A Madisonville dad who returned from a mission in Qatar 3 weeks early surprised his son with a special gift after school Wednesday.
The family is actually stationed in Minot, North Dakota now. But dad, Mark Coffelt, is originally from Madisonville.
Mark returned home this week after spending 8 months away.
"My nephew had just asked that his daddy be home for his birthday so they wanted to find a way to surprise him when he actually got here 3 weeks early," Mark's sister Sunni McCulley said.
His son, Ronin, had no idea his dad arrived home so they surprised him with a gift he thought was mailed from Qatar.
The video, recorded by his mom, starts out with a sad letter from dad saying he won't be home in time for his birthday. Ronin continues opening and finds out it's just a box inside of a box, inside of another box, until he reaches a note again.
The note says "Surprise!" -- and out walks dad from around the corner.