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

"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.

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On 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.

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