Nebraska - Call it a military miracle. A lost cat named "Rosie" was reunited with her family in Maryland on Monday.

Like a long-awaited gift. At the Nebraska Humane Society, inside a crate with a red bow, was Rosie the cat. Monday, she returned home just in time for the holidays.

Rosie escaped from her owner, who's in the military. They were traveling across the country in July. Rosie bolted when they made a pit stop in the Omaha area.

"If you've got a deployment or an assignment with the military you kind of got to be there. So they had to leave and hope that kitty would show up and she did," Pam Wiese with the Nebraska Humane Society said.

Someone found Rosie wandering around Bellevue and turned her into the humane society. Luckily, they found a microchip implanted in her shoulder and tracked down Rosie's owner, all the way to Maryland.

The news came as a total surprise to Rosie's owner, Staff Sgt. Aimee Miller. "We thought we'd never see the cat to begin with, but without the microchip, we would have never seen the cat," she said.

Staff Sgt. Miller is keeping the reunion a surprise for her 10-yer-old daughter.

"When the cat ran away, I had to tell my daughter and she was absolutely devastated. This is going to be an early Christmas present for her. She's absolutely going to love it."

Rosie's on a one-way ticket home. This time, for good.

The Nebraska Humane Sociey wants all dog and cat owners to microchip their pets. Getting Rosie back home is exactly why those chips are important.  Just visit your vet. The cost is around $30-50 dollars.

Reported by Chriss Knight, cknight@action3news.com