Sleep doesn't typically come easy for Michael Terzian, his wife or their three daughters.
This week, though, the girls are on spring break and their father is home on two weeks leave after being stationed in Kuwait with the Texas Army National Guard since November.
"Everyone's been sleeping like a rock," he said. "It's like everything's OK."
The joy was palpable coming from the family seated around the dining room table.
Terzian landed March 9 at Easterwood Airport. In addition to lots of sound sleep, there's been plenty of activity since then -- including one really big event.
On Monday the family completed its seven-year journey to adopt two-year-old Lexi, who has lived with the family since she was four months old.
The couple's other daughters are Kaitlyn, 13, who attends College Station Middle School, and Sydney, 10, who attends Forest Ridge Elementary.
They twice attempted to use a birth mother for adoption, but after seeing the child the biological mothers changed their minds, as is common.
"And that's great," Debbie Terzian said. "Keeping those families together is wonderful, but after that we decided to go through a CPS agency instead."
It wasn't long before four-month-old Lexi was placed in the couple's care.
Debbie Terzian called Judge Robert Stem in Robertson County, which is where Lexi is from and where the adoption had to be finalized, to see if they could schedule the proceeding so Michael Terzian could attend.
The judge agreed.
Michael Terzian returns to duty on Tuesday, and will be in Kuwait until fall. He said he felt almost guilty he'd be missing out on the potty training experience with his youngest daughter.
"It's like cheating, but hopefully she'll be out of diapers by the time I get back," he said. "Those are just some of the things I miss. Any soldier who's deployed misses things like that. Those are tough days. You're happy it happened, but you're sad because those are moments in her life that aren't coming back."
Before climbing to the rank of master sergeant or becoming an Army Ranger, Terzian spent a year at Texas A&M University studying industrial engineering and serving as a member of the Corps of Cadets.
"I loved every minute of it," he said, laughing. "Probably a little too much. But I realized I really like this Army thing, and so I was through."
He joined the U.S. Army in 1989, served a tour in Germany and was stationed in Washington State. Once his tour of active duty ended, he took a job and stayed in the Army Reserves.
After a stint working at a chemical plant, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 prompted Terzian to return to active duty.
"We just made the decision that we might not have as much money to go on vacation or do the things we want, but money buys comfort, not happiness. And I've always been happiest in the military," he said.
He's been stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.
While stationed in Kuwait he's started taking online classes, offered by a college he'd rather not name, the University of Oklahoma, to get a bachelor's degree in administrative leadership by May 2011 if all goes according to plan.
He agreed to naming the university only to encourage Texas A&M to begin providing similar programs.
Education seemed like a logical choice for a hobby, he said, adding when not on the clock or at the gym there are either books or video games to occupy the time.
"My job is so easy compared to what Debbie is doing back home," he said.
His duties in Kuwait are to serve as a liaison officer with five other soldiers to facilitate the movement of supplies and personnel to Iraq and Afghanistan.
For 14 days this month, his only duty was to spend as much time as possible with his family, he said, which included taking his wife to a resort in Austin for a few days and taking each daughter out for a special day.
On his father-daughter date with Sydney he used some of the one-on-one time to take a walk around Veterans Park and discuss his military service.
"I got to share with her that our family is just one of many, many families that have been called upon through the years to defend our country," he said. "That what we're doing, the sacrifices we're making, are a small part of the bigger picture."
Two weeks never seems like long enough, Debbie Terzian said, but having a happy husband helps make a happy marriage easier.
"We're just so proud of him and what he's doing," she said. "I just try to be strong for the girls -- to let them know it's OK to be sad and miss Daddy but at the end of the day, we're still a family. Daddy's going to come home."
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