'Mommy's home'
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on October 16, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jackie Peters hugs her daughters Jada, 9, and Bria, 1, during a surprise homecoming celebration at Logan's Roadhouse Thursday night for her children.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jackie Peters comforts her son Elijah, 11, as he uses his shirt to dry his tears after she surprised her children during dinner at Logan's Roadhouse Thursday night during a gathering of family and friends.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jada Peters, 9, jumps out of her chair to give her mother, Jackie, a hug during a surprise homecoming Thursday night at Logan's Roadhouse. Jackie's three children have only seen their mother through Skype for the past six months while she was deployed.
Little Bria Peters knew when Mommy was calling from southwest Asia.
When the baby heard Jackie Peters' custom ringtone play over Skype, she would immediately run through the house yelling, "Mommy! Mommy!"
But when Bria celebrated her first birthday on May 20, there was no ringtone.
A scheduling mistake kept Jackie from getting off work in time to Skype home.
So she celebrated her daughter's big day not at the party her husband, Derrick, and others planned, but through Facebook.
"I cried about it for two days," Mrs. Peters said. "I was really upset, because I should have been able to but because of the timing of things I missed the entire party. So I took it hard for two days, and then I wouldn't say I got over it but it got a little easier. I'm thankful that I was at least able to see something, but I was devastated that I wasn't there for that."
As a technical sergeant in the United States Air Force, Mrs. Peters had deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base to an undisclosed location in southwest Asia on April 4 when Bria was only 10 months old.
It was also only one day after her other daughter, Jada, had turned 9 years old on April 3. While deployed, she would have to make yet another sacrifice of missing her 11-year-old son Elijah's birthday on June 7.
"So I almost missed all three of them, but I barely made one," Mrs. Peters said. "We actually thought I was going to leave a couple days before (Jada's) birthday. But when we found out I was leaving the day after her party, we were able to throw a last-minute birthday party for her. It was really good."
But when Mrs. Peters calmly walked up to her family's table at Logan's Roadhouse on Thursday night to deliver rolls before their meal, the tears she shed were for a very different reason.
She was home -- and Bria, Jada and Elijah never saw it coming.
After all, Mrs. Peters only arrived back in Goldsboro early Thursday afternoon.
As the day drew closer and closer for Mrs. Peters to see her family again and surprise them with her homecoming, she spent many nights unable to sleep.
"There was a lot of anticipation," she said. "There were a lot of sleepless nights knowing that it was coming, just emotional, a lot of tension, you know, just knowing that it's coming but it's not here yet."
But her tension and anxiety dissipated when she saw her family again.
When Jada realized who had set the rolls down on their table, she immediately leapt up and latched onto her mother. Elijah did the same.
And when Mrs. Peters locked eyes with her 1-year-old daughter, Bria began jumping up and down in her high-chair. She refused to let her mother go.
"It was just really emotional," Mrs. Peters said of having to leave Bria when she was so young. "This is my third deployment, so my with my other deployments my kids were older and they could grasp the concept of what was happening and that I would be gone for six months and coming back. This is the first time I've ever had to leave a baby."
With Mrs. Peters deployed, Derrick found himself with the sole responsibility of taking care of all three children for six months.
"I figured it would be tough, and it was a lot of pressure," Peters said. "But they're my kids, and I was determined to take care of them. That's what you do. We men like to think we hold the fort down, and I had to hold the fort down while Mom was gone, definitely, but Mom is really the one that keeps it all together."
Peters said Jada and Elijah were aware that Mrs. Peters was coming home in October, but they had no idea it would happen Thursday night when they went to eat dinner at Logan's Roadhouse.
"They knew she was coming back by Halloween, so they've been asking for about three weeks now when she's coming home," Peters said.
Mrs. Peters said the family had no plans for Thursday night, aside from enjoying being together again.
Her kids will also be allowed to miss school only because she is home -- she encourages their school attendance constantly.
Next weekend they will all be taking a trip to Busch Gardens to celebrate being reunited, she said.
But Thursday night was also bittersweet.
Peters will deploy in January, meaning the family will spend just shy of four months together before he must leave.
"Getting her here and knowing that I'm leaving soon is so bittersweet," Peters said. "But right now, we're all just trying not to focus on that and just trying to focus on this time we do have together. So essentially it sucks, but it's so awesome at the same time because she's here. She's home."