It is the hardest thing for a parent to not be there for the birth of their child. But it must be a million times harder for a parent serving their country and knowing there is nothing that they can do in order to be with their loved ones during the most important time of their life. Military life is not easy. But there is no sweeter moment than coming home from a combat deployment. And there is definitely nothing like reuniting with your beautiful wife but most importantly meeting your baby daughter!

There are millions of words that I could write to describe this day…well night (as this homecoming happened in the middle of the night) but no words are worth the love that was seen in the eyes of a new-dad meeting his baby Emersyn. There are no words that can say enough about how long Jessica waited for this moment, and definitely not enough to describe the emotions that are felt all at once when the door of the gym are raised and the troops march through.

So instead of words, here is their story through my eyes.