asleep. I do not know what is going on with her and Hope but they are not sleeping.
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Ron, I mean Rob,
You better come home soon before I forget your name. I am totally teasing because you are not here to be mad. I love you babe and cannot wait for you to come home.
Today we really needed you. Yesterday I noticed a wet spot in front of the fireplace. I thought a child had spilled something and was not admitting it. Today I noticed the spot was bigger. Then I realized the fridge sounded like it had running water. I have waited around all day for the plumber who has not called. With your moms help I was able to get the water turned off.
We stayed home all day and I finished up the dresses and can drop them off at the post office tomorrow. I am so sorry I did not tell you about it before. I thought I had told you about the dresses and I did not tell you on the blog because I did not want anyone to think I was bragging.


I love you babe but I am going to close and go to bed early. I hope you get to call soon. Thank you for talking to Michael today. He really did have a good attitude after talking to you. He even took a 2 or 3 hour nap today.

Dear Rob,
Before I forget I have to tell you something. Every time I try to use my IPHONE and write I love Rob or Rob is doing okay it changes your name to Ron. I promise I do not love Ron. Sorry, I thought you needed this laugh.
We had a good day, busy day but a good day. I offered to make eggs and sausage for Kim’s kids and they said no thank you they would prefer pop tarts. Easy enough! They brought a HUGE Hershey bar with them. So I put it in the food processor and made chocolate chip cookies. I have to be honest and say these are now my favorite cookies. Then I let the girls use my sewing machine and taught them how to make tote bags. Then I dropped them off. We really had a good weekend. They slept all over the house. I am sending you a picture of the boys at the movies with their DS’s in hand. All weekend every time I heard them talk to one another I could not help but think of you and their dad. They are so much like you guys.
After I dropped them off I took our kids and went to Sam’s. I picked up pancake mix and trash bags. Can you believe this is the first time we have had to buy trash bags in over 5 months. Something weird did happen at Sam’s. Michael went to look at games while I ordered dinner. When he got back to the table he said his hand hurt. He had tripped over his own feet and fell doing a flip flop on the ground. He put his hand down to break his fall and when he did he hurt it. I do not think it is broken. He has scratches on the side of his face but they look old. We got in the van and he got really quiet. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was tired and his hand hurt. I had him soak it in Epsom salt when we got home. Then he got a attitude with me and angry with me. He has not done this in a while so I sent him to bed and within minutes he was asleep. I have to admit this kind of worries me. I really think I will make him a appointment to make sure he is ok.
The silly cat got out again this evening. I have to tell you this is twice today and it is ticking me off. I told the kids I am tired of chasing after her.
We are home all day tomorrow and I cannot wait to talk to you. I miss us being able to talk on line. The kids are doing well, I have not told them when you are coming home. I have said about 5 more fencing classes. I cannot wait to have a real time line (side note to blog readers, I will let you know when he is coming home after he is already back on U.S. soil).
I love you babe but I am going to climb into bed. I really want to spend the day straightening up and deep cleaning tomorrow.
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Rob, we are having storms so I have the laptop off . I love you babe

Dear Rob,
Good evening my love. We have had a great day. The man was here at 7:30 to power wash the house and clean the gutters. Michael tried to mow the grass but then said the lawn mower was smoking. I tried hard not to curse considering it is only a few months old.
I got all the laundry done and will fold it and put it away tomorow. We went to see Karate Kid today. It was really good. But honestly I kept thinking "I wonder what Will Smith thought every time his son got punched". The kids loved it. Grace even set a couple of rows down with the girls. I thought for sure when it got scarry she would come running to me but she did not.


I stopped at the movie store and rented the original Karate Kid for us to watch after church tomorow.
I love you babe and can not wait to talk to you soon.
Pamela PETRIE

Dear Rob,
We had a wonderful, amazing, encouraging day. We got up at 4am and took Kim to the airport and then came home and relaxed. We went swimming on post for 3 hours. Honestly if I had taken something for Michael to eat I may still be there. It was so much fun. The entire pool was no more than 5 feet and a HUGE kid section. I did not have to carry Grace around. She even started putting her face under the water.
We came home and collapsed. Actually I made dinner and then relaxed. Then we went to the closing ceremony for VBS tonight. It went really well. The kids had a great time. I met the mom of Michael’s new friend. Can you believe they live in our neighborhood? To me that is only God. I told her we would get together next week to talk. It seems like we are on the same wave length. The church seems amazing. She said the men have a lot more functions then the women. I will tell you more about it when we can talk. For now I guess I should go to bed. I am running on 4 hours from last night and 6 the night before. And I already know the guy will be here at 8am to power wash the deck, porch and entire house and then he is going to clean out the gutters. I did talk to a neighbor today and he said the city never comes out and our grass is not long at all. I am going to have Michael mow it in the morning just to be safe. I am so tempted to have someone trim the bushes so you do not have to do it.

I love you babe and wish you were here this weekend to do things with us. I miss you so much. It is almost harder now that I know you are coming home soon.
Pamela PETRIE