Darin left on January 15th with the USS Nashville for a six month deployment to West Africa. The ship is on a humanitarian mission to bridge relationships between the US, European Nations and Africa. They have an international contingency on board which Darin finds very interesting. Some of the Countries they will visit include Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon. (this is all posted publicly on the internet because of the mission so I'm not giving out information that is classified) Darin will take part in a lot of the Community Relations projects in the Countries they visit so it will be exciting for him. I'm hoping he gets to visit some orphanages and love on the children there. Darin was in good spirits when he left, knowing that this will be his last deployment for some time. We expect to be moving to Singapore in July so they will be flying Darin home a few weeks early to prepare for the move overseas.
So we are left here in Chesapeake but we are in a good situation. Missing daddy of course. Bethany doesn't understand at all where Daddy has gone. Grace has some clue and Kyle takes it like a man!!!! The other day we were in my bedroom and the washing machine started running and both girls thought it was the garage door opener and ran to the door yelling "daddy's home." I was heartbroken and didn't share that piece of information with Darin since it would kill him. But they bounced back and were back to playing long before I got over it!
Please pray for our family during this time. We want the time away to be meaningful...not just get by, but thrive. We also pray Darin's presence will make a real difference on the ship for the Kingdom of God. That is the only reason we are able to tolerate the separation as a family....knowing we are following God's plan for our lives.
On a personal note, please pray as Darin will go before the promotion board this May for promotion to Lieutenant Commander. We pray that all of his hard work and dedication (and separation) will pay off. Ultimately we know God has his career in His hands!!! May it be as the Lord wills!!! Thanks for all of your prayers!!!
