The fun has begun!

First - Welcome to the first installment of what I hope will be a regularly updated account of my deployment to Central Asia...

Well, after many months of anticipation, my deployment to Central Asia has officially begun! On Thursday, the girls and I enjoyed lunch at Texas Ribs outside of Andrews AFB before I loaded the van with the rest of my Air National Guard team to drive to Norfolk Naval Air Station. Below are some pictures of us enjoying a fun meal together.

Me w/ Merritt and Campbell...

Me, Jennifer and the girls waiting for lunch at Texas Ribs...

After lunch, there were lots of hugs and kisses good-bye. I'm so proud of my girls and how well they did. There were tears, but also lots of smiles which warmed my heart!

My team and I loaded up for a quick (in relative terms to the overall trip) drive to Norfolk Naval Air Station. We were originally scheduled to fly out sometime on Friday, but the contract flight was delayed so we suffered an extra day in Norfolk and ended up leaving early on Saturday morning. The flight made a short stop in Bucharest for fuel and a crew change and then it was on to Manas AB in Kyrgyzstan. 20+ hours later after leaving Norfolk, we arrived in Kyrgyzstan to cold weather, much like what the DC area has right now. Manas AB is one of the main Transit Centers for troops going into and out of the Central and Southwest Asian theaters (Google it if you would like more information). This place is busy 24-7. Fortunately, there is pretty decent food and hot water for showers!

I should be settled in my final location in the next day or so and finally able to get rolling on the job. I hoping for at least a day or two of overlap with the officer I'm replacing...we'll see!

Needless to say, the hardest part of this deployment so far was saying good-bye to Jennifer and the girls on Thursday. After all of the discussion about leaving, the reality of being gone for 6-months set in. Before leaving, Jennifer and I took the girls to Build-a-Bear for them to pick out new stuffed animals for them to have while I'm gone (Thanks Aunt Liz for the gift cards!). Both girls picked out bunnies. I was able to record a short message for them on a device that is inside the bunny's arm. The girls can push a button and hear the message. Pretty neat!

Here is a picture after the girls finished dressing their bunnies...

We are so fortunate to have a huge support network of family and friends, who I know are going to help make this 6-months a lot easier for the girls. I'm incredibly grateful for all of the prayers and offers of support! They are much appreciated.