Deployment

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”-- Joshua 1:9

Many of you found out this morning (and some last night by phone calls from either me or Dan or us both) that Dan will be deploying to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the Army (mind you, he's an Air Force intelligence officer....) for a total of 15 months. Yes, we just got to Barksdale and yes, it doesn't make sense that he's going in support of the Army troops on the ground. But, this seems to be the hand we have been dealt so we are choosing to trust God's plan for our life and take it in stride.

Normal Air Force deployments are no more than 6 months. Anything longer is considered a short or long tour. Unfortunately, this won't even count as Dan's long tour so we are really upset about that. That will mean he will still have to do a 1 year remote (i.e. Qatar or Korea or Iraq or Afghanistan again) tour of duty again soon. And this particular one isn't a cushy deployment, this is Dan going into the actual war zone in Afghanistan - something we never thought possible. Ever.

Dan says if he wanted to fight the war on the ground, he would have commissioned into the Army or Marines... not the Air Force. And we understand that military families all around the world are going through this very same thing, but that by no means makes it any easier. Why's he going in support of the Army? Well, because the Army has tapped all of its resources in this ongoing war. The Army's looking to the other branches for resources and personnel support. Dan's going to a place that we have been in actual war status against for 8 years now. His primary job will be to continue to establish relations and Democracy within the Afghan population.

We obviously are having to reconsider when we will start trying for baby #2 since at this point, Dan won't even return back home till after Noah's 3rd birthday (in February 2011). So that throws another wrench into this deal - if we do conceive baby #2 anytime soon, Dan will miss the entire pregnancy and the first 9 months of our child's life.

I have gotten a lot of phone calls of support and I thank those who have reached out. Please understand that I am not in a "chatty" mood just yet and don't want to talk about it right now. We are going through various stages of coping and grief and are spending as much time as possible together before he leaves, which he will leave for training very soon.

I am doing all that I can to be supportive and be strong where my husband is weak. He's so sad to think of leaving us - especially Noah - for so long. I cannot imagine the amount of pain he feels when he has to think of being separated from our boy and his best buddy like that. I ask for prayer because I don't know if I have energy in me to be as strong as I need to be. My defenses are already weakened from the amount of stress and change we have experienced in the past months of moving and changing our entire lives. But I am called to be a strong and steady fixture in my husband's weakness so I am determined to find that strength within me - for my husband, my boy and our parents who are beside themselves right now.

To ask any of you to fully understand what we are going through emotionally is futile so I ask meekly that you please pray for us right now. Pray that if this isn't what God has for our family that He will PLEASE take this from us. We are on our knees here and I ask you - our extended network of friends and family - to please join us.

** I uploaded a few of the photos I actually have of my handsome hubby in his uniform. The one of him by himself was taken when we were stationed in South Carolina about 4 years ago. He's now a Captain so his rank on his uniform has changed. **