One year pics

I've got alot of pictures that we've taken the past couple weeks but I'm slacking as usual ... but I promise I will inform you soon of why I've been a stranger. Anyways, we had friends from church who have massive skills take his one year pictures ... they actually do amazing video work ... ever thought of your wedding as a movie? Well, they DO that. Check them out here ... pretty cool stuff.

OK, so here is a sampling of pictures we got ... I stole these from her blog ... there's a couple other good ones we like in the lot that I'll have to show you later ... the boy was pretty serious for them since 1) he was outside and taking it all in and 2) around new people. But they still got some pretty sweet pics...enjoy!

This is actually my trike from when I was his age :)

LOVE.THIS.PICTURE!

Family time

Another one of my favorites

Farmer Silas (we actually had to pull things out of his mouth a few times as he enjoyed eating leaves, grass, the pumpkin stem, etc)

Peek-a-boo

On the move

I love this picture of my two favorite people in all the world

ok, little story behind this one ... it's been like Seattle here in middle Tennessee ... has been raining constantly. Kelsey thinks this is a great picture location ... says it's a "little wet" ... let's just say I think my butt was still wet when we went to church later that night :)

his look cracks me up

Announcing...

This is a letter we sent to our family and friends in the last day or so... :)

Dear Family & Friends,

Can you believe it is November already? Where did October go??? It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating Silas’ birthday and now that’s been almost a month ago. It is unreal how quick time can get away from you…

Well, we wanted to share some exciting news with you. As God is moving in our hearts, we have heard His call to adopt again! We cannot start the process until March but the planning has begun. He has called us to Ethiopia again and we’re excited to say the least.

As many of you know, adoption can be an expensive endeavor. The cost of Silas’ adoption was around $24,000 with fees, home study, travel, etc. With his adoption, we were able to use savings and a Home Equity Loan on our house to help cover the cost. This time around, those things aren’t as readily available so we’re looking for alternative ways to raise money for it.

One of those ways is a coffee store we just ‘opened’. You can access it online at https://www.justlovecoffee.com/TroyAndAmber. The store is stocked with fair-trade coffee from around the world (we’re partial to the Ethiopian coffee … that is some good stuff!) For each bag purchased from our store, the owner of Just Love Coffee donates money to our adoption fund. This could be a great Christmas gift (hint-hint) or just for your enjoyment. :)

We also want to ask for your prayers as we begin this journey again. We had so many people praying for Silas’adoption, and we would love to enlist you on our 2nd journey as well. As we have not formally communicated it to anyone yet, this is our announcement of our next adoption. We will post it on our blog in the near future and try to keep you updated on the status of it (along with the cute pictures of Silas, of course). Our blog address is http://luchtadoption.blogspot.com.

We apologize if you get this more than once as some of your names may accidentally be duplicated between our two contact lists.

Thanks again for your prayers and participation in our adoption journey to our next Ethiopian miracle. Please let us know if you have any questions and if there are any ways in which we can be praying for you.

Blessings

- Troy & Amber

Re-Adoption! (and happenings over the last week)

On Friday, October 16th at 9am, we had a court hearing for Silas' readoption. Abrham Troy Lucht is now legally Silas Abrham Lucht! We will be receiving his Tennessee birth certificate in the next few weeks. Below is a picture with the judge who was great. Funny story ... we went up there and the judge asked if he could hold Silas. I hand him over and within 2 seconds, Silas starts wailing. Judge says, "That wasn't a good call by daddy" and hands him back to Amber where Silas quiets down immediately. I'm just glad the hearing was over by that time :) After the picture, the judge asked everyone in the courtroom to give us a hand. It was kinda funny having everyone clap for us...

And here's a recap of the rest of this past week.

Last Monday was Silas' birthday - we celebrated last Saturday but we couldn't hold out cake on his actual birthday ... think he's happy about the cake?

Friday night we went to a bonfire .... it was COLD. Here is Silas bundled up with our Bible Study leader. Silas LOVED the fire ... he would have stared at it all night...

Silas loves hoods ... he would keep them on even while inside the house and would pull it over his eyes ... cracks me up!

More hoodies ... and he's a fan of pulling my shoes out of the cubbie holes in our closet.

One of his favorite things to do is to open and shut doors ... here he is shutting said closet door.


Saturday morning we did an autism walk and it was like 40 degrees and windy. So, we bundled up and headed out ... Silas was so stoic in his stroller.

The walkers...

Amber and Silas after the walk ... he fell asleep early in the walk so he musta been warm. :)

Sweet dreams lil' boy...

We had a try-on of his costume ... we think he's the cutest cow ever :)

The cow tail :)

Silas posing with his new jeans and vest...

CUTE kid

Today, we went to a pumpkin farm with families in our adoption group at church. Silas had a blast.

We LOVE this family ... check out their blog and you'll see how cute their kids really are. "A" loved hanging around Silas. She was walking near him and her brother said 'Watch out for Silas.' And she responded "I'm watching him ... I love Silas" (insert big smile here)

Look at those eyes

How cute is she!?

This is one of my favorite pics of the day ... sibling love.

"A" wanted to hold him for the pic.

"D" then said "I wanna hold Silas"

SILLY FACE!

Lookin' up ... the boy is saying 'up' all the time now.

Tractor-drivin' Ethiopian

Hanging out with the pumpkins

Couldn't decide which picture I liked better :)

Three siblings out hunting pumpkins...

Silas loved the goats ... and chickens ... and turkeys ... and cows ...

Silas and I by the cows

So the other family thought it would be 'good' to get Silas a sucker ... I shoulda let them hold him :) ... he liked it and he wasn't too sticky afterwards...

Our new family picture

Silas in the middle of big pumpkins

Again, couldn't figure out which one I liked the best...

OK, gotta show ya a couple videos as well...


We got Silas this little climbing Little Tykes slide and he loves it. Cracks me up how he would whine at the bottom and then 2 seconds later be excited climbing back up...


Silas now has a "fake" cough ... he'll usually do it and laugh at himself :)


Silas checking himself out in the mirror and giving himself some kisses...

Alright, time to hit the hay ... have a great week!

This sums it up...

Birthday Celebration

OK, I know ... same ol' song and dance of me slacking on posts. There is good reason which will be explained in another post. If my trend continues, you should know by Christmas :)

It's crazy that 8 months ago today, we saw Silas' picture for the first time. I don't think I have ever shared his referral pictures but here are a couple ... wow, how he has changed!

how could we not fall in love with that face? That is the only 'smile' we had for a long time ... he was so serious in his pictures.

Our boy turns 1 tomorrow ... that is absolutely nuts. It's such a joy to see how much he's progressed in the last 4 months since coming home.

ok, gotta throw a video in ... here he is at dinner Thursday night. I was popping my lips and clicking my tongue ... watch for the fish lips :) and, yeah, I'm aware who is really imitating who :)

Yesterday, we had a party for him in the park by our house. Of course, it felt like 10 degrees with the windchill here in Tennessee but friends and family still battled the cold to come out and celebrate with us. My facebook buddies have seen these pictures but needed to get them out in blogland as well...enjoy!! (thanks to Amber's sister Amy who took over our camera and took most of these for us)

His cake ... we had a local stay-at-home mom who does it on the side do it ... we think she did a great job.

Silas' tiger smash cake :)

Party people

More party people

I think he was hugging on his girl trying to stay warm :)

Here is Amy and her 2 girls ... they live literally like 2 minutes from us and are adopting from Ethiopia using our agency ... so very cool that Silas will have an Ethiopian buddy so close that lived in the same transition home as he did.

Sweet Kate

Silas' girlfriend from Ethiopia Lucy Lane came to celebrate with him ... we traveled with Kristi to Ethiopia and Silas and Lucy Lane were at Hannah's Hope together ... still really don't comprehend that ... and still haven't figured out what Kristi was doing in this picture :)

Kimuel downing a capri sun ... how cute is that kid?

Birthday boy!

Silas just leaned on back into Kimuel ... it was pretty funny

We had an elephant pinata that the kids enjoyed ... I'm glad it was a pull-string one or I would not have been holding it :)

winner winner chicken dinner ... get that candy!

Silas' cousin Ross with the infamous elephant

Happy with her candy

ok, cake time. Silas was very tentative at first ... sticking a finger in the icing and licking it ... here he had a little on his hand.

Now he's starting to get the hang of it...

Fist full ... good job boy!

Shove it in!

What was left over of his cake :)

Everyone enjoyed the cake.

Amy deep in thought ... or so cold she's frozen :)

Kristi's George downing some cake ... I think that is the only thing that slowed him down all day.

How beautiful is this girl?

Above baby girl's sister ... she woke up a couple days before the party talking about Silas. Her mom told her they would see him in a couple days at his party. Well, she doesn't quite understand "days" so she asked 10+ times/day when were they going to see Silas :)

Love this pic

Lucy Lane cashed out

Present time!

I liked Kristi on the other side of the camera for once :)

Jax enjoying the party

Our sweet neighbors ... they were the first people we let Silas stay with (besides his regular babysitter) ... they love our boy...

Say hi to Kate again!

Amber's and my dad ... looks like trouble is luring, doesn't it?

Look at the sweatshirt Amber's mom made ... we love it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON!

Presents continued after Silas crashed for his afternoon nap ... here he is opening up the ball/trampoline thing his aunt Amy/uncle Paul/cousins got him.

"I LOVE IT!"

Look at our boy standing by himself ... he took 3 steps to Amber last night ... he will be walking in no time!

Think he loves all his toys? (favorite pic of the day here)

"I want to play with them all ... right now!"



How could you not love this boy ?!

Silas, we couldn't imagine our lives without you ... what did we do before you came into our lives? Happy Birthday son ... we love you!

Announcement

I keep meaning to show you guys our announcement and haven't done so ... we used Less Ordinary Designs ... and she was GREAT! The cost was $16 and she put our pictures and redid the text for us for that price ... wow! And then she gave us the high-resolution file and we printed them as 5x7's at Costco for $.35/each. It was SO much cheaper than buying one from online and it was custom as well. I HIGHLY recommend her...

Here it is ... we love it!

Walking Tall

I was all ready to do the post about Silas hanging out at his aunt/uncle's farm but I shot some video today and figured I'd share that. Video is much better than still pictures, right?

OK, this first one is our big boy walking with his push toy that Grandma and Grandpa gave him when they came down to visit a couple months ago. I honestly didn't think he'd be using it by this time. When Silas came home 3 months ago, he could sit independently but that was it ... he couldn't transition down to the floor yet. Then mama started working with him. Everyday :) He then was able to transition to the floor. Then to scooting on his back. Then to army crawling. Then to get-on-it crawling. Now to walking with a little help. Amazing in 3 months. It's still surreal to me that we've been home that long. How much I could love someone and he love us. I personally don't have any comparison, but I don't see how we would love a child with our DNA any differently. I know some people are worried about that when thinking about adopting ... but, wow, there is nothing I wouldn't do for the guy (includes arguing with his mommy about the best things for him :)

ok, sorry for the tangent ... here's the video (don't mind the tools in the background ... was installing the gate at the bottom of the stairs ... had to MacGyver it ... since it's railings on both sides, I didn't want to drill holes so I cut down some 2x4's, stained them, and zip-tied them to the posts and then screwed the gate into those).



OK, the next video is from dinner tonight ... the boy was in rare form tonight. Amber got up to take her dishes to the sink. She started dancing and Silas thought it was SO funny! Amber would have killed me if I video her so I just kept it on Silas. Try to not smile while watching this one...



Amber then got us some chocolate ice cream for dessert. I think you can tell our boy LOVES it.



Finally, he's so happy to get out of his seat after eating ... can you tell?



OK, will try to get the other pictures up soon. I also have to get the rest of our trip to Ethiopia documented ... sad it's been 3 months and still don't have that done :(.

11 months!! ... and counting ribs....

I can't believe our boy is 11 months ... I've been thinking recently about all the "I can't believe..." thoughts I have ... there's a post in that somewhere ... I still gotta get pics up from Silas visiting his Uncle Paul & Aunt Amy's farm ... hopefully this weekend...

ok, 11 things we love about my boy...

1) Your infectious smile. Strangers will tell us that your face just lights up when you smiles.
2) How you go down in his crib for nap/bedtime with no crying/etc. And when you wake up, you'll just play/hang out in your crib for a while. When you start jabbering, we know it's time to go get you.
3) How well you're doing at the babysitter. Mommy started back to work last week (2 days/week) and a friend from church is watching you and you're doing real good there.
4) When I walk through the door, you smile real big and crawl up to me. There is NOTHING better.
5) Your 4 front teeth. It's fun to watch you learn that you can use them to break up your food.
6) How much you're bonded to us. If one of our friends/stranger-to-you holds you, you'll reach for us or make sure we're always in your view.
7) Your all-boy nature. You have no fear; you would rather climb over rather than around anything. You will push boxes up to our ottoman coffee table so that you can climb on the box to climb on top of the ottoman.
8) Food ... you're not a fan of baby food anymore ... you want the REAL stuff. You especially love black beans and chicken.
9) You love your sleep ... you sleep ~2 hours in the morning and afternoon and then sleep 11-12 hours straight overnight. However, you put yourself in some weird positions and will cry in your sleep because you get 'stuck' and can't move where you want.
10) You are such a trooper getting your vaccinations and taking your TB medicine
11) Your love for all types of vehicles. This includes trains. I could see a train-themed room in your future ... with a train going around your celiing. OK, that may be more for daddy :)

Silas, we love you. I can't believe we saw your picture the first time over 7 months ago and that you've been home 3 months. We can't imagine our lives without you.

Here is Mommy counting your ribs tonight ... I think you enjoyed it!

New Teefers!

I have a good post with great pics to do for the rest of last weekend but, well, I'm tired and don't have the motivation...

But, I wanted to leave you with a pic Amber took yesterday of our boy with his 2 new top teeth ... boy is getting SO big!

A fun day with fellow AGCI families

We drove up to Indiana last night to visit Amber's family. Well, we had the honor and priveledge of meeting up with 3 AGCI families today at a park. We got to meet this family and this family and this family. The Bogards traveled before us and got to meet Silas and give us back a report on him. The Ausbrooks also traveled before us (they've been home almost 6 months) and Tisha and crew traveled after us and have been home about 7 weeks with their girls. It was an amazing day. Thank you guys so much for driving and meeting us ... Tisha and fam drove 3 hours and the Bogards traveled 2 while the Ausbrooks were "local" or at least within 30 minutes or so. It still blows me away to see how God is using the spirit of adoption to bring amazing families together in ways we never would have known. OK, enough talk, I know ... here's what you want :)



Ausbrooks boy getting his fiber from nature :)

The boys loved the climbing wall

Tisha's girl going down the slide.

Love this picture of Tisha's girls climbing up the slide

Our niece/Silas' cousin holding him

Ausbrooks daughter up on the slide

Girls having fun

Silas checking out all the action ...

The girls LOVED the slide

As someone said on facebook, can you tell who's cautions and who is carefree?

Down we go!

WEEE!

Eli's wanting in on the action

Tisha's crew eating lunch

Cracks me up watching her sister try to figure out how's she's eating that

Silas Bogard came onto the seen right after lunch

Someone wanted her daddy

I love this picture

Almost as much as this one

Silas B is one happy baby!

Daddy and daughter doing for a walk

Eli trying to figure out what he can get into

Monte pulling double duty

Cute picture

And her sister can't be outdone

The boys together ... it's looks like Eli and Silas L are wanting the little play phone Silas B has.

Ball time

All the Ethiopian kiddos together ... I won't mention the "agreement" Tisha had with her girls to have them sit up there ... don't notice a cookie or anything :)

Silas B felt the need to try to put a block on Eli's head

Enjoying her cookie

Love the profile picture

Hey Silas ... great name! :)

Mrs. B made Africa sugar cookies ... yum!

The girls LOVED riding in the wagon ... Amber's sister was pulling them and the faster she went, the more they loved it.

Me and my boy

Family picture time

A Bogard girl loving on another Silas

Her sister needed in on the action as well :)

Thanks again guys for meeting up with us ... it was a perfect day :) Rumor has it we may try to do a large AGCI Midwest/Bible Belt picnic in Nashville next summer if there's interest ... so, any interest?