No Rain In Our Forecast and Her Name Shall Be…..

After we got the referral for our daughter a week ago this past Thursday, we literally stayed up until 2AM completing the necessary paperwork so we could mail it the next day.  We knew that we would be close as far as getting a court date before the court closures in late August and September.  We just wanted to make sure our daughter knew that no matter the outcome, we did everything in our power to get her home as quickly as possible! We were THRILLED when we got a phone call one week after our referral date saying we had a court date of :

 

 

AUGUST 13th!!!  It is a bit surreal to think that we will be holding our daughter in less than 2 weeks after such a long wait on the waiting list! SO…God faithfully answered many prayers requesting we get a court date before rainy season and we give Him ALL the praise for that!

I also wanted to take a minute to let you know what we are planning to name our daughter so you can pray for her by name going forward.  We decided on her name a long time ago,and I honestly don’t know why I haven’t put it on our blog or Facebook until now except that I just felt like we were supposed to wait. Anyway, the name we chose(o.k. really I chose it and Troy grew to love it over time) doesn’t really have a big significant meaning and it isn’t a family name.  It does start with the same letter as Silas’ name which is consistent with what my parents did in naming me and my siblings(Amy, Amber, Adam).  Ultimately, the name was chosen because we liked it and it’s a little different but not crazy different which works for us!  So, her name shall be:

 

SAYLOR

 

Her Ethiopian name begins with a T., and we will keep that as her middle name.  So, officially she will be Saylor T. Lucht.  Silas can say her first name easily, and he has been telling everybody we meet that we know who Saylor is now(as if they should know exactly what he is talking about)!  Regardless of the name we have chosen for her, we take comfort in knowing that God knows every single detail about her right down to the number of hairs on her precious head.  He loved her and knew her before the thought of her ever existed in our minds.  Wow! It truly is amazing to dwell on how He loves all of His children, even our precious Saylor.  We continue to trust that He planted Saylor’s adoption in our hearts, and that He will be faithful to carry it to completion.  Would you please join us in praying that we will pass court on the 1st attempt?  We would be so grateful for you to partner with us in bringing us one step closer to getting our daughter home.  May God pour out His richest blessings upon your family this week!

WE. GOT. THE. CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! What a roller coaster of the day it has been.  It started off pretty typical.  Troy headed out to work around 5:45.  I got Silas up and to the babysitter by 6:30 so I could start my work day by 7:00.  The morning went pretty smoothly.  I was chatting and eating lunch with my co-workers when my cell phone rang and it was Troy.   I honestly didn’t think anything about him calling me on my lunch hour, but he chatted for a minute or so before he said “Do you want to do a conference call now or do you want me to come to your work so we can be together for our referral call with B(our case manager)?”(Later I found out that B called him at 12:22 our time…he got the call first because we didn’t know if I would be with a patient).  Of course, I was like “ARE YOU SERIOUS????????????????”. He said “YES”.  He knows better than to play any jokes on me after waiting this long for our referral.  I had a patient at 1:00, but my 2:00 cancelled(I am a pediatric physical therapist by the way) so we decided 2:00 would be best because it would take Troy about that long to get to me from his work.  So, 2:00 comes and we spend about an hour on the phone going over all the details about our sweet daughter and seeing her precious face.  We find out she is 6 weeks old, and she has been at Hannah’s Hope for just a few days.  WE ARE SMITTEN.  We tell B we want to proceed with the next steps of this referral.  My 3:00 patient also cancelled and I was in no state of mind to treat my 4:00 so I cancelled him(his mom was fine with this by the way). Troy left to get Silas from the babysitter, and  I wrapped up my paperwork and headed home. We loved sharing the news with Silas and watching his sweet face as he saw her picture for the first time. We intermittently spent time emailing, calling, and texting family and friends before heading to dinner at one of favorite restaurants, Chuy’s.  We finished off the night at a local yogurt place here in town.  Wow! I am exhausted but in a very good way.  We are getting ready to start on our paperwork to move this process along.  We are so very blessed!  We still don’t know when court closures will be so will you please join us in praying that we get a court date before that happens? We would be honored to have you join with us in that.  Finally, we can’t post any pictures on blog or Facebook until after our Embassy appointment, but here is a tiny glimpse of one of the many precious features of our sweet girl!

“When we have exhausted our store of endurance.  When our strength has failed ere the day is half done.  When we reach the end of our hoarded resources. Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit.  His grace has no measure. His power no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus. He giveth and giveth and giveth again.”

~excerpt from He Giveth More Grace by Annie Johnson Flint

Family Day

Last Wednesday, Troy took the day off work so we could have a ‘family day’.  So, we loaded up early and headed out with our destination being Chattanooga; however, first we had to make a quick stop for breakfast at one of our favorite local donut places.

Once we arrived in Chattanooga, our first stop was the Incline Railway.  Silas continues to have an obsession with all things train related so he was excited about this!  It was a rainy, foggy day with zero visibility at the top meaning we wouldn’t be seeing any pretty views from Lookout Mountain.  We decided to proceed with our plan anyway because all Silas cared about was the railway car and track.  It was worth it to see his excitement!

After conquering the Incline Railway, we decided to head over to the Creative Discovery Museum.  Silas enjoyed climbing through their indoor playground, playing various musical instruments, manipulating various features of the Tinkertoy exhibit, and even dressing up like a queen bee.  It was a very cute place, and we could have stayed longer but we were getting hungry for lunch!

 

Troy and I (ok maybe it’s more me than Troy because I really like to eat!) like to try local restaurants that have gotten good reviews when we visit new places.  So, I researched the night before we left and thought that the Purple Daisy Picnic Cafe looked yummy!  We did have to wait a little longer than we would have liked with a 3 year old that needed a nap, but the food was very good.  I decided to try the Rainbow Sandwich seen in the picture below. It was a three tiered sandwich with homemade chicken salad, pimiento cheese, and cucumber spread. It may not sound like a great combination, but it was delicious. Troy decided to go for the BBQ plate which was tasty too!

After our late lunch, we decided we had enough Chattanooga fun for one day(especially since Troy and I both had to work the next day)!  Silas slept the entire way home.  We finished off our family day with a walk and play time at the park. I love my family, and I am so grateful we had the opportunity to do this.  I long for the day that we will have fun days as a family of four! Until then, I will continue to focus on the blessings that are right here in front of me!

AGCI Reunion Weekend & Official June Number

This past weekend, we had the wonderful privilege of reuniting with local as well as out of state adoptive families that traveled to our area for a little reunion of our kids(each of which was adopted from Ethiopia and some of which were at our agency’s transition home, Hannah’s Hope, together).  The entire weekend filled my heart with joy as I witnessed the amazing transformation each of these beautiful children has undergone after being placed in a forever family.  My heart will never tire of seeing the children orphaned no more. 

We started off Friday night by having dinner with Kim Hull and three of her children.  She was the first one to get a smiling picture of Silas for us during his time at Hannah’s Hope so she will always hold a special place in our heart for that. Tisha Alexander and her twin daughters were also able to join us.  Her girls came home from Ethiopia a couple of months after we brought Silas home.  Finally, the Galbreath family joined us.  They were the ones that so graciously hosted the large get together on Saturday, and two of their five chilidren were adopted from Ethiopia in 2011.   I captured a couple of pictures below from Friday night:

Hannah, Liya, Chloe

Silas and his buddy, Finny

 

Kim and Tisha invited Silas for a pre-bedtime swim with their kids at their hotel.  Our water loving boy wasn’t going to turn that down!

THEN…on Saturday, my wonderful husband spent most of his morning helping me prepare some fun treats for the get together later that afternoon.   Below we have oreo pops(with our official taste tester:) and Africa shaped watermelon. Both went over well with the kids!

Thankfully, Silas took a good nap and we headed over to the Galbreath’s around 4:00.  They did such an amazing job hosting with plenty of water activities, a pool, hot tub, and delicious food!  It was very HOT so the kids were grateful for all the water related activities.  It filled my heart with joy to see all the beautiful brown kiddos running around, and we managed to get a few pictures from the afternoon/evening below.

The homemade slip-n-slide was a hit!

Silas loved the attention from some of the older kids

Sweet Chloe

Silly boy in the hot tub who insisted on wearing goggles even though he never puts his face under!

Lucy Lane and Silas. I don’t think Lucy is too keen on having Silas’ arm around her!

This is just a handful of the children that were there.  It was quite the feat to try and get a picture of all of them together.

Goodbye hugs!

We had a great time, and there was discussion that we should make this an annual event.  I think that sounds like a great idea, and I hope it comes to fruition!

Finally, we received our official number for June at the end of last week.  Once again, it was no surprise that we are still holding strong at:

Please continue to keep our family in your prayers as this Friday will be a full 16 weeks at #1.  We would love to have a referral this week with a miraculously quick court date before court closure in early August.  We serve a God of the impossible so I have no doubt this can happen if it lines up with His perfect timing for our family.  Until then, we will continue to trust, pray, and lean on Him. 

Mid-Summer Recap

We have had a fun yet busy summer so far.  I am not complaining though because summer is my favorite season.  I truly love all things summer…even the hot weather!  I just thought I would give you a quick recap of what we have been up to!

 

Blackberry picking in our backyard

 

RC & Moon Pie Festival

Visit from Mammaw & her co-worker/friend, Ms. Vicki

Friday playdates at the park

Birthday parties

Babysitting

Celebrating new life

Conquering big slides

Challenging daddy at Centipede

Getting a jumpstart on the fireworks for tomorrow

We are eagerly looking forward to the second half of this summer,and we pray it will include a celebration for the referral of our daughter! Have a safe and blessed 4th of July!