Happy 3rd Birthday Joshua

The other night as I was putting Joshua to bed I was telling him his "birth" story and remembering that day and how wonderful the start of his life was...not that it's not still wonderful, but just thinking back on that day...

Three years ago today Tom and I went into the Penrose Hospital after dropping Gregory off at our good friends, Tim & Gentri Settle's house.  We went in, got in the elevator, pushed the buttons and went up to the Labor & Delivery floor for our appt and for me to be induced that morning.  Wow, yeah, it does seem like yesterday, I guess that's how "good" memories are supposed to be :-)  It was an incredibly wonderful day.  We were blessed to have another friend, Naomi Thomas, involved in the day by photographing Joshua's birth.  I remember looking out from the hospital at Pike's Peak and how beautiful it was and I still cherish that in my mind.

Joshua's come a long way from that day.  Even though he's an average size boy, he's grown so much and has so much personality in such a little guy!  He's in the 50th percentile for weight and height, so litterally average.  Just because he is average size-wise doesn't mean he is pushed around...he does his share of pushing around...even with his big brother.  He LOVES to dance and sing and is such a silly boy.  He goes for the guitar or the microphone whenever he and his brother pretend to be a band.

His "best buddy" as he calls him was born a day after him and a world away (in Okinawa, Japan).  TJ is also our neighbor, so the boys get to spend a lot of time together.  In fact, the two boys shared a birthday party at the bowling alley this year.  It was a Bob the Builder themed party and the two boys share a lot of the same friends, so having the party together was great.  The funny part of who all was invited was that there were so many girls at the party!  Joshua is loved by the girls :-)  I can see why, he is a cutie!  That cuteness is easily seen through by me though!  I am continually telling people, don't be fooled by his cuteness, he is a stinker behind that smile.

The things he says are soooo funny!  Like the other morning when he woke up and walked into our bedroom and said, "hi guys".  Or how he sings Jesus loves me, I don't know....instead of Jesus loves me, this I know.  We pray someday he does come to "know" Jesus and that he grows spiritually as well as physically.  In spite of his discipline issues, he is still our wonderful Joshua and we are blessed to have him as a part of our family. 

Here's a pic from the first week of Joshua's life and one from this week (wow, those chubby cheeks that come from me have yet to disappear!)

2012 Cook Annual Letter

Below is the text from our annual letter (also known as our Christmas letter)....some of you may have received this in the mail (others are still waiting on it), and I am sure we missed someone (sorry)...and just in case any of our friends or family are having a hard time sleeping...here it is for your reading enjoyment or sleeping assistance.  
 
As we look back over our blog postings and think back over this past year we realize how thankful we are for the blessing of free health care! This has been a major theme for every month in 2012. We have had at least one visit to Landstuhl / Ramstein for doctor appointments each month, for various reasons. One of the main reasons for the doctor visits was in June we found out that there was a chance that Tom is getting looked at for being medically retired from the military…we are still not sure what the outcome will be, but we are pretty sure that we'll be continuing with the military until Tom reaches his 20-year mark (we're at the 17 ½ yr. mark now). We have been continually praying for God's will in this situation, and we are confident that God will continue to be with us whatever the result.

Even though there have been a lot of medical appointments, we have been so happy to get to hang out with our friends, Jan & Ginger and their kids who live up near Ramstein. It's been so fun having Gregory and Joshua get to know Jan and Ginger's kids since we knew the family when we were stationed at Ramstein several years ago.

We were also so thankful that we were able to make a trip back to the states at the beginning of the summer and to be able to see the majority of our families with our stops in Missouri and Minnesota. It was an incredible time to be able to share in Tom's sister's graduation from Central Bible College in Springfield, MO. It was also a blessing that God provide us a way where we could buy Tom's mom a house in Willard, MO. We also had a good time in Minnesota visiting Roxanne's side of the family. We checked out Judy and Oscars new RV and just enjoyed the beautiful outdoors. Of course the boys had a wonderful time making memories with their cousins in both MO and MN as well as with their Grandma Betty and Grandma Judy and Grandpa Oscar.

Of course this wasn't the only trip we took this past year…there were trips to Legoland, the Stuttgart Zoo, MANY trips to the Rittersport Chocolate Factory/Museum, Barefoot Park and many other places.
Gregory had one of the most extreme changes this year. He started Kindergarten. He went from going to preschool two days a week (for only 3 hours a day) to now going to Kindergarten 5 days a week (6 ½ hours a day). He is in a unique class of multi-grades (K – 2) and loving it. He loves learning, not writing so much, but loves doing math, learning to spell, read and doing crafts/art. Of course he says his favorite parts of school are recess and P.E. So we know he's a normal kid, in case there was any doubt. Gregory has a huge heart of compassion and is a great encouragement to us much of the time. For the first time Gregory was involved on a soccer team with other 4 & 5 year olds. He loved practice, but not the games very much. This was a learning experience and we've since decided to try t-ball or baseball in the spring since he didn't care for soccer too much. Church is a highlight for Gregory each week. He loves doing the crafts that his teacher so wonderfully puts together for the class and he has been learning so much about the Bible and the stories of Jesus.

Joshua has continued to progress in his development and learning. He loves to paint, put together puzzles, and even play on the computer (like his big brother). He has turned into such a social boy and it's so funny to see how connected he is to certain kids. He definitely has his best buddy as he calls him and even wakes up in the middle of the night asking to play with him. TJ and Joshua are best buds and were born a day and an ocean apart, but now we live across the street from each other. Joshua too loves to go to church and sing songs about Jesus. God is so Good and Jesus Loves Me are some of his favorites.

Roxanne has kept busy with what seems to be the "same old things", but at different levels of commitments this year. She has taken on lots of responsibilities with the Panzer MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers). She is in charge of Publicity and seven Discussion Group Leaders (DGLS). She has also been able to attend PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) for Bible studies throughout the year. When the weather was nice she was found at the area parks with the boys and this led to developing more friendships. It was nice to have TJ's mom, Tesha to chat with while at the parks and this friendship has been especially wonderful to have throughout the year. There are too many other women's names to mention so we will leave it at that, but know that there have been many women who have blessed Roxanne with their company this past year (even those who have moved away). She has also been busy with the chapel middle school youth group serving as the snack coordinator and serving the snack to the 70+ students that come each week. Joshua and Gregory get to come along too and they LOVE getting to hang out with the teens each week, so this has become a family event each week.

We are incredibly thankful to be done with our first year here at Stuttgart when it comes to Tom's job. He was required to work one year on the "watch". This meant not having a regular schedule, working long days (12 hrs +), lots of weekends, and missing out on so much. With the job switch he is still a part of AFRICOM but for the first time in our 9 years of marriage he is enjoying his job. This has made such a huge difference for him. He is now working a Monday – Friday job with early hours, but that means being done early too. Tom continues to work on his youth ministry degree with Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) and this semester has been a super busy one with taking two classes AND doing an internship with Cadence Student Ministries. Cadence Student Ministries is the organization that provides the military community with a high school and a middle school chapel youth group. Specifically, Tom has been interning with the middle school youth group doing lots of planning, speaking, leading games, etc. Tom's loves working with youth and cannot wait to do it when he retires.

In regard to Tom doing his internship; we are praying about our future after the military. Tom only has 2 ½ years left with the military until he can retire from the Air Force. We are not sure if God is calling us to work with military youth as missionaries with Cadence Ministries or if we will be youth pastors at a church, or doing something completely different that we aren't even aware of yet. Please join us in prayer that God would direct our steps and make it clear to us where He wants us to serve Him.
We are so thankful that God is with us as we get ready to start 2013. We're praying that you see the hope that is in this promise as well. "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us"). Matthew 1:23

Blessings to you and yours,
Tom, Roxanne, Gregory & Joshua Cook

Merry Christmas 2012

Now that we are fully immersed in this Christmas season, I am going to try to stay on top of it and get a post done before we move on to the next event (before the new year), Joshua's third birthday.  This year has been like many peoples...filled with lots of activities and fun.  We've been enjoying some of the German traditions like St. Nickolaus Tag (Day)...as Gregory woke up in the middle of the night and saw his house shoes filled treats he said "He is real!" and I quickly (as quick as I could in the middle of the night) said, "no, mom and dad are real and we filled your shoes...but you remember the story of how St. Nickolaus used tom come to the German houses and leave treats for the kids?"

We had FIVE advent calendars going (six if you count the activity one we did some days).  Hope the boys remember how to eat a good meal without the incentive of chocolate :-)  I think I can remember :-)  We had christmas parties (youth group one, a small one with some MOPS friends, and even one up at Ramstein with our friend, Jan's youth group, because we happened to be in town and staying in the apartment above the party).  We got to enjoy a Christmas market (without kids), thanks to some great friends, Tom & Tesha.  Somehow we managed to not bake any Christmas cookies and my boys both got to still decorate cookies at two different friends' houses and I got to enjoy cookies at multiple places without the work :-)  So there were many good memories from this Christmas and we all enjoyed the time together.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Fall is almost over

Now that fall is nearly over I feel that I must quickly blog about what we have done, especially now that tomorrow is December 1st.  We were able to find a few corn mazes to take the boys to.  One of the corn mazes we were joined by some friends and this made the maze so much more fun.  We also got to check out the Pumpkin Fest in Ludwigsburg with another friend.  Legoland was a major highlight for us all at the beginning of October.  The sculptures made out of legos were amazing and we all had a fun time in spite of the chilly weather.  And then Tom was busy with a day long retreat for the Chapel Middle School youth group - Equip.  We had a small celebration for Tom's birthday, with his favorite meal for dinner...Spaghetti Carbonara and for his cake I made a homemade tiramisu.  Not too bad for a first try (and with a box mixes help).

Then there was the Pumpkin Drop.  Gregory's school does an annual Pumpkin Drop around the 31st of October.  Each class decorates a VERY large box and fills it with specific varieties of objects.  Gregory's class was marshmallows and popcorn.  Each elementary class is paired with a couple of high school students to do this project.  And then near the end of a school day a ladder fire truck is brought in and 5 grocery carts full of pumpkins are brought in too.  Joshua and I got to watch much of this event with the school.  It was fun to see the decorated boxes (oh and they are assigned a state to help with the themes of the decorations on the box).  Gregory's class was Delaware.  The goal is to have the pumpkin drop into the box and for it not to break apart after it lands in the box.  I think there was only one pumpkin that succeeded and it wasn't Gregory's class, but Gregory still had a ton of fun with this.  Joshua continues even now to almost daily talk about the Pumpkin Drop and how it goes "boom". 

There were a few other smaller activities of bowling with friends and our first decent snow fall (about 5 inches or so).  And then there was Thanksgiving, but that will have a post of it's own.  As always, there's more pics at our shutterfly website.  http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/action/

Soccer Season

At the beginning of this month we finished out our first go around with sports.  Gregory played on a 4 & 5 year old team, the Purple Monsters.  He had fun, but also learned what he doesn't like about soccer.  He enjoyed the practice, but didn't like the games.  He says he didn't like that he couldn't use his hands and could only use his feet and legs.  So this spring he wants to try baseball or t-ball.  We are thinking this might be a better fit for him since it's not as physical or as aggressive as soccer can be (even for 4 and 5 year olds).  It was fun being a "soccer mom" for a season, we'll see if Joshua wants to try it in a year or so...I might get another chance.    

 

My boys are growing up - Gregory

So already over a week ago Gregory started his career as a student.  We found out the Friday before Gregory would start school who his teacher is and what class he'll be in...a Multi-Grade Class (K, 1 & 2).  We had marked the box for Gregory to be put in this class so that if it was "God's plan" for him to be in this class then we were open to it.  Nervous about it, but open to it and besides out of over 100 students, only 14 kindergartners were randomly selected to be in the multi-grade class.  Anyways, so Gregory was chosen.  After the first couple of days we were feeling better about Gregory being in a multi-grade class.  I am pretty sure the "shock" of being at school from 8 - 230 every day and not being with mom and dad during this time was a big source of what we were concerned about.  

Also, we started the common "first day of school picture" tradition and added a little bit more to it by having Gregory write his name and telling me what he wants to be when he grows up.  This will be an item to cherish over the years for sure.  And for those who are curious he wants to be a paleontologist, police officer or an astronaut (and a few days later added a pilot).  Big dream...love it!

Gregory will be quick to tell you that his favorite parts of school are recess and lunch.  He loves the cafeteria food!  I guess I might too if I had THREE choices for a main entree every day.  He loves going to the library, doing crafts (art), likes music, enjoys PE and has made friends quickly (not a surprise!).

So far he has learned to count by two's, learned about syllables and counting them, learned some German (since this is our "host nation"), learned some Spanish (because everyone should know some, right? haha).  Gregory is such a sponge and loves learning, I pray this continues well into his life...actually throughout his entire life.

Another new thing for Gregory is "organized" sports.  Gregory is playing for the Purple Monsters soccer team (a base youth sports team).  This is the 4 & 5 year olds team.  So he has practice once a week and a game on Saturdays for about 2 months.  Today was their first game and it was about 80 degrees outside, so very hot and Gregory was so tired due to the heat so he didn't want to play very much (kind of understandable, but this also shows how dedicated Gregory is to the sport already :-)  He did help his team out some and got to share in the victory of his team winning.  It was fun to watch him and the other kids play today.    

My boys are growing up - Joshua

This week has been full of big "deals" in our house.  In brief...Gregory started school and Joshua got rid of his pacifier.

Joshua getting rid of his pacifier has a little less detail about it so I'll start with this...Tom and I have been saying that Joshua's paci is yucky and trash for quite a while in hopes that he would start agreeing with us and finally on Thursday morning just out of the blue Joshua walked over to the trash can and threw his paci in the trash.  Since I was concerned what bedtime (or naptime) might look like I explained to Joshua that we needed to put paci in a bag to throw it away.  Luckily, Gregory was at school or he would have been asking lots of questions about "what" we were doing.  With Joshua it's easier sometimes since he doesn't need an answer for "why?".  So we got a ziploc bag and put paci in there and then tossed it back in the trash.  After Joshua had walked away and was no where in the area to see what I was doing...I snatched the paci out of the trash and put it away far from Joshua's sight just in case.  We had also told Joshua when he got rid of paci we'd get him a new stuffed Pooh.  He loves Pooh and doesn't have a Winnie the Pooh...he has Tigger, but not Pooh.  Anyways, so I kept talking about how the next day when Gregory was in school we'd go to the toy store and get him Pooh.  There have only been a couple of times Joshua has asked for his "wawa"...don't ask where that name came from...we have no idea!  But I have been quick to remind him that HE put paci in the trash and now he has Pooh because he is a big boy.  We are so proud of Joshua and so thankful this hasn't been as hard as we anticipated.  Thank you Jesus!  Now to move on to potty training...maybe we should wait till he's ready on this too...it might work better :-)     

Here's a picture of Joshua with his new Pooh that he sleeps with.  No more "stinky wawa" as Joshua says :-)