The Journey Begins - I'm Ready To Go!!!

Well, it's almost time for me to get on the plane... we leave tomorrow at some point and then starts the adventure. I'm not sure I can give tons of details about our flight, partially because they don't tell us anything (security purposes?) and I know almost nothing myself! This past week has been extremely long. I'm up at the crack of dawn to hurry up and get to formation (those of you that know me, know I don't do mornings) and then start a full day of rushing to get to places to either stand in line and wait to fill out paper work or sit in a classroom and listen to briefings ALL DAY LONG!

The group of people that are in-processing with me are a very eclectic group of people. We have military, some linguists, Civilians, Red-Cross, and other contractors (which include a million different jobs). I've made friends with the MWR people, some auditors, linguists and a couple military folks since the time I've been down here. It makes me laugh as we have to "march," if you can even call it that, in between our barracks and training. If you could only see this motley crew TRYING to march. People are all out of step, out of line, falling behind (we have some older and some out of shape people...just to give you a visual), and whatever else you can think of that would seem to be the exact opposite of what an Army unit would look like marching.

All I know is I'm ready to be done with this week and thank God that for the most part it's over. We have one more brief later tonight and then we're off tomorrow!! I've packed my 3 duffle bags that I'm allowed to bring (by the way... they issued us A LOT of crap and I'm pretty proud of the fact that I got that stuff PLUS the stuff I brought smushed into them!!) and am hoping the butlers here will help me get them to and from the airports....oh wait, we don't have those here. I guess I'll be luggin' those things in between myself, huh. Well, it's time to knuckle up and get my hands dirty I guess!

I'm not really sure what to expect or even if I'm ready for everything that's about to happen. But I have confidence that God is in control and that I have a lot of amazing people praying for my safety and the journey that's about to start in my life!! Thanks to all of you!! I will keep you all posted as often as I can. I will miss everything back here but am ready to go and hopefully bring some joy with me! :D

Here's a picture of me trying on my gear they issued us! Nevermind the helmet cover being on backwards!!