Can I Please Have a Kitten?

Well, Ava must have gotten wind of all the talk on blogs lately about pets. Avey and Mark are brand new parents to a cat, Charlie, while Tim and Erika contemplate the introduction of a dog to their growing household. Yesterday I decided to take Ava to the pet store as a source of entertainment on a cloudy day. I didn't think she was really old enough to pay much attention, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I took Ava out of her stroller to look at the puppies. Her eyes were glued to some precocious little pugs. She closely followed their every movement and even entered into a staring contest with one of them, two sets of eyes glued to each other separated only by a thin sheet of glass. Ava won as the puppy got bored and left to go play with his friends. Next we visited the kittens. There were two tiny bundles of fur that kept tumbling around with each other. They were moving fast and Ava thought they were very funny. She actually laughed out loud. This is quite something as, although Ava smiles all the time and is often heard shrieking in delight, she rarely laughs out loud. The kittens were a great amusement to her. Then we went and visited the hamsters. Ava tried unsuccessfully to grab one through the glass as he ran around and around on his wheel. We tried the birds, but they didn't really hold Ava's interest nor mine (some of you may know I have a slight fear of birds due to their rapid, flighty movements). We went back to the kittens and Ava laughed and laughed again. Then she looked at me with her mammoth eyes unblinking as if to say, "Mommy, can I please have a kitten?". Well, Ava, the answer is no, and, the answer will always be no.....unless you want to move in with Avey and Mark.

On another note, a shout out to Dave today for putting up with me in his house for the last three years. Happy Anniversary sweetie!

Travelling the World

Regina has this great festival going on right now called Mosaic. There are pavillions from all different countries set up at various locales around the city and people take their "passports" to each pavillion to get stamped and experience the excitement that each ethnicity has to offer. Last night Dave, Ava and I had the pleasure of travelling to six different countries.

Our first stop was the Ukraine where Ava shocked us with her skill as a Ukrainian dancer. The most amazing thing is that she performed both the male and female roles! She IS a genius. We perused the Ukrainian gifts and crafts and had to fight hard not to purchase the overpriced 'I heart Baba' t-shirt.

Next we went to the Philippines. Our tastebuds were delighted to experience a pork barbeque skwer and the most delicious chicken steam bun as we watched the intensity of a very interesting game combining both soccer and volleyball. Sorry, the name of this intriguing sport escapes me at the moment.

Our next stop was Greece and our mouths were watering for some feta cheese. But, to our chagrin, the Greek Pavillion was packed from pillar to pillar and the food line up filled the entire colliseum. We decided to make Greece a quick trip and jumped back into our Cavalier to see where else our journies would take us.

We were pleased to find ourselves in Scotland next. We thought of Sarah while watching the highland dancers and nibbled on morsels of haggis. If anyone is interested, the haggis tasted like bad liverwurst and smelled like puke, but we tried in nonetheless. Ava laughed at the sound of bagpipes straining through the air, feeling her Scottish heritage pumping through her veins.

We made quick time arriving in Ethiopia. This was probably a favorite of ours as we cleansed our palates of the haggis with some lovely Ethi food. It was absolutely delicious! The injera was perfect! We were entertained by an Ethiopian music video during our meal.

Our final stop saw us in the Caribbean. The Caribbean was very busy and bustling with jerk- eating -reggae- lovers. We topped off our evening with a uniquely spiced Caribbean soda and let the music and the atmosphere wisk us away on a sunny holiday.

We arrived home tired, but happy. At least we know Ava makes a great traveller!

Updated Dolskys

The Dolskys in Regina
June 1st, 2007

To me, this newsletter is reminiscent of newsletters past. Regular updates to friends and family telling of our new adventures and cultural experiences in places such as Uganda, Kenya and South Korea. Now, as a family of three, we have begun a new adventure in a new land. It may not seem exotic or extravagant to many of you, but we are excited for our adventures in this place called Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan, a land full of gleaming black fields holding the promise of abundant rows of golden wheat to come, a land where the sky is big and the sunsets spectacular, a land where the mosquitos are hefty and hungry and the landscape is so flat you can watch you dog run away for days. This land is the land we will call home for the next few months. We hope that after our four months here we will come back with increased knowledge and confidence in our calling to pastoral ministry. We strive to come back with new experiences, new memories, and new friends. We KNOW we will come back as bigger people (seriously, people have been feeding us like crazy here).



Living Hope Alliance Church

Dave is having a great time at the church. The staff members are fantastic to work with and we laugh at how similar Dave is to his mentor, Senior Pastor Larry Hurst. Larry said he has not met anyone as excited about his extensive library as he is. That is, until he met Dave.

Dave will be preaching five times this summer and is excited about the experience and practise that this will bring. Dave is also excited to have his own office for the first time in his life.

Ava and I have been hanging out at the church a little as well. We go in once or twice a week. I help with some of the administrative stuff and Ava plays, sleeps, poops, eats, spits, drools….pretty much what she does at home, but she gets to do it in a new environment with lots of people cheering her on and who wouldn’t want that?

Life in Regina

In less than a month Regina has worked itself into our hearts. We have enjoyed a reprieve from the busyness and traffic of Calgary and, at the risk of sounding too cliché, the people here are very friendly. You can walk into a store and people will actually start a conversation with you. It is like my dear hometown, Fairview, only much bigger and with Tim Horton’s.

We have greatly enjoyed staying with Pastor Larry and Sharon Hurst for the past three weeks. Sharon’s cooking is fantastic and the fellowship that we have been able to share has been very comforting. Next week we will be moving into the home of a retired couple in the church. They have a suite set up in their basement so we will once again be able to cook our meals and enjoy our own private bathroom. Someone in the church joked that with all of our moving around maybe Ava has the gift of Nomadism. She has certainly been quite at ease with our Bedouin-like lifestyle.


This summer will allow for some travel time as well. This weekend we leave for Winnipeg where we will be attending the District Conference for the CMA Midwest District. We are excited to be staying with friends Randall and Lynnette.


June provides an opportunity for us to head up to Edmonton where we will be attending the wedding celebration of my brother, Darren and his wife, Jacqui who were married last November in Chicago. At the end of July, Ava will experience her first plane trip (of many hopefully) when she and I fly to Grande Prairie and Fairview for my ten year high school reunion. We will be gone for two weeks to allow for ample visitation time with both sets of grandparents. Dave expects to be quite sad and lonely during those two weeks! We are also expecting some visitors here in July so we should be kept quite busy

Ava Kathleen

What would a family newsletter be without a section devoted to our darling daughter? Ava is fast approaching the four month mark and is learning new tricks every day. She loves to try and sit up by herself. At least we think she is trying to sit, but she could just be working on creating her own Abs of Steel program for babies. She tucks in her chin and pulls her little body to about a 45 degree angle before toppling over to the side, often finding her face sharing an intimate moment with the carpet.

She still loves bathing and will stay in the tub until the water is chilled and her toes resemble the most adorable little currents. She also loves to stick everything in her mouth and is very generous with her drool. Speaking of mouths, we are getting accustomed to the fact that Ava loves to be heard. While awake she can often be found talking to herself in the mirror, squealing in delight when someone looks in her direction, and smiling and laughing at some inside joke. The talking to herself may very well come from me, but the drooling problem is totally her father. Ava truly is an absolute joy and a wonderful addition to our family. I feel very blessed to be able to stay at home with her even though I do miss having adult conversations and exercising my brain once in awhile. I enjoy having ample time to spend identifying Ava’s quirks and writing newsletters about them.


Be Blessed,
Dave, Jenn and Ava