Let it begin...

Mark has officially left for Iraq. He was scheduled to leave on Thursday but it got pushed back to Saturday. It is always bitter sweet when things like this happens because, while it is great to have him an extra couple of days, it just prolongs the inevitable and draws out the sadness. Now that he is gone, it is time for us to get into some sort of routine and just pray that the time flies by. 7 months is a long time...but hopefully when it is all over, we will be able to look back and think of it as just a glimpse of time in our life together. He spent 7 months in Iraq back in '04 but things were different for us. It was very hard to have him away at war so I can't even imagine how hard it will be this time with two little ones. I pray that Bodee stays healthy and that I can keep up with Dakota. Mark is such a blessing at night when he gets home because he still somehow finds the energy to wrestle and play with her. I will have to kick it up a notch to keep her entertained the way he does. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do anywhere near as good of a job but it is worth a shot at least :) :)! Here are a few pics of him leaving...it's amazing to me how much gear he can fit into two bags!

These are his bags that he had packed on Sunday...just in case he had to leave earlier for some reason. Hard to believe the only clothes in all this mess is 4 pairs of cami's and one set of civilian clothes. The rest is filled with gear for both him and Joep (his dog).

Bag one...notice the amount of lean required by him to stay standing :)

Bag two...no more lean due to the balancing of yet another heavy bag. They look light in the pic but let me assure you, they are far from it.

And finally, this is Kai refusing to get out of the truck. She went out with Mark when he was loading his bags and jumped right up in the truck. She is a very obedient dog but decided she wasn't going to listen to Mark this time. She knew something was up when he took all of the bags outside. She is going to miss him as much as Dakota, Bodee and I!!

So, let it begin. Please pray for Mark during this time...and for us as well as we try to hold down the fort back home.

P.S. I will never again post about how well Bodee is sleeping. Last night he was back to waking up every 2 hours...the caffeine I had yesterday "could" have something to do with that but either way, I will not be jinxing it anymore by blabbing to the world about how well he sleeps :).