SAN ANTONIO – Get your tissues ready.
Two Northside ISD students were surprised Friday morning by their father who has been serving overseas in the U.S. Army.
Capt. Abraham Acosta has been with the US Army for 19 years.
He has been deployed six times. Most recently, Acosta was in Turkey for seven months, including being away during the holidays from his three sons and his wife.
On Friday, Acosta finally got to hug his boys at a special surprise assembly at Colby Glass Elementary.
“I’m excited, nervous,” Acosta said prior to the surprise. “I’m going to try to surprise them to see if they recognize me.”
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Colby Glass Elementary has weekly assemblies. Abraham Acosta’s wife, Karina Acosta, helped set up the surprise with school staff to surprise their 5-year-old son, Abraham Jr., at school.
Karina Acosta told her 13-year-old son, Diego, that Abraham Jr. was receiving an award at the assembly, so she brought him to the rally.
In the middle of the assembly, the school’s principal announces that their dad was there to surprise them. Moments later, Diego and Abraham Jr. embraced their father and cried.
“I missed you baby," Abraham Acosta said.
Diego said the surprise made him feel a rush of emotions and he cried happy tears.
“I missed just seeing him every day, and change,” Diego said.
While embracing Abraham Jr., he told his dad, “I missed you in December.”
Abraham Acosta said he’s going to spend a lot of time with his sons and do their favorite things like playing video games and eating pizza.
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Diego gave this advice to other children who are missing their military parents abroad: “No matter what happens they’ll always be there for you. They’ll always return somehow and someway.”
Abraham Acosta will be with his family in San Antonio for three weeks before he heads back to Turkey for several more months.