Shhhhh!! It's a secret....

Tim is home tonight- well, technically tomorrow morning. The excitement around here is palpable. We, Elisha and I, got to talk to Papa tonight on the phone!! Several times. He had a long layover in Miami. He even stayed on the phone with us and listened to Elisha's new book- I Love You, Daddy!! It is so good to have Papa back on American soil again. His flight leaves in less than an hour to wing him back this way. How WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, as Eli and I were thinking today what we could do to surprise Papa as he comes in very early tomorrow morning, we decided to make his favorite triple layer perfectly chocolate cake ( from the recipe on the side of the Hershey's baking cocoa.) Hmmm, and a banner so he sees we are welcoming him, even though we are sleeping :0)

Then Mama decided to try out Papa's fancy high tech camera so I could record all this in Elisha's blog. I am more of an aim and shoot kinda person- Papa is the consummate photographer of our family- he is soooo very good!! So, here is my attempt....

When he enters the room, he'll see the banner over the table and the cake sitting there, a "sweet" reminder of how much we love him and have missed him.

Note what a good job Mama did in focusing on the sign.... hehe

Here is my attempt to show the cake- you can see Elisha in the background- yummy!! It sure was hard to not dig into the cake ourselves!!. I have video of Eli with chocolate all over his face from licking the frosting from the beaters. "Ea Kaak" was all I heard for a while after that. I guess I can't blame him.....

Now, the focus shifts to the real reason we are celebrating... (Aren't you impressed- now the cake is blurry as Eli pops into focus- not bad for an amateur.... hehe) People- my family- my son and myself celebrating the return of our Papa. (PS, Tim still has the 30 sec timer on for when we were doing the family photos and the camera was on the tripod. Yeesh!! I thought the pause was long on the point and shoot camera- this one was FOREVER......lol. I actually had several great poses of Elisha before the camera snapped and I discovered his face was eclipsed by the cup;0}

Elisha went to bed tonight without any problems and quickly fell asleep. He just needed to hear his Papa's voice. HHmmmm, can you draw the same spiritual nuances here that I am??? I also tend to sleep better after hearing my Father's voice. Oh, my son, you continue to amaze me, teaching me wisdom beyond either of our years. I love the quote, hmmmm, can't remember who said it- but how precious of a thing it is when those so fresh from heaven love us......Thank you for sharing the God breath still hanging on you!!

Tim just sent me a text- they are on the bus ready to go out and board the plane. Hehehehe. I wanted to wait and post this until after he'd boarded and turned of his phone so he will indeed be surprised when he walks in the door and finds this tangible love awaiting him.....

And there was much rejoicing in the Swingle household over the Papa returning to the fold!!!!!!!!!!!! :0) As Ty so eloquently says-

Welcome home, Papa, welcome home!!!