Merry Christmas from the Dove Family!

Kicking off the Christmas season

Here's a bit of what's been going on with us as we welcome the Christmas season...

On William's Gotcha Day, we went downtown to the Fabulous Fox and saw How the Grinch Stole Christmas the Musical. It was great - cute music, and the Grinch was hilarious!

Before the Grinch, we stopped by and visited with Santa at the Mall of Georgia. This is the same one of Santa's helpers that we've seen for I think 4 years now. He's very kind, takes time to talk to the boys and makes the experience a lot of fun!

Last week, we had dinner with some of new adoption friends. This was the second time we've gotten together, and we have such a great time with them! Their daughters and our boys were all born in the same oblast/region of Ukraine! Zack referred to the foursome as 'The Pride of the Donetsk Region'.

Our sneaky little elf, Kridazark, is back for Year #4. You never know what this guy might get into!


He TP'd the little trees

What happened to our sweet boys' faces?!?!



Okay, sometimes he does really cool stuff.
Like bringing treats all the way from Odessa, Ukraine!

All of this is so much fun! But no matter what we're doing this month, we're careful to remember the REAL reason we celebrate: the birth of Jesus! We are currently working through a great Advent project that the First Links department at Cross Pointe created - making a cute ornament each day of the month, as we learn about the coming of the King!

And speaking of Cross Pointe, we'd love to have you join us there on Christmas Eve. Two services, at 4:00 and 6:00 - we'll be there at the later service. Send me an email if you'd like to meet up!

Santa

PJ's Christmas Wish - time is running out!

We have just a few days remaining to raise funds for PJ's Christmas Wish. We've almost made it to the 50% mark towards our goal. Monday will be the last day to donate.

While this is not a tax deductible fund raiser, it IS a great way to make a different in a child's life. Would you consider giving $5? $10? $25? Any amount you donate will help make this Christmas special for PJ!

 

Belated Thanksgiving Wishes

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I meant to post this last week... oops!

Four Years

Four year ago yesterday, a judge declared us a family of three. William was our son. (we still had the 10 day appeal period ahead of us, so we didn't have custody of him yet...) This precious boy has changed our lives in so many wonderful ways!

Four years ago today, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Berdyansk with our awesome friends the Powell's. This family has had an incredible impact on our lives and the way we see the world. We are thankful for their ministry in Ukraine, and for the way they ministered to us in 2007.

We're approaching the fourth of anniversary of Gotcha Day, the day we began life in a whole new way - as parents. We have much to be thankful for!

Jena, Day 2

Wednesday in Jena...

By the way, have I mentioned how you pronounce the name of this city? For those who aren't familiar with Germany, the J sounds like our Y. Jena is pronounced YEH-nuh.

Anyway, after breakfast, Zack and I decided to set out on our own to do a little exploring.

We walked (hiked) up the hill to Napoleonstein that overlooks Jena. It was a reminder of how out of shape I am, and how Converse are not a wise footwear choice for the type of walking we were doing. I kept slipping on the damp rocks and leaves. But it was fun and in the end, the view was definitely worth it!

We sat up there for a while, enjoying the view and the quiet. Then we started back down. We stopped at a restaurant about half way down and had a coffee. Then we continued on and made our way to campus.

We met up with Thomas and several of the Connexxion students. Again today, we looked for ways to meet new students and tell them about the ministry and/or share the gospel.

After that, Daniel took us up to the top of the JenTower. It provided for more great views, and Daniel pointed out so much.

Then we met up with our friend Conny for shopping and coffee.

After that, Anja cooked a great dinner for us. Then it was time for Connexxion's bowling night! It was a lot of fun and we got to meet more of the Connexxion students and leaders.

Another fun - and busy! - day in Jena...

Is Anybody Out There?

My previous blog post about helping PJ has been viewed more than 30 times. And that doesn't count all the views by people who use blog readers and don't come directly to the site...

So why is the chip-in still at zero?

I know money is tight for so many. But would you be willing to give up Starbucks for a couple of days? Or maybe you could pack your lunch twice next week and put that money towards PJ's Christmas gifts.

Gifts of $5, $10, or any other amount will make a difference! This child has likely been through a lot of trauma in his young life. Let's do what we can - TOGETHER - to make this Christmas special for him! Thanks in advance for your help.

 

A Christmas Wish - need your help!

Our family and a few others have decided to team up and help a foster child this Christmas. Bethany Christian Services in Atlanta does a Christmas Wishes program for Atlanta-area foster children, to help their foster families provide them with gifts.

We've agreed to sponsor a child, but we need help! We are sponsoring P.J., a ten year old boy who likes music, hot wheels, bey blades, and bikes. In addition to his wish list, we also have clothing sizes. (And we also want to make sure he receives his own children's Bible.) We want to make this a very special Christmas for P.J. 
If you would like to make a financial contribution to help with PJ's wish list, click on the Chip In below and donate. Any amount you can provide will help make this a memorable and happy holiday for him!

If you are in the north metro area and would like to purchase a gift for PJ, send me an email (janedove75@yahoo.com) and we can set that up as well!

Please also pray for PJ and his foster family. I'm sure holidays can be especially hard for a child in this situation, so pray that he will be blessed with a great Christmas season.

If you'd like to sponsor a child on your own, visit www.bethany.org/atlanta and click on Christmas Wishes (it should be available later this week)
 

First full day in Jena



Grill Teufel



Still trying to finish sharing about our trip to Europe (a month later - oops!)...

Tuesday morning we woke up and had breakfast with the Koch family. Anja and their younger son, Artur were off to the church for a moms group. Thomas was walking Immanuel (their older son) to school, so we joined him. I love being able to walk everywhere - so nice!

Once we back, three of the student leaders from Connexxion came over for a meeting. Thomas discussed all the things that were planned for the week. This week was the week when all the new students come on campus for registration, orientation, etc. We also had a time of devotion and prayer, and of course, coffee!



Walking around Jena, we found a
matryoshka! We also found a
Russian shop/restaurant in the city!



We set out for campus, and the weather was beautiful. We stopped for our first (of many) bratwurst, and then on to campus.

We spent several hours on campus, in conversation with a number of university students. WE had some great conversations and had the chance to invite a number of people to the week's events (bowling night, end of summer party, trip to Weimar).



Ice creat at Riva - yum!



Zack and I walked around the city for a while, and then met the Koch family for ice cream. Europeans just have a knack for this that Americans don't - it was outstanding!



Zack with Lydia & Jan
(I accidentally left the camera at the
Koch's home, so we had to use the
iPad for a pic)



After talking to the boys on skype, we had dinner with our friends Jan & Lydia. Zack met Jan when he was in Germany two years ago. And Jan and our friend Sven had just been in the states a couple of weeks earlier for a visit. We had an awesome dinner - Lydia is an amazing cook and hostess - and a great evening of conversation. As we got to know this sweet couple a little better, we learned that their story could easily be an award-winning romantic comedy! We are priviledged to have so many sweet friends in different parts of the world!

I Can... I Will

Have you ever thought that mission work is a great thing... for other people?

Yeah, I used to think the same thing. Then God convicted me of the truth that all Christians are to be on mission. Take a look at this quick video from week 1 of our church's missions emphasis - and start praying about how you can go from I CAN to I WILL.

Update on Glen & Sandra

Thanks to those that have been praying for Glen & Sandra. Each is making progress, and it's so good to see God at work!! They both have long roads ahead of them, so continue to lift them up to our Father.

For those that have asked, their children were in the car with them. Thankfully, they were both securely in the car seats, so when the van flipped, they were not hurt at all! Praise God!

Their family has set up a blog and will be posting updates there. Please stop by and let them know you're praying!
http://sandraglen.wordpress.com/

Prayer Request

Prayer warriors, please pray for our friend Glen & his wife Sandra. They were in a terrible car accident on Saturday afternoon and are both in critical condition. Glen suffered severe head and chest trauma. He had to be taken in for emergency surgery last night due to a blood clot in his brain. They were able to remove it and the doctor was pleased with how things looked. Sandra is showing some signs of improvement. She opened her eyes yesterday afternoon, and was beginning to talk some last night.

We are praising God that their kids are fine, and that Glen & Sandra are showing some signs of improvement.

Please pray for this precious family: that Jehovah Rapha, our God who is the Healer and Great Physician, would restore each of them fully and completely.

National Adoption Awareness Month

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. I am not attempting to do a blog post every day this month like I've tried in the past. Instead, I invite you to visit One.27's page on Facebook for daily prayer suggestions and/or ways that you can be a part of adoption, even if you're not adopting!

Visit their page HERE! (When you get to the page, be sure to click the LIKE button so you can see the daily posts throughout the month on your news feed!)

Onward to Deutschland



Standing in front of the {not
original} doors. These newer
doors have the 95 theses
inscribed on them



Back to blogging about our trip to Europe... (I'll talk about our Tennessee weekend later, but it was so great!!)

Monday morning, we got up early and took the tube to Heathrow. We made it to our gate. Our flight was slightly delayed getting going, but once we were in the air it was well under 2 hours and then we were in Berlin. Border control and baggage claim took hardly any time at all.

We were greeted by our good friend Daniel and his buddy Robin. The day before, Daniel had emailed and asked what we'd like to do when we arrived. One option was to visit Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Um, yes please!

For those that don't know, you can read a little about it HERE, but this city could really be called the birth city of the Reformation movement. Martin Luther studied here, was a monk and professor here, nailed his 95 theses on the walls of the Castle Church in the city, preached, lived, and is even buried here (as is Philipp Melanchthon).



Luther & Katharina von Bora
lived here



I really should have written this post yesterday, as Luther nailed the 95 theses on the church doors on October 31, 1517.

What a great opportunity to walk the streets that are straight out of the pages of church history books! And Daniel was an amazing tour guide. He is quite the scholar, and shared so many interesting facts and tidbits with us as we walked around.



Grave of Martin Luther



We stopped at a local döner shop for a late lunch. Then we headed to Jena. We had arrived on German Reunification Day, which is a national holiday. Being a Monday, many had gone out of town for a long weekend. Because of this, traffic on the autobahn was horrendous. You've heard stories of speeding down the autobahn, right? Not this time!

We arrived at the home of our dear friends Thomas and Anja just after 8:00 in the evening. We had a delicious dinner and visited for a while, then headed to bed.

Headed to Rocky Top Country

On our way to Tennessee with Josh and Savannah. We rented a Swagger Wagon so we could all ride together. Zack's not sure how cool he looks, but the boys think it rocks.

Oh, deer!

One of MANY deer we saw
this past weekend at the lake

Zack is wondering why we still have a blog. He doesn't see anyone commenting much anymore (thanks to Sharon for being our most faithful) and is scratching his head, wondering why I even bother.

I'm sure some of our readers are still around, but you're just lurking and not saying anything. Show him you're out there. Please leave a comment so he doesn't try & convince me to end the Dove Diaries. It only takes a minute!!

I found God!

This past Sunday at church, Daniel was standing in the chair next to me so he could see. He was watching the screen and pointing out many of his sight words from the lyrics being displayed.

Suddenly he smiled so big and exclaimed, "I found God!"

I loved the enthusiasm he showed for finding God's name on the screen. And my prayer is that he'll soon have that same enthusiasm when he finds God and asks Jesus into his heart.

Captain Kirk and the Monkey

This sums up the night.

A little more London

After a good night's sleep and some coffee, we hopped on the tube to do some more exploring.

We decided to ride to the King's Cross Station. We'd hoped to find Platform 9 3/4, and were using the handy Rick Steves guide to do so. We followed his directions, only to discover that the line he was leading us to was closed for construction all weekend. (I've since read that the 9 3/4 sign and half-missing push cart has actually been moved outside the station - bummer). So that didn't work out.



Can you believe the queen's
manners - not inviting
us in for tea!



We made our to a station near Buckingham Palace. We came out near a large gate, and saw the horse guard making their rounds. We took a nice stroll down a shady tree-lined street and came up on one side of the palace. With another 90 minutes before the changing of the guard was to begin, the crowds were already thick. So we took a few pictures, and moved on.

The beautiful Victoria Memorial that sits in the roundabout in front of the palace was, like much of London on this visit, covered with scaffolding. Gotta make yourself pretty for the world games, I guess!



My new laptop bag!!



We decided to make a stop at Harrod's. We didn't plan to buy anything, but thought it would be fun to see it. Can you say over the top? It was fun to see, though. And on our way out, I did find one thing that I just had to have: a new laptop bag! We thought we'd grab a bite to eat, but there was nothing close by other than bakeries with lots of sweets.



Zack & Mr. Holmes, on
Baker Street



We hopped back on the tube, and decided to head for Abbey Road. If you haven't already figured it out, we're all about the photo op, and thought it would be fun to recreate the Beatles image. Our train stopped at Baker Street, and didn't start back. So we got off there, saw Sherlock Holmes, and attempted to eat at a restaurant (15 minutes, and no wait staff ever showed up at ANY of the tables!).



Abbey Road





Abbey Road Studios



So we got back on the train and went on to the St. Johns Wood stop. The famous intersection and the studio are just 5 - 10 minutes from there.





Trafalgar Square

Still in search of lunch (there is really nothing at that stop) we headed for Trafalgar Square. We walked around, and then got some yummy sandwiches at Pret a Manger - great place! It's almost all organice, very environmentally friendly, and they make everything fresh daily. Even better - they donate the daily leftovers to local charitable groups and homeless shelters.

We decided to head back to the hotel for a little rest time. Then we ventured back out and enjoyed dinner at a sidewalk restaurant. Fish & chips and bangers & mash - very good! And that was our 48-hour layover, in a nutshell!

One of the MANY  long escalators
we rode while using the tube



Bridges



London Eye



London has bridges. A lot of bridges. And as you walk along the Thames River, ironically, the least impressive of all is the London Bridge. Probably because it's fallen down so many times over the years.

After checking into our hotel, we took the tube to Westminster Abbey and saw many sites in that area. Then we went for a walk down the Thames River. We started out close to the London Eye (we didn't go on it - the line was terrible!) and took the 2.5 - 3 mile walk to the Tower Bridge. We stopped along the way several times. The weather was in the low 80's and hardly a cloud in the sky. People were EVERYWHERE! It was obvious that this wasn't the norm (normal October high is 59, and October is historically the wettest month of the year there), so it seemed like everyone was taking advantage of it. It did make for some great people-watching!



Millennium Bridge &
St. Paul's Cathedral

We tried some good food throughout the day: a nice sandwich for lunch, and traditional English pasties for dinner. We enjoyed a nice cup of coffee along the way, and just tried to push through our exhaustion. It was a fun and not too stressful first day of our trip.



So, why did we go to London? Well, every reasonably-priced flight to Berlin included a layover in London. We figured if we had to stop there, might as well stop for a couple of days! I hadn't been since high school, and Zack had never been outside of Heathrow.



Tower Bridge





International Travel Tip #4: don't exchange money at the airport if you can avoid it. The exchange rates always seem out of whack there. We ordered currency through our local bank a couple of weeks before the trip. We also called our bank and advised that we'd be out of the country, so they didn't freeze our bank cards or credit cards. While on the phone, they advised which banks we could use to avoid extra ATM fees.



Chelsea Football Club



International Travel Tip #5: As I've said before, we love Priceline! I didn't know until this trip that you can use Name Your Own Price for international hotels, too (I'm sure it's not all countries, but it's worth checking). Funny thing is, we ended up at the same chain of hotels in London as we'd gotten in New York earlier this year. We had a great room at the Millennium/Copthorne located at the Chelsea Football stadium (literally AT the stadium - within the gates!). While it was a little bit outside of the city, it was very close to a tube station, so it was easy to navigate to the city, the airport, etc.

International Travel: The Good, the Bad, and the Jet Lag

As I start thinking about writing a blog series about our trip to Europe, I figured I'd start out with some overview info on my [very much inexperienced and amateur] views on international travel, and what was great - and not so great - about this trip.

The Good: Generally speaking, the good things about international travel include: new places, new faces, often a new language, new foods, time away from the regular routine, and time to relax. Specifically speaking about this trip, the good included one-on-one time with the love of my life, leisurely cups of coffee, quiet meals in restaurants, great food, ministry opportunities, traveling by train, lots of walking, better than expected weather, staying in the home of good friends, a splurge at a really nice hotel in Berlin our last night of the trip, the chance to share my testimony several times, spending time with friends, making new friends, and some powerful lessons on ministering in different cultures... just to name a few.

The Bad: Honestly, it's hard to say much bad about the trip. We both agreed that had it not been for missing our boys, we would've happily stayed much longer. But I would say that one bad is missing our fellas. We talked about them a lot, and would frequently comment on certain things that one or the other would really like. But I also think it's so important for us to spend time alone, without the kids. I don't want to be that couple that hits the empty-nester stage and looks at each other and says "now, who are you again?" Among the other bads, I have to mention airplanes. Airplanes are so germ-y. Yuck. Seems both Zack and I always end up with a stuffy nose or cough or worse after flying. We've learned to always pack sinus medicine and drink lots of water, and that helps some. But I did fight a cold part of the time while we were there. And lucky me, I came down with a stomach bug about 24 hours after getting home - I'm pretty sure I could blame that on the nasty airplane, too! There were other things along the way that some might consider bad (got caught in a rainstorm in Berlin, walking WAY out of the way in search of the London Hard Rock), had to take the slow train to Berlin instead of the express, inability to find the one odd but very specific item that Daniel wanted us to bring him, the experience of visiting a former concentration camp site), but each of these made the trip special and created some amazing memories.

The Jet lag: That's never fun. Thankfully, our flight left Atlanta at 9:30 PM, so we took some melatonin and were able to get a good bit of sleep. But even a five-hour time difference can be tough. We got checked into our hotel in London around 2:00 and then hit the city. We set out walking, and made our way down the Thames River, to the Tate (a modern art museum). There's a huge grassy area in front of it, and people were spread all over the ground, napping, eating, playing guitars, you name it. So we found a spot and just sat and rested for a while. 30 minutes later, we were feeling much better.


International Travel Tip #1: While some may disagree, this is a lesson we've learned from experience and I swear by it. If you arrive to your destination in the middle of the day, DON'T TAKE A NAP!! Push through, stay up as long as you can, and try to get yourself onto the local time as quickly as possible. The first time we ever travelled to Ukraine, we arrived in the afternoon and took a LONG nap. It took us days to get adjusted to the time zone, and I believe it all started with this decision. Since then, we've pushed through the first day, always with the goal of staying up until 9 or 10 PM that first night (coming home, too). And we recover from jet lag so much quicker using this approach!

International Travel Tip #2: Take lots of pictures. And when you think you've taken too many, take some more. With the beauty of digital cameras, capture as many memories as possible. There are already things that I look back on from this trip and think "I should have taken a picture of that!"

International Travel Tip #3: If Rick Steves offers a book or podcast on your destination, GET IT! His London book was especially helpful, and saved us lots of time, plus led us to some sites we might have otherwise missed.