Spring Break in Pictures

Maybe I'll be better about blogging once I'm finished with school - I'm in my last class, and only 2 weeks left. So hopefully I'll be writing more about what's going on with the Dove's then.

In the meantime, here are some long overdue pictures from the Spring Break trip...

On our way to Chicago, we made a stop in Normal, IL to visit our best friends from college. Judy almost made me cry when she mentioned us sitting in our dorm rooms years ago, talking about how someday our kids would play together. It finally happened! Thanks to Mike, Judy, Emma, Michael and Hannah for your hospitality and friendship. Can’t wait to see you guys again soon!!

Don’t you just love this smile?? Hannah is such a cutie!

Lunch at Ed Debevic’s, our first stop in Chicago after picking up Sasha from school

Dinner at Lou Malnatti’s (as you’ve probably already discovered, food is a common theme on Dove trips)

William and me in downtown Chicago

William & Zack showing off the pie at Giordano’s

I think Giordano’s stuffed pizza was our favorite of the week

William posing in Chi-town

Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage…

This was one of Zack’s “must see” places

Yummy lunch at The Wiener’s Circle

William checking himself out in Cloud Gate (or, the Bean)

Cloud Gate, Millennium Park

Zack & William at Millennium Park

Driving around on our last night in Chicago

We drove back through Indy, mainly so Zack could see the stadium and buy souvenirs

Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Colts and of course, Peyton Manning!

A stop off at The Opryland Hotel for some photos

An awesome store in Opry Mills Mall (we stopped there for a couple of hours due to bad storms)

Brotherly Love

We’ve received lots of questions about William’s brother over the past few days, so I’ll try to answer them here.

When/how did you find out about Sasha?

The orphanage director told us that William had a younger brother that had been adopted by a lady in Chicago. The lady had wanted to adopt William, too, but at the time his he was not available for adoption. We asked and were given a name and a partial phone number.
Once home, Tonya (our U.S. facilitator) and I did some digging & found Cheryl, Sasha’s mom. I asked Tonya to call her first, worried she might be upset that we'd adopted him. Tonya called Cheryl on Dec 31, 2007, then called me back to say that Cheryl was thrilled. Cheryl called me on Jan 1, 2008 and we had fun sharing our stories. Since then, we've talked on the phone, exchanged emails, sent each other pictures, etc.

How old is Sasha?

Sasha turned 5 in December - he's 19 months younger than William.

Do they remember each other?

We don't think so. Sasha was almost 2 when he was adopted, and William was only 3 1/2 at that time. I think they remember the idea of a brother but that's it. Thankfully we have pictures of them together at the orphanage when they were little.

Was this their first meeting?

No. In April of 2008, Cheryl and Sasha came to Atlanta for a visit. You can read about that visit HERE. We've been talking about going to Chicago to see them ever since then, but finally got around to it last week.

We are so thankful for this special connection, and look forward to the boys continuing their relationship as they grow up!

Happy Easter

It seems like every year it's either raining or cold on Easter, but this year we had beautiful sunshine and a high around 70!

Sunday morning, our little man looked so handsome in the outfit we'd bought him at a cute children's boutique in Chicago. By Sunday night, the linen shirt was wadded up, stained, and had a pocket coming off, but such is the life of an active kiddo!

Our boy is growing up so fast! Here are a couple of pictures from Easter 2008:

On Easter, and every day, we rejoice that we serve a risen Lord, and we praise God for His mercy and grace.

We're home

The trip was awesome and there's so much to tell. But for now, I'll share this adorable picture with you.

(photo courtesy Mitchell Canoff Photography)

This was taken Wednesday morning at an impromptu photo session. In case you didn't know, the main reason we chose to visit Chicago was to see William's younger brother, Sasha (he was adopted 2 years before we brought William home). This was our second meeting with Sasha & his mom Cheryl.

Thank to Sasha and Cheryl for their hospitality! And thanks to Cheryl's friend Mitch for the photo shoot.

Having a Great Time, Wish You Were Here

Just stopping by for a minutes to let everyone know that are are having so much fun on our road trip!

We arrived in Normal, IL Sunday afternoon. We spent the day with Mike & Judy (our best friends from college) and their three kids.

We spent the night with them (the adults stayed up WAY too late reminiscing, but what fun!) and hit the road again on Monday morning.

We arrived in Chicago Monday morning. Since then we've been running non-stop. We're spending lots of time with William's brother and his mom, and the boys are having a blast together. We've tried several great restaurants and seen some cool stuff.

We're totally sick of paying for parking, but apparently that's just city life! It has been cold, but finally warmed a little this afternoon and should be even warmer tomorrow. We are having a fabulous time and are enjoying just hanging out together as a family and exploring a place that not one of us had ever been before.

Four States in One Day

We started our Spring Break trip today right after William's soccer game (by the way, he scored a goal!).

Our plan was to have the car all packed up and leave straight from the soccer fields. And we had the car all packed up and were getting ready to go... until Zack noticed that one of our rear tires was flat. TOTALLY flat.

He quickly removed the tire and threw it in the back of the jeep, we ran by the tire place and dropped it off, went to the game, went back for the repaired tire, and Zack had it on and ready to go in no time. And hey, did you know that a piece of wood can puncture a tire? I didn't until today.

So we hit the road around 12:15 and drove. And drove. And drove. We soon made it to Tennessee. We drove through Nashville (didn't stop because we got caught in a detour nightmare that cost us about 45 minutes), entered Kentucky, stopped for dinner in Paducah, and ended up in Mount Vernon, IL for the night.

We'll hopefully get a good night's sleep, and then drive about 200 more miles tomorrow to see our best friends from college and their kids. Then Monday we'll head on up to Chicago.

I can't upload pictures while on the road, but we'll have plenty to share when we're back.

More Renovations!

We've been at it again! We've been working more in the kitchen, and in 2 of the bathrooms.

We decided to have the kitchen cabinets re-faced. Zack & I also took on a few DIY projects, including a new slate backsplash in the kitchen. Everything turned out great.

Before:











After:










We had granite countertops put in our 2 upstairs bathrooms. We painted all the cabinets in those rooms, and put up new tile around the master bath tub.

William's bathroom










Master bathroom