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.