Sunday's Comin'

2011 - A lot of changes in a year!

2010 was a year of growth & changes for the Dove's. Our family grew, and that growth brought about MAJOR changes. Some good, some difficult - but all a part of the story God has given us to share. And throughout all of it, God was - and continues to be! - with us. And for that we are so thankful.

We welcome 2011 with open arms, and with lots of hope & excitement.


For 2011, we have many goals, including:

1. Strive to live healthier lives (less eating out, more cooking at home, more physical activity)
2. Try to live more simplified lives (we were already seeing the need for this, but reading the book Radical really got us fired up)
3. Accept with excitement the fact that God is calling us to some changes in our lives
4. Focus on and learn how to share the stories God has given us - and more importantly - share HIS story!
5. Try not to sweat the small stuff (okay, this is more MY goal than a family goal - but wanted to put it out there as a reminder to myself!)
6. Focus less on us and more on Him

Praying that each of you finds renewal and blessings in this new year!



Our family, Christmas 2009

 

Our family, Christmas 2010



Daniel's first Christmas

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, we attended church with family and friends - it was a great service. Then we went back to our house for Chinese food (a tradition started a few years ago) and gifts with Zack's parents & brother. The boys got some great gifts, and then anxiously went to bed so that Santa would come.



Christmas Eve

Once Zack and I finally made it to bed, I started feeling a little nauseous. I fell asleep, but woke up at 2:00 AM, VERY sick. I was miserable. I've never been sick like this at Christmas - not fun.

Zack finally got tired of waiting on the boys to wake up, so he woke them up around 7:30. We all went downstairs, and I sat at a distance and watched as they enjoyed exploring the gifts that had been left around the tree.



Christmas Morning



After a couple of hours of playing, we made our way to Zack's parents' for brunch. We hung out and watched Christmas movies while the boys played, then went back home.

My family was supposed to come that evening for gifts and dinner. But Georgia was in for its first real White Christmas since 1882, so everyone decided to wait a day to come.



Snow Fun!

I was still feeling horrible, but was super disappointed, particularly for the boys. So my mom & stepdad drove up before the roads got bad, and spent the night with us.

By Sunday, I was much better. The boys enjoyed playing in the snow for a while, and that afternoon my family gathered to celebrate Christmas - a day late, but a great celebration!

Daniel did well with his first Christmas. He was a bit overwhelmed on Christmas Eve. At first, he would pick up a wrapped gift and just look at it. He would try to carefully remove the paper without ripping it. But with a little help - and some modeling by a very skilled older brother - he was soon throwing paper everywhere like everyone else! We kept things pretty simple in the way of gifts this year. Both boys already have more than they could ever play with. Neither had any major request. And we are trying to find ways to simplify. But they both seemed to be thrilled with and grateful for all that they received.



Christmas Eve at Cross Pointe



Christmas Eve - Josh & Savannah with all the "Littles"



Josh with Savannah & her family



The Dove family on Christmas Eve



The boys with Uncle Josh & Aunt Savannah



Daniel's first performance

Today, Daniel participated in his preschool's Christmas program. He did a great job! He is definitely the class clown and had everyone entertained.

Here's a little clip of their last song.

Bittersweet Symphony

Are you in the north-metro Atlanta area? Do you have a place to celebrate the birth of our Savior this Christmas? If not, I invite you to join us at Cross Pointe Church...

Daniel's first Thanksgiving

We really enjoyed Thanksgiving break! The boys were out of school all week. Zack & I have almost no vacation time left after our Ukraine summer, but we did manage to take off a couple of extra days with them.

Tuesday morning we set out for Daniel's first camping trip. We drove up to our favorite spot near Helen in some misty rain. Nothing bad, and the weather man said there was only a 30% chance of small pop-up showers through the afternoon.

When will I learn? Don't trust the weatherman.

We set the tent up and let the boys run and play for a while. We were the only ones there, so they could be as loud as they wanted (and that is L-O-U-D!). The mist went away, and the sun attempted to break through the clouds.

We decided to drive into Helen to walk around a while and grab some lunch.

After lunch, we went on a carriage ride around the town. We found out that there are only 500 residents of this city, and it has no schools and no traffic lights. The boys enjoyed feeding carrots to Shadrach.

Then, a little more walking around...

And a trip to Goats on the Roof!

Then we headed back to the campsite.

As we got closer, the skies got darker - but we figured it would pass.
We got settled at the campsite. And the rain came.
It got harder. And harder. And harder.

We decided to get in the tent to stay dry until it passed.

Some of us read books.

One little somebody took a nap.

After an hour and a half - and the discovery of several small holes in the tent that were letting water leak in - we decided to call it quits and try another time. We packed up - in the pouring rain - and made the drive home.

Zack and I were disappointed, for us and for the boys we'd promised a fun day. 

But as it turns out, the boys were thrilled to have had such a fun day.

We arrived home and I let the boys roast hot dogs and marshmallows over the stove. They were so excited!

And I was reminded - this is one of those Dove family moments that will not likely be forgotten anytime soon!

Thursday was our annual Drive-Eat-Drive-Eat day - aka Thanksgiving.

We drove to my grandparents' house. The boys had so much fun playing with cousins and eating lots. Daniel gave Thanksgiving a big thumbs up. While he definitely enjoyed desserts, his favorite was by far the turkey.

After lunch and some visiting, we drove to Zack's parents' house for dinner. Another great meal - but somehow I never managed to get the camera out!

And now onto the Christmas season... I'm sure we'll have lots to share about Daniel's first Christmas with us!

Christmas Wishes

We heard the song below for the first time while we were in Ukraine, waiting to take custody of William.

When I listen to it now, the first verse reminds me of William. And the second verse reminds me of Daniel.

But every time I hear this song, I'm reminded of so many others that still have this one Christmas wish.

Three years ago today: November 18

Three years ago today, we experienced our first Ukrainian church service.  You can read about that experience HERE. It was one of the many things that has really opened our eyes to the reality that there is a need for God all over the world.

Today, I worked from home so that I could go to Daniel's preschool for their Thanksgiving lunch.  It was lots of fun, and nice to see him in his classroom setting. This Thanksgiving, we have even more to be thankful for than before!

Memorial Day fun

I'm at the Atlanta Braves game with my two guys. Will be back to blogging tomorrow!

13 Days and Counting!!!

Blog catch-up: Easter

Here are a few pics from Easter 2010...

The Cross

(two posts in one day - be sure to read the one below this one)

And as I awoke this morning, I was also reminded that today is Good Friday.

The day we remember our Savior's death. He took all of our sins - all of MY sins - onto Himself on the cross. That includes my sin of selfishness, self-pity, fear, anxiety. He took them all upon Himself.

And He died.

He didn't use His power to get down off the cross. He didn't use it to take His physical pain away. He endured an agonizingly painful and humiliating death. He hung there, and He died.

He did this for love. He loved us so much that He died for us. And not just for us collectively - for each of us individually. He did this for me, and He did this for you.

This is how much God loved the world:

He gave his Son, his one and only Son.

And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.

He came to help, to put the world right again.

Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it.

And why?

Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

John 3:16 - 18

What's even better is the story doesn't end at the cross.  He didn't stay on the cross, and He didn't remain in the tomb.

He endured so much for you and for me. His battle and suffering makes our adoption struggles seem so minor and trivial. But His battle reminds me that I have victory in Him.

And as we seek to raise the children HE chooses for us, we must continually enstill in them the truth of who He is. Who He was. Who He always has been and always will be. Circumstances may change, but God remains the same!

"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am."
John 8: 58

This Sunday, we celebrate our risen Savior!  Death could not conquer the King!

Do you know for SURE where you will spend eternity? If you have questions, you can visit THIS SITE.

I'm also here, and if you have questions about this gift, or would like to learn more about what this all means, please email me here.

A Jerry Maguire moment

Valentine's Day.  I've never been a huge fan of this holiday.  I know some people love it, and I respect that. But I personally think it's awfully contrived and surely must have been thought up by some execs at Hallmark & FTD to fill in the gap between Christmas and wedding season.

So a week or two before Valentine's I reminded Zack that he should not feel obligated to spend money on flowers & candy.  And thankfully, we've been together long enough that he knows when I say that, I really DO mean it.  But my valentine did surprise me with a day that made me feel special and showed me that he knows me very well and cares so much about me. 

The day began with lots of snow on the ground.  Well, 4 inches is a lot in Georgia.  We all played outside for several hours.  After getting cleaned up, we exchanged gifts.  The boys gave me a really cute Vera Bradley purse!

We dropped William off with the grandparents, and Zack handed me a pair of movie tickets.  He'd purchased tickets to see Valentine's Day.

The movie was good.  It's definitely not a family film, and morally speaking... well, not much to speak of morally.  But it was cute and romantic and had some funny moments. And I like the style, following lots of different small stories. One of my favorite lines came when Reed asked Alphonso what made his marriage work.  I'll keep his answer to myself for those that haven't seen the movie, but I will say that I agree whole-heartedly.

After the movie and a stroll around the mall, we went to California Dreaming.  He'd made reservations several weeks in advance.  We had a delicious dinner and were able to eat at our own pace and talk to each other without any distractions.

We picked up our little Valentine, who had made a very cute card for us that served as a nice bookend to a wonderful day.  It was a great evening, and made me once again thankful for being blessed with a husband who cherishes me and treats me way better than I deserve. 

Back when we were dating, we went to the theater to see Jerry Maguire. And I was immediately struck by Dorothy's line at the end. That's how I've always felt about Zack: he had me at hello.

This video was shown at our church during the Christmas Eve service...

Christmas was great!

I need to post Christmas pics, but I haven't taken the time to get them off the camera yet. Maybe I'll get around to it soon. But hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ours was really good. Throughout Christmas, there have been lots of comments about how different things will be next year when (if it's in God's plan) we'll have 2 kiddos running around!!

Seems we celebrated all month long, which makes it that much more fun. We were able to see lots of friends and family, and had lots of time to relax and play. I'm so thankful that we have most of our family within driving distance, and we have such great friends that we get to celebrate with.

One of the early celebrations this year was with a few of my childhood friends. I met them when I started public school back in fourth grade, and we've been friends ever since. We got together for dinner and it was so much fun. I think the best part for me was watching William play with the children of my childhood BFF. It's so cool to see things come full circle :) Here's a picture of them from the evening.

I don't know if I'll blog much this week, because we all have the week off from school and work and we're just enjoying being together.



But I do want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from the Dove family!

Forward Progress

We continue to make progress on the adoption front. Not sure if you noticed, but I added Prayers and Praises to the side bar of the blog. And of course the big praise over there is that we got all medical forms completed correctly on the first try! God is good!!

All of the 'first round' paperwork is on its way to USCIS. Please pray that we will get our fingerprint appointments soon, and that the entire USCIS process will go quickly and smoothly. Like so many things, this part of the process has also changed a lot since we went through it back in '07.

We are making progress on our other dossier documents. We're both taking next week off, so we hope to get several more items taken care of while we're off.

Little One, we're praying for you daily,

and we're gettting closer to bringing you home forever!

Aside from adoption stuff, work, and school, we're also very much into all the fun and craziness of the holidays. Lots of Christmas parties, Christmas movies, and other festivities. I'll leave you with one of the pictures I took of William when he visited with Santa. He was very prepared, list in hand and not the least bit shy!

Much Thanks

It has been a great Thanksgiving for us. Time with family, time off from work, lots of good food, movies, shopping, decorating, wrapping... we've been busy and we've been having fun! That's why the blog has been quiet. Hopefully you haven't noticed because you've been busy with all the same fun!

We'll be back soon...

Thankful

We had a busy weekend, so I didn't take the time to blog. Saturday marked 2 years since we had court (read about our court day HERE), and yesterday was 2 years since we celebrated Thanksgiving in Ukraine (read about that HERE). We're looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, followed by lots of Christmas celebrations and the 2nd anniversary of Gotcha Day and America Day for William.

And speaking of Thanksgiving, I've been inspired by several blog friends to do a post on being thankful.

I am of course thankful for family, friends, home, church, car, clothes, food... and most importantly, God's grace and forgiveness.

But here are some less obvious things I'm thankful for:

1. The door opening to the garage as I get home from work (and the little face that comes from behind that door)
2. The way Zack looks at me, even when I have no makeup on
3. The first 90 minute of my work day, when I'm the only one in the office
4. The fact that Zack does all of the laundry and vacuuming in our home
5. The sound of Veggie Tales Worship from down the hall when I wake up in the morning
6. My phone calls with my mom on the way home from work
7. A friend who calls to check on me when she noticed I wasn't as energetic as usual
8. An adoption coordinator who is amazingly helpful and always honest & realistic
9. A delicious cup of tea made just for me by my sweet hubby
10. Dirty fingerprints on our glass door
11. Songs that come on at just the right time and speak to my heart
12. The scratches on the left rear of my car - where William tried to help wash the car with a scrubbing sponge
13. The fact that my youngest niece and William are only 1 month apart in age
14. Time with my guys in the car, when we can sing together, talk together, and just be together
15. The laughter that fills the house when Zack & William have "wrestling matches"
16. BAH! (the sound William makes when he jumps out from the dining room to "scare" us EVERY TIME we walk downstairs)
17. The Powell family, and the God-initiated fact that they we ended up just an hour away from them while in Ukraine
18. Our children's birth mothers
19. The little white dog hair that attaches to my clothes and furniture - a reminder of our sweet little four-legged baby girl :)
20. The sound of my husband singing and playing his guitar

Happy Halloween!

Mom's Day

I had a terrific Mother's Day with the 2 best guys in the whole world!


When I woke up, William gave me a sweet card, and a really cool Vera Bradley wallet that he picked out himself. Then we went to church. The very first song we sang brought tears to my eyes, because it made me think of THIS POST from shortly after we came home with William.



After church, I got to pick our lunch spot, and I chose California Dreaming, one of our favorite Sunday restaurants. We had a great lunch, and on our way home, we stopped for ice cream. We ran into two of William's very best friends and their mom, an added bonus :) We went home, napped and relaxed during the afternoon, and then had deep dish pizza for dinner. All of my favorites in one day: God, family, and food ;)

As I reflect on my second mother's day as a mom, I must tell you that being a mother is even better than I ever imagined it would be. It makes me appreciate my mom & mother-in-law even more. And I more fully realize how incredible a sacrifice it was for God to allow His son to be ridiculed, beaten, and killed so that we can have eternal life.

I'm so thankful that God has allowed Zack and me to take responsibility over one of His unique creations. William is a blessing in so many ways, and I give all glory to God for the incredible, loving, compassionate, energetic young man we're raising. It is the cry of my heart that William will come to fully understand Christ's sacrifice and will fully give his life over to his Creator.

If you're a mommy, I hope you also had a great day on Sunday. And for those that are still waiting on the miracle of motherhood to happen, I lift you up to our Heavenly Father right now. I pray that God covers you with peace and patience as you wait, and that His good and perfect plan will soon be revealed to you.