Long time, no post

I'm a terrible blogger! Life is hectic these days. William is back to school, Zack and I are busy working, and I started back on my classes last week. The good news is this is my last semester and I'll finally have my MBA. And I will NEVER go back to school again :)

Nothing too exciting to report... William is doing great in kindergarten. His reading continues to improve, as does his writing. And his math skills surprise us constantly. He & Zack were talking about the temperature the other day. Zack explained that smaller numbers mean it's colder (we won't get into negative numbers - we live in Georgia after all!). So then he started quizzing him, giving him 2 numbers and asking which one was colder. He got it right every time!

We did have a big moment of excitement last Saturday. We went to our lake place to clear some land . We'd started a fire to burn some brush. All was well and good until the wind caught it. We're guessing that close to an acre was burned, but thankfully no one was hurt, it didn't spread to any lots where there are houses, and the fire department came fast. But it was a bit scary for a little while! William kept saying again and again, "How did this happen?"

We're looking forward to a low-key weekend. We have no big plans, other than hopefully doing some spring cleaning around the house. What are your plans for the weekend?

New Blog Design

Thanks to my blog friends Tami and Leslie, I can now attempt to make cute headers for the blog. Check out the top of the blog and let me know what you think.

I also changed the layout, hopefully it matches the header okay!

De-Lurking Week Roll Call

I just found out it's National De-Lurking Week, so I'm conducting a Blog Roll Call...

If you're reading this, then that means YOU! Please click on the comments link below and leave us a comment.

If you haven't left one before, just tell us who you are and how you found us, or why you read our blog (besides the fact that our son is the cutest child on earth, of course), or just say hi.

If you're one of regular commenters/readers, just leave a note to let us know you stopped by.

Easy enough ;)

Merry Christmas!

Ukraine is a primarily Orthodox country, and the Orthodox churches of Ukraine (and other countries like Russia) observe Christmas according to the Julian calendar. So today is Christmas in Ukraine!

Christmas is primarily a religious holiday in Ukraine (wow, what a novel idea). New Year and Christmas traditions vary throughout the country. But many Ukrainians tend to make New Years the big celebration with trees, gifts, and a visit by Father Frost and the Snowflake Princess, reserving Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for religious celebrations.


This article tells a little about some of the common Ukrainian Christmas traditions.

2009 is here!!

Enjoy the post below - it highlights the events and progress made during 2008. It was a great year, and we praise God for bringing our family so far so fast!

We have a few "goals" for the new year...

• The usual "weight loss" resolution. Zack and I both need to lose a few pounds, and the efforts begin today!
• Focus more on Jesus, spend more time reading the Word.
• Teach William even more about God and Jesus, and bring him to an understanding of why Jesus had to die.
• Spend more time on the things that matter. Don't waste time on things that won't last.
• And finally, start saving for Adoption #2. We're going to take our time this time around, and get the money together up front. We are prayerfully seeking God's direction and would ask you to lift us up in prayer as well.

Hope you all have a great 2009!!

The Year in Pictures

January: We celebrated our first full month home! We had our first family portraits made.

February: Our Sunday School class had a 'shower' for us. They gave us a huge basket of gifts and a very generous Target gift card. In addition to many necessities purchased, William was also able to buy a guitar! He started soccer this month. My grandmother's friends also had a shower for us. We were blessed with so many nice things!

March: Soccer kicked into full swing. We celebrated St. Patricks Day and Easter.

April: We dedicated William at our church's parent/child dedication service - a very special evening! William had a small outpatient procedure and did great. He also got to see his half-brother again after more than 2 years apart. He participated in his first school play, Noah's Ark.

May: The 24th brought his birthday, but we seemed to celebrate all month long! He also went golfing with us.

June: William's first beach trip was in June, to Myrtle Beach. We had a great time! We also did some hiking in North Georgia.

July: William got to see the Dark Knight, our first (but definitely not last) parenting boo-boo. We saw the previews and told him we'd take him to see it, not knowing what it was rated. But he did great (we covered his eyes at points we thought might be too scary or graphic). He also took swim lessons and did great. He got to meet his newest cousin, Drew. At the lake, he went tubing ALL BY HIMSELF!

August: We prepared for school to start back. He met a great new friend, Samuel, who was recently adopted from Russia and would be in his kindergarten class.

September: We went to the World of Coke, the Stone Mountain Laser Show, the Duluth Fall Festival, and a UGA football game. William started kindergarten and loved it!

October: Lots of time spent with family. William really enjoyed dressing up as Batman for his first Halloween. We took him camping for the first time ever, and he really enjoyed it.

November: We had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! Our little "Pilgrim Minister" did great in his class program. We enjoyed getting the house ready for Christmas and spending lots of time with family and friends.

December: William totally got into Christmas. We were back home with him last year but everything was so new and he didn't really understand what was happening. This year he was quick to tell everyone that "Christmas is really about Jesus' birth".