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