Master Sergeant Shania Porter has been deployed five times with the U.S. Air Force, but this time was different. She had two little ones waiting for her at home.
"To leave your kids, who are used to Mommy taking care, fixing meals and stuff like that, it's completely different to not wake up and hear their voice," she told KNXV.
When Porter came home to Phoenix, she decided to surprise Blake, 4, and Bryce, 5, at school.
She surprised Blake in his class by tapping him on the shoulder as his class was gathered around. He exclaimed "Mommy!" when he saw her and hugged her tight.
For Bryce, Porter pretended to video chat him from abroad.
"Where are you?" Bryce can be heard saying in the video.
"Does this look familiar to you?" she replied.
She held the phone up for him to see that she was right outside his classroom, and Bryce came sprinting outside.
Now after seven months, the family is all reunited. Terrence Porter, Shania's husband, said that he is blessed to have Shania.
"To be the phenomenal woman that she is just being her, and to be in the Air Force, and to do everything that she does -- truly, truly a blessing in my life," he said.