Christmas was great!

With all of us off from school and work last week, I didn't get on the computer much, thus the lack of blogging. But I wanted to post some pictures of our week.

William showing his enthusiasm for Christmas

On the Friday before Christmas we let William skip school, and we went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was awesome!

We followed that up with lunch at The Varsity downtown... yum!

William helped me bake some things during our break, including cookies and pecan pies. He's such a good helper, even when it's time to clean up.

We also had fun making a gingerbread house.

We attended our church's Christmas Eve service...

Then went home and had Chinese takeout for dinner (fa ra ra ra ra...). This was our first year to do this, but I have a feeling it might become a new tradition. It was delicious, and so much less stressful than cooking a huge meal.

After that, we opened gifts. William's big item from us was a Wii, and he was totally surprised and excited.

This was his expression as he realized what he was opening. I love that I was able to capture his excitement in the photo.

Christmas morning began with William placing baby Jesus in the manger, a reminder of what this season is really about.

Then it was on to see if Santa came... and he did!

William asked Santa for a Wii, Star Wars legos, Operation, and some surprises. We'd already let Santa know we'd be giving William a Wii, so that left Santa plenty of room for some good surprises.

William was especially surprised to find several things he'd eyed at stores recently: Kung Fu Panda, another Light Sabre, and Star Wars Legos game for Wii. In addition, Santa knew how much he needed a new soccer ball and shin guards. Santa also obviously knew how much William enjoyed his weekend with Mouse, because William now has his very own Mouse!

After playing with all the gifts for a while, we went for brunch at Zack's parents' house. Then it was back to our house, and my mom & family came over for dinner and gifts.

Then on Saturday we went to my brother's house and got together with my dad and his wife.

It was a great Christmas, and we are thankful for all the lovely gifts we got (I was super excited about my I*Pod Touch!). But most importantly, we are thankful for God's gift of His only son, sent to be born of a virgin, so that He could die, so that we could live. That's the best gift of all!

We pray that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas too, and that 2009 will bring happpiness and peace. And if you haven't already, may this be the year that you accept God's free gift of salvation, the gift that first came wrapped up in the form of a newborn baby.

Merry Christmas

Max Lucado on Adoption

I'm a Max Lucado fan, and have been for a number of years thanks to Zack. We have nearly an entire shelf in our den filled with his books, and we really enjoyed hearing him speak at a Third Day/Michael W. Smith concert a few years ago. Well I recently read an 'adoption story' on several different blogs that was penned by Mr. Lucado. With a heart for adoption, and a heart for reaching those that don't have a personal relationship with Jesus, I felt led to share his words with our blog readers...

When we come to Christ, God not only forgives us, he also adopts us. Through a dramatic series of events, we go from condemned orphans with no hope to adopted children with no fear. Here is how it happens. You come before the judgment seat of God full of rebellion and mistakes. Because of his justice he cannot dismiss your sin, but because of his love he cannot dismiss you. So, in an act which stunned the heavens, he punished himself on the cross for your sins. God’s justice and love are equally honored. And you, God’s creation, are forgiven. But the story doesn’t end with God’s forgiveness.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:15–16 NASB).

But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Gal. 4:4–5 NASB).

It would be enough if God just cleansed your name, but he does more. He gives you his name. It would be enough if God just set you free, but he does more. He takes you home. He takes you home to the Great House of God.
Adoptive parents understand this more than anyone. I certainly don’t mean to offend any biological parents—I’m one myself. We biological parents know well the earnest longing to have a child. But in many cases our cribs were filled easily. We decided to have a child and a child came. In fact, sometimes the child came with no decision. I’ve heard of unplanned pregnancies, but I’ve never heard of an unplanned adoption.

That’s why adoptive parents understand God’s passion to adopt us. They know what it means to feel an empty space inside. They know what it means to hunt, to set out on a mission, and take responsibility for a child with a spotted past and a dubious future. If anybody understands God’s ardor for his children, it’s someone who has rescued an orphan from despair, for that is what God has done for us.

God has adopted you. God sought you, found you, signed the papers and took you home.

Revisiting last Wednesday

Wednesday Dec 3rd, we celebrated the first anniversary of Gotcha Day. Zack and I were able to arrange our schedules so that we could take William to the mall for lunch and a Build-a-Bear trip.

We now have a new member of William's stuffed animal: Buddy the Bunny. He had a great time building his new furry friend, and it was fun to reflect on how far he's come over the last year.

He got to choose anything he wanted for dinner: restaurant, home cooked meal, anything. He chose to eat at home: pigs in blankets, pizza, french fries, and buttered bread. I added a greek salad to try and balance things out a little. And he requested that we eat in the living room at the coffee table.

It was a wonderful day for all three of us!

By the way, a few weeks ago I found a new Old Navy gray fleece pullover, much like the one that he wore on the day he left the orphanage (only that one was a Toddler 3T, this one is a Boys XS!). We hope we'll be able to find a similar one each year for him to wear on Gotcha Day (well, until he's too cool for that), and some day make them into a quilt/blanket for him.

And I attempted to recreate a couple of the photos we'd taken one year ago that day...

Cousin Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

(Be sure to turn off the music at the bottom of the blog before viewing the Elves video...)

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Surgery's over

Ben's surgery went well. He didn't go in until almost 10 this morning and it lasted 4 or 4 1/2 hours. He'll be in ICU for a couple of days, so please continue to keep him in your prayers. Thanks!

Please pray

Zack's dad is having open heart surgery this morning (scheduled to begin at 8:30 AM ET). Please keep Ben in your prayers: for safety during surgery and for a quick recovery. Please pray for the doctors: for wisdom and guidance as they operate. And pray for all of the family as we wait.

Our Christmas Star!

It's a little blurry and the sound isn't great, but here is William saying his line in this morning's Christmas program. He did such a great job! (You might want to go to the very bottom of the blog and turn off the Christmas music before playing the video)

And here are a few pictures.

Two new buttons added; current Dove news coming

When you look to the left, you'll see I've added 2 new buttons (links) to our sidebar...

The first link is for our blog friends Mark & Courtney. They found their sons Zhenya and Dima just a few weeks after we found our William. Now they're seeking to adopt two precious little girls, Eve and Dana (also from Ukraine). In addition to all the adoption expenses they're facing, Eve & Dana will need some medical attention and therapy once they come home. If you are able, please consider giving a tax-deductible gift to this sweet Christian family. Simply click on the link, and you will be taken to their donation page.

The second link is for Shad & Jen, another amazing Christian family I've come to know through blogging. They are pursuing the adoption of Grady (Ukraine), and are also prayerfully seeking an unknown daughter from the same region. Again, you can click on their button and make a tax-deductible contribution to their adoption fund. This family has already submitted their dossier, and are scheduled to have their SDA appointment on January 22nd.

Once again, these gifts are tax deductible and any amount would be helpful. And even if you can't financially support them, please keep both of these families in your prayers as they seek to add to their family.

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Now that we've finished 're-living' our adoption journey, I will get back to some real-time blogging. We had a great time celebrating Gotcha Day and America Day last week, and I'll try to upload all the pictures soon so I can share them with you all. William's school Christmas program is also this morning and again on Thursday morning, so I'm sure I'll have some cute pictures and video to share of that as well.

Dec 7: Heading Home!

12/7/07: The day had finally arrived! We woke up VERY early and finished packing. We waited until the last minute to get William up, got him dressed and into his coat, and sat him on the sofa where he tried to fight sleep.

Sveta and our driver arrived, and we loaded into the car. It was still very dark outside, so William slept almost all the way to the apartment. We arrived and unloaded. We got to the gate where we'd say good-bye to Sveta, and there were people EVERYWHERE. She pushed us to the front and we said one last good-bye and thank you.

We proceded to the counter to check in with Ukraine International Airlines. Next we went to immigration. In addition to turning in the papers that we'd been carrying around since arriving in Kyiv, the official asked for a copy of our adoption decree and William's passport. We waited and waited and began to worry. Finally everything was returned to us and we went to the waiting area. We sat and waited, and then our flight was called. We made our way through security and then boarded the plane.

William did great on the first flight, to Vienna. Zack was happy to have an aisle seat, and william was thrilled to be able to see out the window. We were served a light breakfast, and he enjoyed the bread and yogurt, and juice.

We arrived in Vienna and found our way to the Delta check-in counter. The first lady was very nice - she even gave William a chocolate Santa! The second lady, apparently with some Ukrainian ties, gave us a huge hassle, even though we had all the proper paperwork. Finally she gave us our boarding passes and we went to wait in the security line. And as luck would have it, we get to the front of the line and our grumpy "friend" from check-in had come to work security. Once again she acted like we were doing something illegal, but finally we were allowed through.

We were at the gate well before boarding time, so Zack got out the computer and sent some emails. William enjoyed his chocolate Santa, and we made about a million trips to the bathroom (guess that's what boredom does to a 5-year-old!).

William and I boarded the plane while Zack finished on the computer. The flight attendant thought William was adorable and invited him to see the cockpit, so we made our way up there (why did I leave the camera with Zack!?!). He was fascinated and looked at everything carefully.

Then we made our way to the seats. We had middle seats this time, but thankfully there were three in the middle, so no one else was sitting with us. William was excited to find the little travel package on his seat, and quickly put on his headphones and sleep mask. We setttled in for what was to be a LONG flight from Vienna to Atlanta.

William probably slept a total of 2 hours on that LONG flight. But he was an angel! He listed to music, enjoyed all the food, charmed the socks off the flight attendants, went to the bathroom and estimated 20 times, colored, etc. I think he was more patient than we were! He especially enjoyed the ice cream towards the end of the flight, and we gathered from a broken dialogue that this was his first time to eat icre cream!

Towards the end of the flight, our favorite flight attendant said there was an open window seat and one seat next to it, if William would like to sit there for the landing. So he and I moved and he had a blast watching out the window those last few minutes.

We arrived on time and made our way to customs, where we got to go to the very short American citizens line. How great to be on American soil again! We picked up our bags and went to immigration and they took the coveted folder and proclaimed that our son was now an American citizen!

We rechecked our bags, and made our way to the arrivals area. As we came up that escalator, Zack and I were so excited. This was the moment we'd be waiting for. And as we arrived at the top, we were welcome by William's three sets of grandparents, one of his uncles, and one of our friends, along with a cool WELCOME HOME banner!

We finally introduced our son to our family, and announced his name. There were lots of hugs, and a few tears, and we made our way to baggage claim.

Once we got our bags, we went over to the side and William was showered with gifts. He had the best time, and I think he was more excited about the clothes he received than anything else. We were too, since he only had one pair of pants and a few shirts!

We were glad to be home at last! Before we made it to the interstate, William was zonked out. We stopped by Zack's parents home and picked up Adie (our dog). She immediately jumped in the car and sniffed out our boy, then gave him a big kiss!. He never woke up!

We arrived at home and got him out of the booster seat. He seemed to recognize the house from all the pictures. I asked he wanted to stay downstairs or go to bed, and he said bed. So we went upstairs and put pajamas on him. Then he decided he wanted to go downstairs with us. We went downstairs, where Adie greeted him enthusiastically. He wasn't so excited, but reluctantly smiled. He was excited, however, about the toys in the living room. Zack's parents had stopped by earlier and left him several things around the house, and there was another gift from some of our friends. He opened and looked at everything.

We showed him around the house, and then went upstairs and got ready for bed. We all started towards our bed, and he motioned that we needed to kneel for prayers. So for the first time, we all three knelt beside our bed in our home, and prayed. We had so much to thank God for!

Dec 6: Free Day in Kyiv

12/6/07: We had no official adoption business to handle on this day, so we decided to get out and explore the city once more.

We walked ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE. We walked up and down Kreschatyk, and to several of the churches. We explored a little bit of Jacob’s Department Store, and walked through a couple of different underground malls. We got lost once or twice but never got too worried about it.

We had lunch at the Potato House, very close to our apartment. Zack and I enjoyed burritos, while William devoured a fruit salad. On our way back to the apartment, we saw the Kyiv Opera House and the Golden Gate. We bought some snacks and drinks, and went back to rest a while. We were all exhausted! We talked to family on Skype and uploaded pictures to the computer.

We really wanted to try O’Panas for dinner. We’d heard so many other adoptive families mention the authentic food – and the picture menus – and we thought it would be a nice place to spend our final evening in Ukraine.

We got some sketchy directions from Luda over the phone and decided to chance it. We walked a few blocks and finally saw the restaurant, lit up with Christmas lights. Thankfully, I’d seen pictures before so I kind of knew what to look for. The dinner was great, albeit the most expensive meal of our trip! We all enjoyed borscht and bread. Zack and I each ordered a different beef dish, and both were great. (William focused on the soup and bread!)

Afterwards, we walked to the playground in the adjacent park and played for a few minutes. We walked back to the apartment and as we were approaching the front of the building I spotted our landlady. She walked up with us and we paid her our rent and also a little for our internet usage; she wished us luck with our family, and said good-bye.

We stayed up pretty late watching Polar Express and some TV. We wanted to let William stay up as much as he wanted, so he’d hopefully be tired on our travel day! We finally put him to bed close to midnight, and then did some packing.