in the middle of a soldier's deployment to qatar, he decided fly home to surprise his daughters  just in time for his youngest's second birthday army national guard sgt first class joseph kern flew home to cherry hill, new jersey during his fifth deployment on thursday and will be with his family for five days his first stop after he touched down on american soil was his two year old daughter pearl's classroom, where he had the chance to surprise her and his other daughter, three year old estelle scroll down for video  army national guard sgt first class joseph kern flew home from his deployment in qatar to surprise his two daughters, estelle, three, and pearl, two  he surprised the girls in pearl's  (front) classroom on her second birthday on thursday he'll be home for five days  kern's wife, sarah woldoff, a neuro psychologist in princeton, said that the military no longer offers leave, so the couple had to pay out of pocket for him to come home, according to abc he left for qatar in june and had already missed estelle's birthday, so woldoff said her husband's plane ticket was 'worth every dollar' she added that seeing kern reunite with their daughters was 'breathtaking' estelle was 'a little bit confused and in shock' when she saw her dad, according to woldoff kern and his wife sarah woldoff (left, holding estelle) said that pearl didn't immediately recognize him, but woldoff said the reunion was still 'breathtaking' woldoff said that the couple was 'disappointed' with pearl's response, but they hope having the video will help her remember the reunion when she gets older  unfortunately, pearl didn't seem to recognize her dad when he walked in, and instead when to hug her grandpa 'we were both slightly disappointed with pearl's response,' woldoff told abc 'you never realize that they're so young, they don't have as much memory of him as we anticipated' but the mom of two hopes that having the reunion on video will help her daughter remember it when she get older 'in hindsight, i'm really glad we did it the way we did pearl's too little to have the memory of it, but i think estelle will remember,' she said 'and it'll ease the transition everyone forgets he has to go back on tuesday, and it's really confusing for her on why he has to leave again' woldoff said that the national guard does not give leave anymore, so the couple paid out of pocket for kern's visit  kern missed estelle's (right) birthday while he was away, so this trip was 'worth every dollar', according to woldoff  his daughters weren't the only ones he had the chance to surprise during his time home, however kern surprised his mom at a restaurant by dressing up like a waiter and walking around the dining room as she ate 'my mother in law didn't even realize it was him we had to point it out,' woldoff said 'she lost it she was in utter shock and just hysterical' kern will likely be in qatar until june, making it a year long deployment, according to northjerseycom kern left for qatar last june and will likely stay until this upcoming june, making it a year long trip here his is pictured with pearl (left) and estelle (right) in june 2014, right before his deployment  estelle and pearl apparently have a pillow with their dad's picture on it pictured here on a hayride, it looks like the girls take him everywhere while he's away  this is kern's fifth deployment with the army national guard he will return to qatar on tuesday after five days at home 
cherry hill first june 2014 two year old new jersey joseph kern qatar army national guard national guard three year old thursday tuesday
army national guard sgt first class joseph kern, of cherry hill, new jersey, has been deployed in qatar since june 2014  he decided to fly home to celebrate his two year old's birthday on thursday  the dad missed his three year old daughter's birthday while he was away  his wife described his reunion with his daughters as 'breathtaking' the national guard soldier will return to qatar on tuesday 