Deployment...

We knew this was coming, but oh boy was it one of the hardest moments of my life.  Cory left on August 8th to go over to Afghanistan for a year, and next August can't come soon enough.  He flies Blackhawks for the Army and is currently in the Medevac Company of the 82nd Airborne Division.  We were so blessed to have been able to get married and get settled before he left.  It all worked out better than I could have ever imagined, and that just goes to show that the Lord has His hand in everything and that things will happen if they need to happen.

Before he left, I was picking him up at the Airfield and they were starting to fly the helicopters over to the other Airfield to be flown overseas.  I was so excited to be able to get this shot of a Medevac helo taking off.  Jaden waved "Bye" to each one that we watched.  Watching this gave me goosebumps of both pride and sadness with knowing what would be happening the next week.

Cory took off at around 3am, and I was so grateful to have one of our friends come over and stay with Jaden while he slept so that I could go with Cory to the Airfield and spend the last few hours we had together with him.  It was neat to be a part of this.  It was a first for me!

He arrived in Aghanistan safely and is anxious to start flying missions over there.  Jaden and I miss him dearly, but we have been keeping busy and getting really involved over here which makes time go by fast and allows us to have some fun and meet new friends!  We were also able to go to a pre-deployment Family Readiness Group (FRG) meeting and were given a lot of great things for the kids, including this "Daddy Doll".  Jaden sleeps with him every night. 

The 2 pictures that I have received of Cory since he has been gone.  I look at these every single day.

Cory Joslin
C/3-82 AVN (medevac)
TF Attack, FOB Sharana
APO-AE 09311