The Dove Diaries: April 2008

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Let the Celebration Begin!

My family always says that I can stretch out my birthday longer than anyone else... but there's a new champion in that area.

William's birthday is not until May 24, but the celebrating began on Monday. Since his birthday is after school is out for the summer, and the fact that there are a lot of things happening these last 3 weeks, he had his school party on Monday.

I know that's a month-long celebration, but hey, I think this kid deserves AT LEAST a month :)

We also got to meet some "blog friends" over the weekend. We met up with the Ankerich family, and their adorable daughter EllaKate. We were so glad to finally meet in person, although it felt like we've known each other a long time!

Lastly, William wanted to type a message to all of you:

titr0gi0o-0ti90o90==otuii=t0-=-t0t-69pr=0ee[o-=t0

william

I asked him what the first line says, and he told me "Go Tennessee" (Yes, he's brain-washed already! Didn't you notice the cupcakes he picked out at the grocery store?)

Monday, April 28, 2008

Countdown to the First day of Kindergarten

Beach Vacation!!

William's Birthday

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Monkeys and Golf

On Tuesday William made his big stage debut in his preschool's production of Noah's Ark.

And he was the cutest little monkey ever!

We bought the costume a couple of months ago, and as you can probably see, he's gotten taller since then :)

He also went to the Par 3 course with us yesterday, and had a great time. I think we might have a little golfer on our hands!

Here's a little clip from Tuesday's program (you may want to go to the bottom and of the blog and pause the music before playing this video)...

Thursday, April 17, 2008

More on the Brothers

Since posting the pics of William and Sasha, I’ve gotten a few questions...

While in Ukraine, we found out that William had a brother who was adopted December 2005 (William wasn’t available for adoption then). It took some digging to find her, but once we did we began calling and emailing on a regular basis. In fact, you may recall THIS POST where we had received pictures of William at 3 ½ year old – Sasha’s mom took those pictures when she was adopting Sasha!

Sasha is 4 years old – they're 19 months apart. They have the same nose and mouth, and the same eye color. There are other similarities, but Sasha is definitely the outgoing and uninhibited one, while William remains our laid-back, giggly little home-body!

We're happy that we were able to find Sasha & his mom. We look forward to giving the boys more opportunities to build a relationship as they grow up.

Another picture of William from Dec 05:

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Reunited

After more than 2 years apart, two brothers were reunited on Friday morning!

William & Sasha had not seen each other since our boy was 3 1/2 and Sasha was only 2, so it is highly unlikely that they remember each other.

But it sure was great to reintroduce them!

We spent most of Friday at Zoo Atlanta...

And then Sasha, his mom, and his aunt spent Saturday afternoon at our house.

The boys had a great time (as did we) and I imagine we'll be making a trip to Chicago later in the summer, to visit Sasha on his turf!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Our Little Celebrity

When God blesses you as richly as He has blessed us with the addition of William to our family, it's hard not to shout it from the roof tops.

And in keeping with that theme and sharing how awesome our God is, I shared our story with the prayer warriors at Liberty University (Zack's alma mater, and also where I'm working on my Masters).

The result? A feature in the monthly prayer team newsletter. Take a look!

Monday, April 7, 2008

A Very Good Patient

We have a very brave little guy! He made lots of friends at the hospital and everyone bragged on how cute he is (duh!) and how well he did.

Here are some pics from the day.

In the parking deck at Egleston