Deployment day.
A sad day.
I dropped Jon off this morning to leave for deployment.
It’s hard to see any positive in a time like this, but it is important for me to remain thankful for God’s hand in our situation.
I’m thankful that:
-We get to start our “Daddy/Jon is coming home!” countdown.
-Our prayer life just increased two-fold.
-Our dependence on God is not even an option. He is our source of strength, our comfort, our hope and, through this trial, our joy.
-Our faith will be refined through this fire.
-I will get snail mail.
-Jon will get ice cream on the boat every night. 
Before we left this morning, we went outside and took a few pictures with Jon and Layla…
I just love that picture of Jon and Layla.
My two loves. 
We headed to base and took a few pictures by Jon’s jet.
And then it was time for goodbye.
The dreaded goodbye.
You really can’t wrap your mind around what you are saying goodbye to…
Every day routines. Normalcy. Conversation. Phone calls. Hugs. Another pair of hands to help with Layla. Someone to kill the spiders. Peace of mind. Family dinners. Weekend errands. A best friend. A daddy for Layla. 1st birthdays. Holidays…Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Years. Valentine’s Day.
I suppose if I thought about everything I was losing in the moment of goodbye, I might wrestle Jon back into the car. haha
But I knew this day would come.
I knew it was coming.
And there was nothing I could do to stop it. Nothing I could do to slow it down.
You really can’t even absorb your last day together. Your last dinner together. Your last goodnight kiss. Your last hug. Your last wave goodbye.
Of course you have the hope of knowing it really isn’t the last of anything.
That time will go on, hopefully quickly, and you get to have your firsts all over again.
I am sad for me.
I am sad for Layla.
Although she will never even remember this absence in her young life.
It will be nothing more than a story to her when she is old enough to hear about it.
But I am most sad for Jon, who has to miss so much of Layla’s milestones.
Time will pass and she will change.
She will grow.
She will develop into a little one and a half year old.
I am excited to show her videos of Jon reading books for her.
I played one for her and her face lit up.
She was grinning and laughing and thought it was the greatest thing to see Daddy on a Flip camera.
Which probably confused her to see Mama crying when she saw Daddy on the Flip.
It was just a hard day.
I can’t explain how difficult it is to say goodbye, knowing your husband is going off to war. To think that he might be in some sort of danger half way around the world and there is nothing you can do about it.
Of course, that is the worry wart in me.
I am sure he will be safe and sound the entire time.
I can only hope and pray for that to be the case.
I know that there are many, many families that have done this before me and there are many that are currently going through the same thing.
My situation is not unique.
But it is unique to us.
Our first deployment as a family.
I am looking forward to sharing our days with Jon through emails, letters and care packages…so that he still feels a part of our family at home, knowing that we are thinking about him everyday, in everything we do.
In the meantime, I’m just going to keep busy with Layla.
Hopefully time will fly by.
I have to say that I am so thankful for such a great support system.
Especially living in a place where I don’t know very many people.
For so many friends and family from “home” remembering that today was our D-Day…
for prayers being offered by people who have never even met us…
I am so sincerely grateful.
Now, Let the homecoming countdown begin!!
