When Matt & I first found ourselves at Reston Community Church, one of the first things that stuck out to me was how genuinely welcoming everyone was. Not that artificial warmth when they forget your name by the following Sunday; we were meeting people who were legitimately excited that we’d come to worship with them, people who invited us in and made us feel like family.

Jay & Caitlin are a perfect illustration of this. I’ve had the chance to get to know Caitlin over the past few months and am regularly awed by her- her sweet spirit, her ability to make anyone feel valuable, and the way she’s kept her chin up and her heart cheerful throughout Jay’s deployment. We were only at RCC a few weeks before Jay deployed, but the bit of time that we did get to know him, Matt really grew to respect him.

It’s been a long season for Caitlin, these past few months without her husband, and it’s their third deployment since being together so you’d think it might be less of an event when he comes home since they’ve been through this twice before. But watching Caitlin’s anticipation build as the day came closer and closer was exciting for our entire church- this past Sunday was full of hugs, squeals of joy and congratulations.

Monday morning dawned wet and cold as we made our way out to BWI to welcome Jay home. We met Caitlin at International Arrivals, she in her carefully chosen hot pink dress with an inability to stop smiling. The plane’s arrival time had waffled back and forth, but finally around 1:30 pm the announcement came that wheels were on the ground and we’d be seeing passengers come through the doors in just a few minutes. So Caitlin stood with her eyes on those doors, searching the face of every soldier, seaman and Marine that came through them. “Come on, Jeremiah- don’t keep me waiting!”

And then there he was, and her face broke into the sweetest, most blissful smile; her world was finally complete again. All was well.

Welcome home, USMC Captain J. Adams!