On the eve of her swearing-in to Congress, Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar remembers arriving as a refugee to the US

Washington (CNN)On the eve of being sworn in to Congress as the first-ever Somali-American member of Congress, Minnesota Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar celebrated returning to the same Washington, DC-area airport that she arrived in as a refugee when she first came to the United States."23 years ago, from a refugee camp in Kenya, my father and I arrived at an airport in Washington DC," Omar, a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party who's set to be one of the first Muslim women in Congress, wrote in a tweet. "Today, we return to that same airport on the eve of my swearing in as the first Somali-American in Congress."In the photo, Omar and her father can be seen beaming as they walk through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia, luggage in tow. RELATED: Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar embody a new era for Muslim womenOn Thursday, Omar and her soon-to-be colleague, Rep.-elect Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, will become the first two Muslim women in Congress. Omar, who donned a patterned religious headscarf in the photo, helped author a proposal in November by Democrats to end a nearly two-century-old rule that bans headwear on the House floor."No one puts a scarf on my head but me. It's my choice -- one protected by the first amendment," the Minnesotan wrote on Twitter and Instagram in November. On Thursday, Omar will join a record number of women and minorities who will be sworn in to the most diverse Congress in history. 

CNN's AJ Willingham contributed to this report.