Pete is getting some rest

Hello to all! I am sorry it has taken me so long to post an update. Life is just busy and tiring.

The good news is that Pete called this morning to say that he has arrived in Qatar for his days of rest. He says that he has a very nice bed even though he has to share the room with other guys. Also, the place has a nice pool and a Chili's. He is looking forward to having some good food and beer. Did you know that the American soldiers are not allowed to drink alcohol in Afghanistan? The European soldiers are allowed to drink. Hmmmm?

So, it does my heart good to know that he is getting some rest and having some fun for a change.

He recently went on a mission to deliver some food and clothes to a village close to Kabul. He said it was quite an experience to visit a village in a third world country. He drove one of the vehicles in the convoy. He was the fourth vehicle back. The ANA occupied the first three positions.

Thankfully, he gets along well with everyone he is working with and is learning a lot. He still doesn't have his own space so has not been able to use the webcam or "set up" a room. We've been sending him pictures and drawings for him to "decorate his room."

Here on the home front I continue to be extremely grateful for our family and friends. You have all continued to truly support me and answer prayers. It is amazing (but I shouldn't be surprised) how God continues to whisper in your ears to let you know what we need or just could use to make things easier for us. Thank you for being open to what God has to say to you and then for acting on it. God's graces continue to fill us up and provide us with strength as we live our days without our Pete/Daddy present. We'll be spending some time with my sister, Elena, and her family up in Chicago in order to get us through this holiday season. We are looking forward to seeing some snow and spending great quality time with the Woodrough family.

We don't get to talk to Pete as often as we had. Now we here from him at least once every two or three days. Don't forget you can e-mail him at peterzakis@yahoo.com. He loves hearing from all of you!

I promise to keep all of you in my prayers over the holidays. Please continue to pray for us.
We look forward to the day when we get to hug Pete and resume life as an intact family.

Merry Christmas to all of you!
Love,
Cristina

Info. on a way to treat the troops

I just came across this information and wanted to get it out to as many people as possible:

Gift Certificates for Troops

Week of November 12, 2007

Any American can give gift certificates on behalf of deployed troops across Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. The gift certificates can be redeemed at any of 55 BX/PX facilities in that theater. "Gifts from the Homefront" gift certificates can be purchased at www.aafes.org or by telephone at 877-770-4438 and can be sent to individual servicemembers (designated by the purchaser) or distributed to "any servicemember" through the various military relief agencies. Available in denominations ranging from $5 to $50, the American public has sent 92,907 "Gifts from the Homefront," totaling nearly $2 million, since the military exchange gift certificate effort began in March 2003.

Support our Troops webpage - Find ways to support and honor U.S. military servicemembers and veterans who protect our security and freedom. Visit the Military.com Support our Troops webpage. http://www.military.com/benefits/resources/support-our-troops

Pete's New Address and Updates

Hello to all! I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to update the blog. October proved to be a very busy yet exciting month. We celebrated many birthdays. Ricky is now 4, I am a year older, but the most exciting was my mom's 60th. My siblings, my father and I managed to pull off a surprise birthday party for her at my house. We ended up having a perfect day for an outdoor party. We had a marvelous time but most of all we were so happy to see mom having fun!
Now November and December will be about nesting with my boys and staying close to family and friends. I hope to create a very spiritual experience of Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will miss Pete terribly during this time. As we have learned we can use this time to draw closer to God and to our family and friends.


Now an update on Pete. He is at Camp Black Horse just east of Kabul. Here is an update in his own words from an e-mail he sent out a few days ago. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of his message for his new address.

It has happened, I have finally made the move to Camp Black Horse. This was initially to be my duty station, but upon arrival at Phoenix it was determined that I would remain at Phoenix. After two weeks at Phoenix I was then informed that I would in fact be going to Black Horse. After six weeks of waiting I am now here.

I am now with the 201st Corps, 2nd Brigade. The 201st is responsible for eastern Afghanistan which includes Kabul. The Afghan government has divided Afghanistan into five regions. Each region has one Afghan Corps that we are training to be able to protect the people of that region. The 201st has eastern Afghanistan, the 203rd has south eastern Afghanistan, the 205th has southern Afghanistan, the 207th has western Afghanistan, and the 209th has northern Afghanistan. We are called Embeded Training Teams (ETT's). The ETT I belong to now has the responsibility of mentoring/training the 2nd Brigade in the Afghan Army's 201st Corps. At this time the 2nd Brigade is training and preparing our Afghan counterparts to replace the 3rd brigade which is currently deployed outside of Black Horse. This means I will once again be moving from Black Horse with the 2nd Brigagde when it deploys. I work under an Army captain and a First Class Petty Officer in the S2 Shop (Intelligence for the Brigade). Both seem to be top knotch. I have already attended two meeetings with our Afghan counterparts, which have been unique experiences. My new position has far more responsibilities and requires applying skills which I have only used in training. Right now I am in that uncomfortable state of learning my new job and proving my capablities to superiors and peers. I have said so long to my "office job" and now I am dusting off my memory banks for all that fine training I received at Ft. Riley.

Friday is our day off. This is because Friday is the holy day for Islam. This being the case, this is when our religious services are held. I just want to thank again all for your thoughts and prayers. This week will mark my fifth month in the service of Uncle Sam. I have to say that looking back, your prayers have been answered in many and unique ways. First, of the three training locations for ETT's (Ft. Riley, Ft. Dix, and Ft. Shelby) I have had the fortune of training at Ft. Riley which (after speaking with many who went through training at the other bases) has the best training. You would think the training would be standardized, but it is not. Second, the shop I worked at at Phoenix had its tensions between the Army and Navy folks that were there before I arrived. With the arrival of Petty Offiicer Wroeble and myself, and the previous Navy folks leaving for home, the atmosphere of the shop changed - the tensions between the Army and us new Navy disappeared. Before I left Phoenix my supervisor credited this change in the atmosphere of the shop to the efforts and work ethic of Petty Officer Wroeble and myself. Third, the primary reason a unit loses its ability to perform are problems facing families back home. Unfortunately, I have witnessed two incidents where marriages are experiencing trouble. I thank you for you prayers for Cristina, Ricky, Paul, and me. If Cristina is having a bad day, I am having a bad day. Over the last five months we have received much assistance and support from family and friends. We have rekindled old relationships, developed new relationships, and strenghtened existing relationships. Thanks once again for your prayers and support.

Black Horse has a small contingent of NATO troops here, just about 100. There are foward operating bases (FOB's) scattered throughout the country with as few troops as twelve (advising Afghan units). As a consequence of this, and a shortage of Catholic priests throughout the armed services, Catholic Mass is not able to be performed here at Black Horse, as well a a host of other FOB's. I had the fortune of attending the Protestant service today and was able to devote time to God with other Christians. Chaplin Darden also prayed that more Catholic priest would be made available to minister to us Catholics. Despite the joy of being able to worship together with other Christians, the inability to receive the Eucharist was felt. At Phoenix Father Benedict would pray weekly for Catholic soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who were unable to attend Mass and receive the Eucharist. I would ask that your parishes and churches also pray for those of us "down range" unable to attend Mass. I would also ask that you continue to pray that God inspire more fine men to become priests and ministers. I would like to send out a thanks to the French. The French area of responsibility is the City of Kabul. Because of this their chaplins, who are predominately Catholic, have been the priests performing Masses for us American Catholics.

Let me leave you with three more resources that I have found to be enlightening. The first is Robert Redford's new movie called Lions' and Lambs. The movie is about our military action in Afghanistan. I have read the plot, and despite disagreeing with Redford's world view, the movie looks to thought provoking. The second is another article by Ralph Peters called the "Atlantic Century" (http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/03autumn/peters.htm). This article is in line with my last email (Stories and More From Afghanistan). It focuses on the value Peter's sees in Africa and Latin America - and that the United States should be energetically developing relationships with these two regions. Hopefully the newly stood up Africa Command (AFRICOM) is a step in this direction. The third article is from Britain called "The New Taliban" (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2190875,00.html). It is a good overview of what is happening in Afghanistan today.

My address:

Peter Zakis

2/201st Corps ETT

Camp Black Horse

APO AE 09320

I miss and love you all,

Peter

(Don't worry if you sent a package to his old address, it will get forwarded to him.)

I want to once again thank you all for your support. I feel the positive effects of the prayers daily. I know that God is gaurding our hearts and minds to stay positive and hopeful.
May God bless each of you and your families with much love and faith!
Love,
Cristina

News from Pete

Peter reports that he has officially caught his first cold. The weather is beginning to change so, the nights are getting cold. Thankfully he already received the electric blanket from us. We have figured out that it only takes one week for a card to reach him and about two weeks for a package to get to him. That is FABULOUS!!!
This week he should be finding out if he will be transfered to a new base. There is some shifting of personnel going on and it is very likely that he will be moved to another base in Afghanistan. I'll be sure to let you know when he does move.
On Monday morning we were able to have our first web cam call. It was so wonderful to see his smiling face!!! The boys were excited to see daddy. He even played peek-a-boo with them and we blew many kisses back and forth. It was so nice not to have a time limit. We talked about silly things. We laughed and we cried. Hopefully we'll do it again tomorrow.
As far as what things Pete could use, the list may change once he gets transfered. We'll see. However, he did send me a wish list of DVDs. In case you didn't know, Pete is a movie buff. He loves old movies. So, just in case you have any of these movies hanging around your home that you would like to send to Pete, here is the list he sent:

Hey folks,

The following is a list of DVD's that I would to watch.

1. Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (Paul Neuman)

2. Khartoum (Charlton Heston)

3. The Long Hot Summer (Paul Neuman)

4. Touch of Evil (Charlton Heston)

5. Who Frame Roger Rabbit

6. Dr. Zhviago

7. Harper (Paul Neuman)

8. Fifty-five Days at Peking (Charlton Heston)

9. Sixteen Candles

10. 2001: A Space Odyssey

11. The Rack (Paul Neuman)

12. The Naked Jungle (Charlton Heston)

13. The Sandpebbles

14. Lawrence of Arabia

15. The World's Greatest Athlete (Disney)

16. The Compter Wore Tennis Shoes (Disney)

Thanks,

Peter

**Pete also enjoys listening to books on CD.***
I also wanted to add that Pete loves celebrating Halloween in a fun, festive way. We decorate the house and go trick-or-treating every year. I know he would love to receive fun cards or maybe small decorations (ones that he wouldn't feel bad about throwing away or giving away). Also, his favorite comic strip is the Peanuts. His favorite candy is Doves Milk Chocolate. Maybe now that the cold is settling in we can send him chocolate.

Thank you for reaching out to him and helping make his days there bearable.

Love to all,
Cristina

The WE in ME

In a recent conversation with my dear friend Sonia I was telling her all about the many people that help me out on a daily basis. Not a day has gone by without a friend or family member calling me, stopping by to visit or dropping off food. On one particular day mom was here at home with me spending time with the boys and helping me out with household chores. She stopped what she was doing and she said, "O.K. so what do WE have tomorrow?" I turned around to look at her and I just began crying. I thanked her for saying "WE." It is so nice to have someone with me who considers themselves a part of me-- together we make a WE. I knew that I wold not have to face the next day alone.

I never realized how much I enjoyed being a WE with Pete until I didn't have him around to help me with day to day stuff. Thankfully I can still rely on him to help me with decisions and advice. However, the day to day stuff is often difficult without a WE.

So, as I told Sonia about this realization and conversation with my mom I began to realize how many people are a part of my WE. All of you reading this are a part of my WE and many more who can't read this. Any one who has prayed for us is a part of my WE.

Thank you! Thank you for being a part of my WE. May God bless each of you abundantly for your prayers and sacrifices. May your families be blessed with much peace and love! Know that I am praying for each of you as well.

Love,
Cristina

Pete's Address and Wish List

Peter is finally settling in at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan.

He would love to receive cards from people. His address is:
Peter Zakis
HHC 218th BCT
Camp Phoenix
Afghanistan
APO AE 09320

You can also reach him through e-mail at peterzakis@yahoo.com.
You can reach me at cristinazakis@yahoo.com

By the way, if you think you will be sending a package to Pete you can call the USPS at 800-610-8734 and request the "Military Kit." They will send you boxes, tape, address labels and the customs forms you will need.
He says Uncle Sam is taking good care of him so there is not much that he really needs. I will tell you that he does enjoy nuts like peanuts, cashews, almonds and walnuts. He also enjoys reading magazines about politics, the Catholic Religion, and fitness. He says he could use baby wipes to help keep things clean. Also, if you have any old movies on DVD that you can send him, he has his lap top and would love to have some movies to watch.

Right now Pete is working the night shift doing intelligence work. He says he is slowly getting into a routine. He has been able to call us each morning. He uses the international calling cards some times and then other times he uses a number the Army gave him which connects him to us for free for 15 minutes. We are all adjusting to this way of communicating and relating to one another. We save "technical talk" for e-mail and use phone time for personal/fun stuff. The boys enjoy listening to daddy on the phone. We hope to use the web cam soon.

Pete does have internet service in his room so he his able to check e-mail regularly. I have enjoyed sending him pictures and short videos of the boys. Thank God for our modern technology!

So many of you have written words of encouragement and offered to help out in so many ways. We truly appreciate your generosity and your prayers!
Love,
Peter, Cristina, Ricky and Paul

Peter is in Afghanistan

Hello to all! Well, Pete is now in Kabul, Afghanistan. We just found out that he will be staying on the main camp, Camp Phoenix. That is a relief! He has been assigned a very small room all to himself. He is in the process of settling in. By the way, you can google "Camp Phoenix" and check out some neat web sites with great pictures of what Pete will be seeing.

Today, he began his job. He has the 4am-12pm shift which he is happy about since he is a morning person. He has been trying to reach us today but kept missing us at home. So, I hope to have more details for all of you soon. He will give me his address tomorrow and I will pass along a list of things he could use.

We are thankful that he will be able to have his own internet connection for a small fee. It also looks like he will buy an internet phone to be able to more effectively communicate with all of us and to be able to receive calls as well. I'm not sure how much calls would cost then. I'll let you know.

Here on the home front all is well. Ricky will begin his preschool this week. I can't believe he is turning 4 in a month. Paul continues to copy everything Ricky does and constantly makes us smile. Ricky assures me that while Daddy is gone he will take care of me when I am sad. He is so sweet! He has been praying for a little sister and the other day he announced to me that he now knew how I could have a baby girl. He said, "You and daddy just need to get married again." He comes up with amazing explanations and even more amazing questions. What a fun age!

Please keep up the prayers! They are being heard!!!!!! and they are being felt!!!!!!!! Thank you!
With much love,
Cristina

P.S. On a sad note, Peter's family dog died last week. He was very sick with cancer. Please keep his family in your prayers.

Pete is on the move

Well, we had a wonderful two weeks with Pete home. We spent the first week at the beach having a wonderful time swimming and sight seeing. Thanks to Mom, who came to the beach but stayed in her own place, we had three date nights in a row. We were able to eat at beautiful restaurants on the beach or marina. We created some beautiful memories.

The second week we were blessed to have Pete's parents and brother Mark with us for three days. We enjoyed spending time with them at the pool and just hanging out together. The boys enjoyed water gun fights with Uncle Mark and blowing bubbles with Grandma and Grandpa.

On Saturday, August 25th, Peter left to begin his trip to the Middle East. Thankfully we were able to get passes to walk him to the gate. My brother, Eugene, accompanied us. Once at the gate we had time to sit and have lunch together and a few minutes of playing and watching airplanes. The goodbye part was very difficult. Thank God for my brother who was by my side to help with the boys and to remind me that all would be O.K.
We are so blessed to have family and friends who love us and are willing to go the extra mile with us and for us. Thank you LORD!

I heard from Pete early this morning as he had his lay over in Germany. He said he thought they would make it to the Middle East tonight. He wasn't sure if he would be in Afghanistan tonight or later this week. He still is unsure about which part of Afghanistan he will be stationed in. I promise that as soon as I get an address for him I will post it here as well as e-mail it out to all. He has a laptop now with a web cam. It will be fun to stay in touch through e-mail as well.
We are not sure how the phone situation will work out. He has his cell phone but I found out that it would cost $4.99 a minute to call from Afghanistan using the cell phone. So, we bought a couple of international calling cards for cell phones to get him started. I'll send more details on what he can use once he knows more about his situation.

The main thing I ask for is fervent prayer. Please pray for Pete's safety. Please pray for us here at home, not just me and the boys but my family as well. They are doing so much to support us. I also ask for prayers for Pete's family as they endure some difficult times these days. Pete's maternal grandmother is in the hospital with renal failure and his family dog is very ill with cancer. Please keep them all in your prayers.
Thank you for your constant support!
Love,
Cristina
God Bless America!

Peter is Home

Praise God!!! Our Peter is home. It is wonderful to have his strong, Godly presence home again. The boys are so excited. We were able to get passes to meet Pete at the gate at the airport. When they saw Pete walk out the boys ran into his arms. I got a couple of great pictures. Then we had the family hug! What a great feeling!
We ate dinner at the airport in order to avoid rush hour traffic and then came home to begin the playing and updates. We all had to show Pete all of the new toys, decorations, etc. around the home. Ricky was so excited that daddy would be reading him his bedtime story. It took them both a while to settle down enough to fall asleep.
We spent this morning having a family breakfast and then packing up lunch to spend some time at the pool. Ricky showed dad how he can now jump off of the diving board. Paul showed him how he can jump from the wall and how he plays with balls in the baby pool. It was wonderful to be together as a family.
Tomorrow we'll gather with the G-C family for lunch and see our friends at church. Then Monday we head out to the beach. We are looking forward to creating some more great family memories at one of our favorite places, St. Augustine. We'll take the boys to the Mission of Our Lady of La Leche. Peter and I made a pilgrimage there when we were trying to conceive. It will be great to show the boys where we prayed for our babies. Pete can't wait to show them the fort. And of course we'll spend plenty of time at the beach.
We pray that you are all doing well and enjoying your families. May God bless you with peace and happiness.
Love,
Cristina

Communicating with Pete

Just wanted to let everyone know that you can communicate with Pete via e-mail. His e-mail address is peterzakis@yahoo.com. Right now he is not able to check e-mail daily but does check it every Sunday at least. Sometimes he is able to get to a computer sometime during the week depending on how hard they are working him. Once he gets sent to Afghanistan he will have his own lap top (thank you Gene). So, he'll be able to check e-mails and answer on a more regular basis. He'll also have a web cam and a digital camera to keep us all up to date on what he is doing. This should all help us feel more in touch with him during the long stretch.

Thank you for the continued prayers for all of us. There is no doubt in my mind that every ounce of peace I feel through out the days are due to the many prayers that are being offered on our behalf. We can't thank you enough. The power of prayer has become quite tangible for us.
May God bless each one of you!

Just in case anyone who lives close to our house is interested, we will be having a "work in the yard" day at the Zakis home on August 4th so that when Pete is home for his short visit he won't feel the need to get anything done. It will all be done for him. Feel free to e-mail me at cristinazakis@yahoo.com with any questions or suggestions. Pizza and beer/soda will follow!
God Bless America!

Peter is Coming Home Soon

We just found out that Pete will actually be home from August 10th-23rd. We know that it is your prayers that helped him get that second week of leave added on. Thank you for continuing to pray for our family.
We plan to spend a few days at the beach as a family and then we'll spend the rest of the time at home. Pete will be here long enough to attend Mass with our church family twice. He is excited about being able to see every one. Pete's parents and brother Mark will be visiting us during the second week of his stay. We can't wait to see them. It promises to be a fun, busy and emotional two weeks.

Peter's youngest brother, Uncle Tim, whom you see in the picture above, was with us for a couple of weeks. The boys and I truly enjoyed his company and energy. He fixed several things around the house and played several hours with the boys. We had fun at the pool, at Stone Mountain Park and even at the Aquarium. He left to drive back to California today and we are so sad.


Now, we look forward to daddy coming home. When I mentioned to Ricky that daddy would be coming home to visit us he responded with, "Visit?" He realized how odd this sounded. I had to explain that Daddy would be coming home but then having to leave again. UGH!
I found a wonderful book that helps kids understand why dads (and sometimes moms) must leave home when they are soldiers. Just in case you can pass this along to someone who could use it, the title of the book is "A Yellow Ribbon For Daddy" by Anissa Mersiowsky. We have read it every day since it arrived, at Ricky's request. He seems to feel consoled by it.

Well, that"s all for now. Paul woke up.

A New Stage in Life

God Bless America!
May God grant PEACE to the WORLD!

The Zakis family has embarked on a new phase in our life.
We hope this blog will help all of you stay up to date with how Pete is doing and how we are doing on the home front. Don't ever hesitate to contact us.

On June 3, 2007 Peter left home for Ft. Riley, Kansas in order to augment an army unit that will be going to Afghanistan on September 1, 2007 for a year. For those that do not know, Peter signed up for the Navy Reserves right after 9/11. He has always felt a duty to serve our country through the military. We decided at that time that it was the right time for him to join the Navy through a program that would allow him to train near home.

Now, six years later, he has been activated. No doubt this news was accepted with mixed emotions. We are honored to be serving our country as a family. We pray and ask you to pray with us that our family will only become stronger through this period of our lives. We believe that God has a reason for every thing that happens. It is up to us to serve Him through this time.

The boys and I are missing Pete. Thankfully, we were able to visit him in Kansas during the week of July 4th. God granted us the opportunity to celebrate our 14th anniversary together as a family. Peter was able to show us where he is training and the places he visits. Ricky even had the chance to sit in the HumV that Pete drives. We feel more in tune with what Peter is experiencing. We had a fun four days visiting cities around Ft. Riley. We even went to a Wizard of Oz museum in Wamego, KS.

We talk to Pete daily and sometimes twice a day thanks to the cell phones. Ricky loves getting on the phone to talk to daddy. Once he told daddy, "I have an idea daddy. You can catch the bad guys with a net." Ricky knows that daddy is working with the soldiers to protect our country from the "bad guys." Paul asks for daddy by saying, "Uh dada?" with his hands up in the air. We tell him daddy went bye bye but he'll be back soon. He gets on the phone and listens to daddy and sometimes says a few of his words. He then says bye and blows a kiss through the phone. There are times when the boys fight over the phone to talk to daddy.

God bless you all!
Stay tune for more updates.