And Here We Go.

Well,

Today is the day. In about one hour my wife will drive me to the pier and I will grab my sea bag (suitcase type thing that has all my clothes), kiss my wife and say goodbye. My daughter is staying at home with her grandma, if my little girl came to drop me off I don't think I could make it.
The emotions I am feeling are mixed. I am so excited to be deploying, I will finally be doing what I signed up for. I will have sailors that I will see everyday who I will have the chance to influence and share the love of Christ with. I am also very excited because believe it or not, even at the ripe old age of 28, this will be my first time outside of the U.S. I never imagined that I would see the world ridding a U.S. Naval War Vessel. But it is devastating to leave my family. My wife and I both have great families who will watch over my wife and daughter while I am gone, but to not see my 18 month old daughter develop and grow is so painful. I was thinking last night that when I get back she will be about 25 months old and with last summer and the deployment now I will have been gone for 11 of those months.
Bella (my daughter) is so beautiful and growing so fast. If you have read the previous post, her diagnosis is good. Her head is not growing as much as it has, which is a direct indicator that the hydrocephalus is not getting any worse. So thank you all for your prayers and support.

To close I thought I would mention what one does on his last day before a deployment. Strangely enough it is alot like a normal Saturday. I took the day off from work because I will be at work for 7 months straight. I got up early with my daughter, made her breakfast, waited until my wife got up, turned my daughter over to her then I went and mowed the lawn. After I finished I changed the oil in my wife's car and after I showered we went out and had lunch and ran some last minute errands. We then came back to the house where I played with my daughter for a while then I answered some emails and made some phone calls. We closed the day by watching a movie and then going to bed. So overall what one does the day before a deployment is very much like any normal Saturday.

God Bless
Josh