Hayes is home – Hayes is home!!! After 8 months – well 36 weeks to be exact (I have a small human to prove it!) He arrived in Santa Maria yesterday afternoon – and as Jolie would say with her hands high in the air – “Hallelujah. Praise the Lord!!!”

Even though I have no pictures of his homecoming ( I have managed to break every camera I own while pregnant ????) there was a local news crew there to document the whole thing!!! Here is the text version:

Friday, April 6, 2007

Reported by: Bryan Hahn

SANTA MARIA

While hundreds of soldiers return to their families on a daily basis, hundreds more are also being shipped off to battle in the War on Terror.
Bryan Hahn was at a very emotional homecoming Friday afternoon.
Two local airmen are back after serving tours in the Middle East.
Combined, the two airmen were gone for the last eleven months. One serving in Iraq and the other in Qatar. Despite all this time away, both men said they would serve another tour without hesitation. It's a sound that never gets old. The sound of a military homecoming.

"What does it feel like being back," asked Action News reporter Bryan Hahn.

"Relief, excitement..." said Captain Hayes Weidman.

Captain Hayes Weidman spent the last six months as a contracting officer in Tikrit which is about 100 miles north of Baghdad. And despite all that time away, he made it home just in time. His wife Tricia is only four weeks away from giving birth to her second child. "I kept praying for that. And obviously, my prayers were answered," said his wife Tricia Weidman.

Captain Weidman was not the only airman to get all the fanfare Friday afternoon.
Staff sergeant, Christopher Dutton also served abroad and also as a contracting officer.

"I enjoyed it. I think people need to just think about the Middle East with perspective. A lot of good people are out there actually," said Vandenberg Staff Sergeant Christopher Dutton.Dutton said he witnessed a lot of positive change with new construction going up every day. That's why he believes in finishing the job.
His military colleague agrees. "I can tell you in my time there, I definitely saw a lot of things to feel positive about and a lot of improvements and a lot of things I can be proud of in my time there," said Weidman.

"The place you know, it's emerging. All those markets out there. You see cranes, construction...so they're doing much better," said Dutton.Christopher Dutton and his wife Lori went home in style. Stardust Cruises in Santa Maria gave the couple a ride home in a limousine as a way to say thank you for serving abroad.

As for the Weidman family, the couple doesn't know the gender of their baby. They want to be surprised.


Thanks to everyone for your prayers, thoughts, emails, and entertainment! You made the time for Jolie and I pass much quicker than expected!

Love to all