January Update!

Hi everyone,
The time has finally come! Jim will be leaving Afghanistan around the 19th of January. He will go to Kuwait and get his itinerary to come home. The kids and I will be flying to Nashville on the 22nd of January. He will be doing 2 weeks of training in Ft. Campbell, KY. We will have my cell phone 520-226-5698. We will stay there until February 5th. We will ALL come back to WA for his real R&R. He will be going back to Afghanistan around February 25th until June. Our plans are still in the works.

This also means that mail sent after January 9th may not get to him before he leaves.

FEBRUARY 12 WILL BE A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR THE KIDS, AND A WELCOME BACK PARTY FOR JIM! 4-7 PM AT THE OLD ST. JO'S (NOW THE COMMUNITY CENTER). IF ANYONE HAS BEEN WANTING TO COME OUT TO WA FOR A VISIT, THIS WOULD BE THE PERFECT TIME!!

Christmas

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

EIEIO

Tap out Mama

Ben

"Dancing"

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Sierra's nap

Washington

We've made it to Washington! The kids are loving it and having a great time. Mom and George bought 6 laying hens for the kids to look after and the neighbors also have a horse, a sheep, more hens and a rooster. Grandpa George also drives the tractors and the kids absolutely love it. Jim is doing well. He stays very busy with work and calls whenever he can. We get on the webcam so he can see the kids playing together and they get to play peek a boo and sing songs to him. We joined a local group of moms so we could get to know some people and its working out really well. Our week is lined up with play dates, library times, and they loved throwing rocks in the river. Soon we'll have a few nights a week that the kids will stay with G'pa and G'ma Cook while I start going to the gym for a play date of my own.

So everything is good... all except for Sierra's visit to the ER the morning after we got here. She was holding a metal tea cup and fell with her forehead on her fist. She had 7 stitches but it's healing really well and it will look just fine in about a year. Let's hope we don't have to go there again!

PO Box 258
Monitor, WA
98836

Arizona

We made it to Arizona! It is so good to be with our friends Kelli, Matt, Cody and Tori. I was so exhausted last night I woke up and had no idea where I was, but I knew Ben was right next to me and I heard Sierra making her little sounds so I went back to bed without trying to figure it out. We are on our way to our favorite park and are going going down some much needed slides after our loooong day of driving yesterday. My mom leaves out of Tucson friday morning and I'm not sure how long we'll be staying here. It depends on what happens with Ben's tubes and tests.

Jim had his ceremony of being pinned as an E-7 today on a HELICOPTER. Doesn't that sound just like him? I can't wait to talk to him to find out how it went. They were going to take lots of pictures.

Address Update 5/18/09

Name of Soldier (no rank)
CJTF - 82
CJ2
APO AE 09354

Here we go, there's the newest address.

A day in the life of Ben and Sierra

It has been SO hot and humid here in Oklahoma. Uncle David put together a swing set in the back yard and of course the kids love it. Tristan turned 2 years old yesterday so there's a whole wave of new toys. Sierra is getting better with a fork so I don't have the messy cake pictures this time. Behind Anna's house is a somewhat busy street and is full of trucks, motorcycles, big rigs and fire trucks. On the other side of that street are 4 horses and 2 colts. Yesterday they had a bobcat moving rocks and my shoulder is sore from holding up the kids so they could all take turns watching. Yesterday was day one of working out with David. We'll see if today is day two or not :) Anna is playing piano for one of the bands in a Christian concert today-but it rained last night and still looks pretty nasty outside.

Jim just called. He said there's a lot of stuff going on and this past week went quick. He is the Non-commissioned officer in charge of his section.

Yesterday Ben said "Mommy, daddy be back soon". Sierra plays with my old cell phone and talks to dada, gives kisses, says "looooooooove dada" and "miiiiiiiiiiss dada". She finally holds the phone on her ear instead of the back of her head. Love you dada.

PT with Ben

Ready or Not....

So here's some catch up stuff: We said goodbye to Jim on Sunday, May 3rd. That first night he was on the plane and went from Pope Airforce base to Maine, to Germany, to a holding area outside Afghanistan. Within the next few days he'll be in Bagram. He will be getting into his room, and work area so he probably won't be able to call or email for a few days.

The kids and I cleared housing on Monday, and left NC. We stayed in Knoxville, TN the first night. We thought we would take three days to get to OK, but the kids were really good so we kept on going. Ben and Sierra are having a great time with their cousins. Right now all 4 kids are napping- enough said.

May

The house phone is forwarded to my cell phone and Jim's cell phone is shut off for now. So you should use: 1-520-226-5698 to get ahold of us through this year. Or Kcook1023@hotmail.com and sweetride82@hotmail.com.

SSG James Cook

G2 CJTF82

FOB Bagram
APO AE 09354

Kaleena Cook

804 NW Hampton Ct.

Lawton, OK 73505

A prayer for Jim and Drew

Security of the One Who Trusts in the LORD. Psalms 91


1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most HighWill abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,My God, in whom I trust!”
3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper. And from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with His pinions,And under His wings you may seek refuge;His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your sideAnd ten thousand at your right hand,But it shall not approach you.
8 You will only look on with your eyesAnd see the recompense of the wicked.
9 For you have made the LORD, my refuge,Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
10 No evil will befall you,Nor will any plague come near your tent.
11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you,To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra,The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;I will be with him in trouble;I will rescue him and honor him.
16 “With a long life I will satisfy himAnd let him see My salvation.”

Update and Jim's address

We're back from our trips, have a POD in our drive way and have 2 different piles of boxes all throughout the house. Our brother-in-law, David is here and will drive my car back to Oklahoma on Sunday. My mom will be here Saturday and will give Jim and I a chance to run around to finish all the legal stuff before Jim deploys. Ben got a cold during our adventures and has ANOTHER double ear infection so his Dr. is referring him to Audiology to see if there's something else going on. We'll have his hearing tested in OK and we'll let you know what happens.

I do have an address but I want to make sure its not going to change before I send it out to everyone. I will let you all know when I know for sure.
Don't send anything until the last week in May, or until we hear that he's ready for it. His rank will be changing from Staff Sergeant to Sergeant First Class in the next 6 months or so. Woo hoo! You da man Jim!

Hey ladies!

http://fancy-me.blogspot.com/ This is my new post bed time hobby! Take a look and leave a comment if you'd like. Thank you!

Scratch that! Our new plan is...

We're traveling the US! The short version of several long conversation is that Ben, Sierra and I will be moving to Lawton, OK to be with my sister and her family for a few months. Then we'll pack up, minus the cat, and drive to AZ to visit our good friends the McGills. Then we will enjoy our drive up the coast to WA. We'll spend time in WI in September for Mike and Jessica's ceremony and probably visit George's family in MN. Whew! As you can see, there are no specific dates, because I won't know them until it's happening. We're driving up to WI in a couple of weeks for Jessica's bachelorette and shower- I can't wait for that! I was thinking we could have a dinner with everyone there to support Jim before he goes to Afghanistan. Any takers on volunteering your home? :) See you all soon.

Happy Birthdays

We now have a one year old and two year old! Thank you all for the birthday cards and gifts. Jim has had a crazy schedule while preparing for their deployment. They had a two week exercise to simulate what they can expect. Jim was on night shift from 9 pm to 9 am. During those two weeks, Mike and Mary came for a visit. It was full of trips to the park, military museums, 500 rummy and birthday parties. Because Jim is in the 82nd Airborne Division, Jim will have to jump atleast once every 3 months to keep his Airborne status. So we all got to watch this while Grandma and Grandpa Cook were here.

January

Well I have gone back to the blog site to try and manage whats going on the best I can. There will be a lot of changes for us in 2009 and I hope this will be the best way to keep everyone up to date. Sierra will be ONE on the 2nd of February, and Ben will be TWO on the 18th of February. As most of you know, Jim will be going to Afghanistan sometime this spring for one year. So we're giving ourselves plenty of time to prepare for that. We have been going to Family Readiness Group (FRG) meetings and I have signed up to volunteer with whatever I can to keep us busy. So! Here we go again!