Everyday Moments

Softball Season...

2010-05-19T23:03:00.005-04:00

Softball season has started. We had our opening season game on Saturday in the pouring down rain. All the girls did a great job. I was proud of all of them. I did not get many pictures since it rained the whole time. So tonight the girls had another game and again they did great! It's amazing how much they have improved since last year. I always enjoyed playing softball so I am so glad the girls are having fun and wanting to play.

The above picture is our little Miss Emma playing catcher again this year. She loves being the catcher!
Wow Miss Gracie you sure have improved on your hitting. She had two very nice hits this evening. Way to Go!!! Gracie is playing second base this year. I didn't get a picture of her tonight. So hopefully next week. I was pretty busy chasing little man around. He is soooo busy and fast!

Miss Emma batting. She also had two nice hits this evening. Way to Go!!!

Miss Gracie and Miss Emma

We love you and we are so proud of both of you!

Happy Gotcha Day!!!

2010-05-18T23:21:00.008-04:00

Today is our Gotcha Day one year ago today...

We Gotcha, Silas!

We LOVE you very, very, very much and we are so HAPPY you are part of our family. You are a WONDERFUL son and brother!

We are so PROUD of you!!!

This is us seeing Silas for the first time.
Silas' Gotcha Day 2009

Silas' one year Gotcha Day 2010

We had a wonderful day! The girls were busy with activities after school so we just ordered pizza (Silas' favorite) and then we decorated in Ethiopian colors and had cupcakes for dessert.

Silas fell asleep before he could eat his dessert. Poor boy... he left the best part!

It is so hard to believe it's been one year! I can't imagine not having Silas in our lives. He is such a blessing and he has changed us all forever. We are so glad God lead us on this wonderful journey. We love you Silas and we hope you had a wonderful Gotcha Day!

Easter Blessings...

2010-04-05T09:06:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful day yesterday with family (I feel so blessed to have such wonderful parents, which I love so dearly). We all went to church together (we witnessed several baptisms it was beautiful), then we came back home for a great lunch (my mom loves to cook... we had lots of yummy food) and then spent the afternoon outdoors spending time together as a family and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was an incredible day celebrating our savior has RISEN!!!

I hope everyone has a happy Monday!

The journey begins again...

2010-04-02T09:30:00.003-04:00

Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know, and holds us responsible to act.
Proverbs 24:12

This picture is going to change...

So our story is changing from a family of 5 to a family of 6 and we cannot wait!

God has called us to adopt again. It is very much a leap of faith and we are relying completely on our Father for so many things through this adoption journey #2. So we please ask everyone for your prayers and to follow along as we bring home our Ethiopian Princess!

We are at the beginning stages called the "paper chase" phase. We will keep everyone posted throughout our journey. Thanks again for joining us.

I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. John 14:18

Gracie's Birthday Week...

2010-03-25T19:52:00.015-04:00

Pictures of Gracie's 9th Birthday Party

Gracie just posing!

What's a Pajama party without playing Truth or Dare?

The girls loved it!

During Truth or Dare Gracie had to dance with a broom and she was rockin out! Way to go Girl!!! You just make us

The girls headed outdoors to hold a sign up to see how many people they could get to honk at them. They had a blast doing this. It was so fun to watch. Even the ambulance from across the way got involved and headed over to make the girls evening, he turned on all the lights and sirens and held the horn while going by real slow. They loved it!!!

Gracie getting her hair done. (Look at that smile she is loving all the pampering!)

I was in charge of painting all the "16" girls' nails! The girls had fun picking out all the crazy nail polish colors. The crazier the color the better!

All the girls dressed up for the fashion show

The girls posing in the window after a fun fashion show!

Gracie and Emma eating fried ice cream

Happy 9th Birthday Sweet Grace and Happy 16 Month Birthday Baby Silas!!!

2010-03-23T12:28:00.007-04:00

Today my sweet baby girl turns "9"! Wow how the time goes by so fast. She is growing up so quickly. Grace has a "big" heart and I am so proud of her. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!! We love you very much!

(Here is a picture of her eating at her favorite restaurant for her Birthday. Grace just loves her Mexican food... yummy!)

Today our baby boy turns 16 months old. Silas has been home with us for 10 months this week and he is doing great. We love you buddy!

* I will be posting Grace's Birthday party pics later this week. Oh, what fun she had! She had a "Wear your favorite P.J's party" and it what a "hoot"!!! So more fun pics to come later...

I hope everyone has a Happy Tuesday! We finally have some sunshine here today and I can't wait to enjoy it!

I am back after a long break...

2010-03-03T22:40:00.003-05:00

Wow...

It's been six months since I blogged last. I am so disappointed in myself for not keeping up with this, but I plan on trying to get better. I can't keep any promises, but I am going to try.

A year ago we got our referral for Silas. This is the first picture we saw of him. He stole our hearts and changed us forever. It's been one of the best years of my life. Silas is so wonderful. He is doing so many new things. He is running everywhere, saying several new words, he is signing more, please and thank you, he has a laugh that is so contagious and can make anyone laugh, he just goes with the flow (thank goodness... because he has two sisters that are in everything) and he has a smile that just melts our hearts. Gracie and Emma ask what did we do before we had Silas? Cory and I ask the same question. He is such a blessing to us and we thank God everyday for bringing Silas into our lives. We love you Silas!

Happy 9 Months Silas!

2009-08-23T22:08:00.004-04:00

We just wanted to wish Silas E. a Happy 9 Month Birthday today! We Love You!!!

Here are 9 things we Love about you...

1. Those Big Brown Eyes!

2. Your sweet sweet smile...you just light up any room with that smile.

3. The way you clap for yourself... it is just too cute!

4. How you say Dada... just melts daddy's heart.

5. We love how you love to snuggle... we can't get enough of that.

6. How you crawl and follow us around the house.

7. How you pull up to everything... especially when you peek over your crib in the morning and smile at us.

8. We love your sweet hugs...mommy loves when you squeeze her.

9. We just love how you just complete our family! We thank God everyday for you Silas. Thanks for being such a wonderful son.

First Day of School...

2009-08-18T12:59:00.006-04:00

Today was the first day of school. They only went for 3 hours today. My babies are growing up way to fast! Where did the time go?

Here is Gracie this morning before she left for school. I cannot believe she is going into the 2nd Grade.

Emma ready to go to the 1st grade. I cannot believe she is a big 1st grader!

Emma with her new back pack

Gracie with her new back pack

My girls getting ready to leave. I get butterflies for them, but I know they were excited and ready to go. I just miss them so much.

Gracie and Emma giving Silas one more kiss before they left.

The girls headed to school. Silas had a play date with Layton. This helped him today or he would have just been lost. He is so crazy about his sisters.

Thanks Layton for hanging out with me. You made me laugh and I had lots of fun!

After our play date with Layton. We went to get the girls and Silas was very excited to see them and so was I. They had a great 1st day! Both girls have wonderful teachers. It's going to be a super year:)!

Emma with her new teacher Mrs. Kiger (Gracie had her last year and we just love her!)

Gracie with her new teacher Miss Shawver and we sure look forward to getting to know her.

We hope everyone has a great Monday!

Water Balloons and the Park!

2009-08-04T00:07:00.009-04:00

This is how we spent our afternoon...

Yes... I filled lots and lots of water balloons today for the girls. I told them they could pick out a few fun activites to do before school starts and this is one of them. They both wanted to have a "BIG" water balloon fight. The girls had a blast and Silas even joined in on all the fun.

Silas swinging before he got all wet.

Miss Gracie being silly. The picture is crazy because I was trying to hold Silas and watching Emma from getting the camera all wet.

Miss Emma getting ready to soak Gracie.

The girlie's having lots of fun!!!

I was trying to get a picture of all three kiddos and Mr. Silas just wanted to kiss on his big sis.

Silas getting in on all the fun!

Well after a fun day playing in the water we headed to the park.

Gracie and Silas sliding

Silas clapping because he wanted to keep going down the slide.

Silas driving with Gracie in the firetruck.

All three kiddos on the airplane... and they are all smiling! Yay!!

All the kiddos again, but check out Silas' cheesy smile. He is such the ham!

We hope everyone had a great Monday!

Camping at Shakamak State Park

2009-08-02T15:49:00.012-04:00

The girls left early Friday morning and headed to Shakamak State Park to go camping with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Mike. We talked with the girls last night and they were having a blast and said they don't want to leave, but they are coming home this evening. I will share some of the photos my mom took on Friday and Saturday.

Gracie and Emma having art time in the camper with Grandma.

Swinging on the tire swing!

Playing some ball with a new little friend they made at the campground.

The girls waiting to ride on a pony!

Gracie with Grandpa Mike riding a pony. She loved it!

Emma riding a pony and Grandpa Mike leading them around.

Emma going down the water slide! She said the slide is AWESOME!!!

Gracie playing in the water sprinkler.

Gracie going down the water slide!

Silas stayed home with us this weekend. We did go over and spend yesterday evening with them camping and we had lots of fun roasting marshmallows, making smores and going on a walk down by the water. Silas had a great time, but my batteries went dead in my camera. So I was very bummed! I did not want to leave Silas out so here is a picture of him eating a Ritz cracker. This boy loves to eat!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. It is hard to believe school starts in two weeks for us. Summer has went by super fast, but we have had a great summer especially being a family of 5!

Our Annual Holiday World Trip...

2009-07-29T10:48:00.015-04:00

Silas having a blast playing in the water at the water park

Our beautiful girls having fun at the water park

That is Emma up at the top waving at us

You have to look hard, but Gracie is waving at us

Our baby boy Silas...who is just to cute!

Miss Gracie getting off the water slide

Emma

All three kiddos in line waiting to ride in the antique cars

Emma driving mommy and Silas

Gracie standing up and driving daddy around

Gracie and Emma telling Santa Clause what they wanted for Christmas. Awww it is less than 5 months away!

Emma riding the Liberty Launch all by herself nobody in our family wanted to ride it. So she was the brave one of the group.

One of the girls old time favorite ride

Gracie riding the swings

Emma in front of her favorite ride "The Voyage Roller Coaster"!

Gracie in front of her favorite roller coaster the "Raven"!

We had so much fun and all three kiddos were fantastic! It is so fun watching them get so excited! Some of the best parts of the day was having several people come up to us and ask about Silas. They had fell in love with him and wanted to know his story. Anytime I get the chance to talk about adoption I sure do! Emma and I rode a roller coaster and two teenage girls rode with us and after the ride the one girls mom came up to me and said that she had adopted the girl we rode with when she was two. She said she had also adopted three other children. I love to hear about others that have adopted. So that was a great way to end our day at Holiday World!

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary...

2009-07-28T00:12:00.007-04:00

Happy Birthday Mom Mom! We hope you have a great Birthday! We love you lots! Hugs and Kisses from Gracie, Emma and Silas

We also want to wish Cory's grandparents a...

Happy 65th Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Sparks! We love you lots and wish you the very best!
Love, Gracie, Emma and Silas

Happy 8 Month Birthday Silas!

2009-07-23T15:03:00.005-04:00

Silas we cannot believe you have been home with us for two months and today you are 8 months old. The time is going by so fast, but it feels like you have been with us forever. We love you and we are so proud of you!

How can you not love that smile. This is how he wakes up everyday!

Fun filled weekend in Indianapolis... plus some fishing

2009-07-20T15:54:00.019-04:00

WELCOME HOME CHLOE AND HANNA! What an incredible day this was! We got the to meet Tisha and Monte at the airport in Indianapolis, IN bringing home their beautiful twin girls Chloe and Hanna. We both used the same agency, AGCI. This is how we meet. Tisha and her three boys came to the same airport to greet us off the plane back in May. It was such a wonderful experience and we are so glad we got to come witness their homecoming. There is nothing like seeing a family be united! It just brought tears to my eyes! Cory and I had the opportunity to meet the girls while we were in in Ethiopia and they were so beautiful and sweet. We just could not believe how much they had changed in two months. They are even more beautiful and I did not think that was possible!

Gracie, Emma and Silas with the signs we made while waiting at the airport.

Silas and Tisha's youngest son.

Silas waiting on the girls...

This is a picture of Tisha and I with our kids! It was so great to see everyone! Thanks Tisha and Monte for letting us share this special day with you and your family! We love you and wish you the best!!!

After we went to the airport we headed down town. This is Gracie and Emma at the Spaghetti Factory.

Here is Silas at the Spaghetti Factory he fell asleep on my arm during dinner. Poor little guy he was so tried it had been a busy day.

After dinner we walked back to our hotel and the girls did some late night swimming.

Then it was time for bed so the girls had Silas jump up in bed for a picture.

The next morning we got up and went to the Children's Museum and spent the whole day.

Gracie

Emma

The kids on a pretend airplane (which looked very realistic) that was taking them to Egypt.

After we closed down the Children's Museum we stopped by my sisters to see her and her twin boys. We always love getting the opportunity to see them. We got home very late last night and the girls were scheduled to get up early for a "big fishing day" with Cory's Grandpa.

The girls got up early this morning and headed out to the lake with Great Grandpa Sparks to do some fishing.

Emma and Gracie helping Grandpa drive the boat.

Emma holding the catfish that they caught this morning.

Thanks Grandpa Sparks for a wonderful fishing trip. We had lots of fun and we love you!!! Hugs and Kisses! Gracie and Emma

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2009-07-13T22:30:00.005-04:00

Happy birthday Grandma Judy... we love you a lot! Hugs and kisses,

Gracie, Emma and Silas

In the eyes of a child...

2009-07-07T16:33:00.010-04:00

Gracie

Emma

Silas

I came across this and I wanted to share it.. It's nice! I have seen the breakdown of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That does not include or even touch college tuition.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

$8,896.00 a year, $741.38 a month, $171.08 a week. A mere $24.24 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is; don't have children if you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140.00?

* Naming rights. First, middle and Last!

* Glimpses of God every day.

* Giggles under the covers every night.

* More love than your heart can hold...

* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds and warm cookies.

* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly and chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no mater what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up... You get to:

* finger-paint,

* carve pumpkins,

* play hide-and-seek

* catch lightning bugs,

* never stop believing in Santa Clause.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,

* watch Saturday morning cartoons,

* go to Disney movies, and

* wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backwards letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,

* taking the training wheels off a bike,

* removing splinter,

* filling a wading pool,

* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and

* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:

* Fist step,

* First word,

* First bra,

* First date,

* First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match!

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under GOD. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great grandchildren!!!!! It's the best investment you'll ever make!!!!

Adopting a child may come with a price but the paybacks are always double, triple everything you put up front! The rewards of loving a child last a lifetime! A sacrifice today for an eternity together-cost? PRICELESS!

Fireworks...

2009-07-06T19:17:00.007-04:00

On the 4th of July it rained all day so our fireworks display was postponed. They were rescheduled for last night. This is a picture of Silas at his first fireworks. He did great!

Emma and Gracie waiting patiently for the fireworks to start.
Emma loving on her cousin Brody.

Fireworks...

Silas saying "Go Bears"

I had to post this picture of Silas. He is just a cutie! This is him before we left for the fireworks. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T15:39:00.009-04:00

Happy 4th of July... from the Bogard Family!

The girls loving on Mr. Silas before we head off to grandma's house.

Em and Si

Gracie and Silas having a great day together.

Grandma Judy and Grandpa Mike's house...

Emma holding her little cousin Evan. Emma could not wait to see her twin cousins. She just loves the babies.

Silas and Ethan playing

Cousins just hanging out together and enjoying their 1st 4th of July.

Emma and Gracie eating lunch. We had to move our cookout indoors because of all the rain:( The kids did not mind and the food was yummy! Thanks grandma!!!

This is all 5 grandkids together at my mom's house. It can be challenging at times to get pictures of them all together, but we made it. The kiddos did great and they were all happy and looking! Yay!!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Independence Day!

Softball Season and Pictures...

2009-07-01T23:44:00.007-04:00

Softball season came to an end this evening. It was bitter sweet! The girls did a great job and had lots of fun! (That is all that matters they had fun!) They played in a tournament and made it to the game before the championship. Oh, they were so close!

Gracie checking out the scoreboard during the game.

Emma being the catcher. She likes all the action behind the plate. Anytime Emma can be moving she loves it! Way to go catcher (Miss Em)!

Emma still catching.

Emma thinking I would rather be the catcher.

Gracie got a chance to catch and she was not sure about it. She would rather be in the field.

Gracie on third base getting ready to score a run! Gracie had some great hits! Way to go!

The girls getting ready to congratulate the other team. Both teams played a great game it was a great way to end the season! Way to go girls!

Gracie and Emma giving me thumbs up after the game. They both did a wonderful job and we are so proud of them! We love you girls!!!

We could not post without a couple of pictures of Mr. Silas...

Silas started army crawling this past week and boy is he on the move.

Silas on the move...Look at those eyes! He is just thinking Gracie and Emma come here and try to catch me. We cannot believe how fast he is. Oh, we are having SO much fun watching Silas grow. He is truly amazing and we think God for putting him in our family. We feel so blessed!

Happy 7 Month's Silas!

2009-06-23T16:45:00.002-04:00

Happy 7 Month's Silas!!!

We LOVE you!

Mommy, Daddy, Gracie and Emma

We have been home 4 weeks today...

2009-06-19T22:41:00.013-04:00

We have had such a great time as a family of 5! It has been very busy, but we want to share some of the things we have been up to lately...

(Dawn I hope you like all the pictures:) these pictures are for you and I want to see more of Jaxson!!) ha, ha!

Silas' Open House...

We had an open house for Silas. This is a picture of Silas' cake for his party! It was a wonderful day full of family and friends gathering together to celebrate Silas' adoption.

Some of the older kiddo's playing outside during the open house.

Lots of YUMMY food! Thanks to my family and friends for helping me pull this together. I appreciate all of you helping bring food in I could have not done it without you. We had such a wonderful time and thank you for helping make Silas' open house a success! I love you all!!!

Some of our guest looking at photos of our trip to Ethiopia. We had over 125 people come to Silas' open house. It was SO nice to see everyone and we appreciate all the love and support!!!

Tisha and Silas! Tisha and two of her boys came all the way from Indy to Silas' party. Tisha is adopting twin girls from Ethiopia. We meet online through our agency. Then we personally meet for the first time when we arrived home from Ethiopia at the airport. She took lots of great pictures of us coming off the plane and pictures with our families. She is such wonderful person and I am so glad we have became friends. Tisha and her family need lots of prayers they have a court date scheduled for this coming week and we are praying hard they pass. So please say a prayer for them! Thank you!!!

Daddy and Silas

Silas with his twin cousins Evan and Ethan, Grandma Judy, Aunt Amy and Kara.

Check out the boys they ALL wore the same orange and white shirts to Silas' open house party and this was not planned. They looked so cute!!! Gracie and Emma being big helpers holding the babies so we could get a picture of the three boys together.

Africa shape cookies! Thank you Grandma Judy for making these delicious cookies for my party. Love, Silas

Silas' new friend...

Silas and his new buddy Kian. We really enjoyed spending time with the Garver family. We sure wish they lived closer and we miss them. They came down last Monday and spent the afternoon with us. Thanks for coming to see us!

Starting a Band...

The girls have started a band with brother Silas! Gracie was on the keyboard and she was the singer, Emma played the violin and Silas was the drummer.

Silas having a great time playing his Ethiopian drum. We just LOVE his smile!!!

Some more first for Silas...

Silas taking a little nap in his pack-n-play. The most exciting part is he has slept all through the night the last three nights. YAY!!!

Silas started sitting up all by himself this month. Way to go sweetie!!!

Swim Time...

Silas' first time swimming in Mom Mom and Poppy's (Cory's parent's) pool and he love it! He even fell asleep while floating around.

The girls enjoying time swimming. They are little fish and love to be in the water. So anytime they get the opportunity to go to Mom Mom and Poppy's they are there!

Carnival Time...

Silas loving the Carnival! He is such a people person he had a great time smiling at everyone! He just makes us ALL smile!

Emma, cousin Brody and Gracie riding the train. The girls loved riding with Brody they are CRAZY about this little guy! Emma calls him (Rody) she had a hard time saying Brody when he was born. So he will always be Rody to Emma.

This is Reese he is 2 weeks old and went to his first Carnival with us. He such a sweet baby!

Emma is our thrill seeker!!! She rode every ride at the Carnival some of them she even rode all by herself and had a great time! Way to go Emma!!!

Before we went to the Carnival Gracie said I want to win a fish this year and guess what... Gracie won a fish at the Carnival! Even on her first try! She was SO excited and she named her

goldfish "Goldie".

Couple of Fun Pic's to end with...

The kiddo's dancing this morning it was SO cute watching Silas try to be as BIG as the girls. He was having a great time and his sisters were having so much fun making him laugh!

Silas looking at his sisters thinking what are we going to do next...
He just loves the girls and they LOVE him!

We want to wish ALL the father's a Happy Father's Day!!! We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!

This past week home with Silas...

2009-06-02T13:19:00.006-04:00

Wow... how this past week has flown by! It has been wonderful watching Silas experience so many firsts with us as a family! We love him SO much! All we can do is thank GOD for handpicking Silas for our family we could not be happier! He is such a miracle!

Silas in front of all his signs from the airport. We were so appreciative of all our family and dear friends Tisha for coming and supporting us as we got off the plane. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it. It was amazing!!!

Emma, Silas and Gracie right before we left for church. This was Silas' first time going to church and he did so well. I love this picture of my three kiddos!!!

God is amazing... on August 28th Cory and I made our 1st phone call to AGCI to begin the adoption process. School had been in session for one week. Gracie and Emma's teacher knew about the process, and were SO supportive and kind. They both were hoping they could meet the child we would adopt. At the time it seemed like that would not happen. They thought they would have to meet him or her the next year. God had other plans and we are SO happy. We got a referral on March 2nd for Silas, April 3oth we had a court date, and May 18th we were a forever family. Then on May 26th we got to bring Silas to school to meet the girls' teachers and staff one week before school was out. God is amazing!!!

Mrs. Kiger, Mrs. Fritchie, Gracie and Silas. Gracie has been so blessed to have a wonderful teacher this year, and we are going to be sad to leave her. Thanks for all you do Mrs. Kiger and Mrs. Fritichie! Gracie loves you!!!

This is Gracie's 1st grade class and we are showing them the globe so they can see how far we traveled to bring Silas home. It was so fun visiting her class. The kids had SO many wonderful questions. Thanks Mrs. Kiger for letting us come in and show Mr. Silas off! Gracie sure was proud!

Emma, Silas and her wonderful kindergarten teacher Mrs. Sandschafer. We just love her and we are going to miss her next year. She is an excellent teacher and has made Emma's kindergarten year super!!! We attend the same church, so we are glad we will get to continue to see her this summer. Thanks for a fabulous year Mrs. Sandschafer!!! Emma loves you!!!

Some first for Mr. Silas...

Stroller time... just makes him sleepy. He loves his stroller and he always crashes by the time we are done. It is so cute!!!

Bumbo time... he likes to sit in his bumbo seat and hang out with his sisters. Silas likes to smile all of the time. He smiles non stop!

Silas loves playing with his toys and likes his saucer. He cannot get enough of Gracie and Emma playing with him. He laughs at the girls and it just makes them so happy!!!

Silas eating baby food for the 1st time at home. He loves to eat!!! Almaz told us to take him home and fatten him up. Boy does this little guy like food! So Almaz I think you are going to be happy!

Daddy putting up the water slide for Gracie and Emma. They have been enjoying cooling off these past few days!

Check out Silas' swimming trunks. Is he cute or what?

Mr. Silas just melts our hearts with those "big" brown eyes and sweet smile. We are so in love!!! We hope everyone has a wonderful day and stays cool! It is in the 90's today again and we are off to do some swimming.

Introducing...

2009-05-24T22:58:00.001-04:00

Travel Plans!!!

2009-05-08T09:57:00.002-04:00

Yesterday our case manager Christy was sick:( so sweet Kiersten from AGCI called to let us know our embassy appointment had been confirmed! Hooray!!! We'll be leaving for Addis Ababa on Saturday, May 16th and coming home May 22nd. So we booked our air plane tickets and now have lots of shopping, organizing and packing to do.

We Passed Court!!!

2009-05-01T14:51:00.003-04:00

Our case worker, Christy just called and let us know Silas E. is legally our son!!! We are praising God!!! We passed court!!! And our hearts are so happy!!! Thank you for all your prayers. We will post more details later... we are on cloud 9!!!

Court Tonight!!!

2009-04-29T13:29:00.003-04:00

Sometime tonight while we're sleeping or early tomorrow morning (we'll I'm sure we will not be sleeping) a judge in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will review our case and declare if Silas E. will legally be our son. HA! Our Son!!! Hopefully all the paperwork is in place and the judge will approve our case. Cory and I have not been sleeping well the past few nights and I can only imagine what tonight will be like. We are so anxious and excited! Obviously we're praying we pass the first time through and go to Ethiopia soon to bring Silas home. Yes we will be heart broken if we don't pass, but we are choosing to remain hopeful and pray all goes well. I'm not sure when we will hear the results. They wait to call when they have a court decree in hand, so we are hoping to hear something really soon. It would be great to know before the weekend, but we are not counting on it. Sometimes it takes close to a week for people to find out if they passed or not. So if you could PLEASE say a prayer for us before you go to sleep tonight we would REALLY appreciate it!!! I'll post something as soon as we find out.

Your sisters (Gracie and Emma) are praying hard for you baby Silas, and we are all so thankful for serving a God who is so good. Our God is bigger than any court or judge. God wants the best for you Silas and for all of us, so we are going to pray we pass court tonight and it will be in the right timing so we can bring you home. We love you so much Silas!!!

A good friend shared this with me and it is for you tonight Silas...

Kisses in the Wind

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams. You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long. But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin... Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you. I promise you, my darling. I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend. But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight. And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.

We love you Silas!!! We are praying for you and hope to bring you home really soon!!!

Happy 5 Months Baby Silas!

2009-04-23T22:32:00.006-04:00

Happy 5 Months to our sweet Baby Silas!!! We love you so much!!! So, in the blog fashion, I'll share our 5 favorite things about our sweet baby boy!!!

1. I love his big beautiful eyes... they are so expressive and so full of life!
2. I love his cute smile... it just melts our hearts!
3. I love how Gracie and Emma walk around and call you bubby... they cannot wait to have him home.
4. I love how he has taught us to love someone so much and you have never even held them in your arms... oh, we cannot hardly wait to hold him and love on him!
5. I love his wonderful personality in all of his pictures...we are so ready for Silas to come home.

*** We pray we pass court on April 30th!!!

This morning before the girls left for school. I went in to get them and I said what are you doing? They said we are praying for Silas. We really want our bubby home with us. I started crying! It was the most precious thing and melted my heart! I am so proud of my girls!

Couple more Easter Pictures...

Gracie and Emma checking out what Mom Mom and Poppy brought over for them for Easter. They sure enjoyed eating those chocolate bunnies!

My mother and father in law (Mom Mom and Poppy to the kiddos) brought these precious gifts over for baby Silas. We cannot wait to see Silas is these sweet little clothes. Thank you!!!

Court date... One week from today! If you could please keep us in your prayers we would really appreciate it. Thank you so much! We just want to bring our baby boy home! We can hardly wait!

Spring Musical...

2009-04-19T22:22:00.003-04:00

Our church this evening put on a Spring Musical. It was called Simon Says. The Musical was about the characters in the New Testament with a modern day twist and loads of fun! The script and songs were rich in scripture and the music "rocked"!

This is Emma holding the sign that says The Holy One. She enjoyed being in the musical. I am so proud of her. Emma loved singing and she was really into it.

Gracie had a speaking part in the musical. She did great! I am so proud of her. Here is a picture of her after she just got finished speaking. Look at that smile:)!

The children all did a wonderful job! They worked so hard and we are so proud of them all. It was a great evening! The musical was so much fun and packed with truth!

May God Bless You and Your Family!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T23:18:00.021-04:00

Our Easter weekend started Saturday. We went to my parents house for lunch and had a wonderful time. The kiddo's loved playing with their cousins and eating lots of good food. Grandma Judy is a great cook! It was so nice to be with family and friends this weekend. Here are some pics from the weekend...

Gracie, Evan, Emma, Ethan and Jacob. These were all the little cousins at Grandma Judy and Grandpa Mike's house on Saturday for Easter.

My hubby and our sweet nephew Evan. Just enjoying our Easter weekend hanging out.

The cousins getting ready for the Egg Hunt to start...

Cousin Kealsey...finding some Easter Eggs. Kealsey just turned 16 last month! Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!! You are growing up way to fast.

Cousin Demi...finding lots of Easter Eggs!

Cousin Matthew and little Ethan finding Easter Eggs. Matthew is going to be 17 years old this month. It doesn't seem possible. He is growing up way to fast.

Ethan and Gracie just hanging out together.

Grandma Judy loving on the grandkids. She just loves being a Grandma!

The cousins together... Emma, Gracie, Ethan and Evan. The girls were so glad to get to spend time with the boys. They live 2 hours away. We sure wish they lived closer. They are so precious. I cannot wait till next year and Silas can be in this picture with them. Silas and the boys are only two months apart. So they are going to have lots of fun together!!!

My sweet little twin nephews Ethan and Evan looking at a book we got them for Easter. They sure were checking it out. They are sooo sweet.

My mom got Silas some things for Easter. She also filled an Easter Basket of donations for us to take to the Orphanage when we travel to pick up Silas. She is a pretty proud Grandma. I know Silas is going to love you. Thanks Mom!!!

After my mom's house we headed to our neighbor's...

Emma and Gracie at our neighbor's house. They had an Easter Egg Hunt for the girls. They have been looking forward to this for days.

Emma and Gracie walking home with all of their goodies from the Easter Egg Hunt. They had such a wonderful time. Thank you ... to the Szoke Family.

Gracie enjoyed opening all of her eggs and seeing what was inside. Her favorite thing she opened was the rings. She just loves jewelry. That's my girl!

Emma opening her eggs up to see what she got inside. Lots of neat little prizes. She got so excited with each egg she opened. She was making me laugh:)!

Easter Sunday...

Gracie holding up her new High School Musical P.J's. Gracie just loves High School Musical and really anything to do with music. She is our little singer.

Emma holding up her new P.J's. As soon as we got home from Church she wanted to wear her new Sponge Bob P.J.'s. So she put them on and went outside to play.

Gracie checking out what the Easter Bunny left for Silas. The girls were so excited about putting a few new things in Silas' room today. They just can hardly wait to have a baby brother to play with. We are ready for Silas to come home. Please continue to pray we pass court on April 30th! Thank you!!!

Gracie and Emma this morning before we left for church.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. May God Bless You! Happy Easter...from the Bogard's

We got an update on Silas E.

2009-04-07T22:12:00.002-04:00

We got an update this morning from a family who just returned home on Friday. It just made our day! Thank you!

" I did see Silas E. when we were in Ethiopia. I actually spent about a half hour with him our first morning there while our daughter was sleeping. He was two Moses baskets down from her and he really caught my eye. I looked over and he was staring at me with a big smile on his face. When I spoke to him he started kicking his legs and smiling even more. He really liked all my baby games (pretending to sneeze in his face, singing) and was smiling the entire time. He was so much fun and very alert. Great eye contact. He's very adorable! I told him his Mommy is coming soon. He looks very healthy!"

We really appreciated you spending time with Silas E. and giving us an update. Thanks again to the Brock family!!!

We Have A Court Date!!!!

2009-04-06T20:47:00.004-04:00

Today we spoke with our caseworker Christy and she talked about her wonderful trip to Ethiopia. (We cannot wait till we get to go!) Then about Silas and she said she would be sending pictures later this week. (Which we cannot wait for!) Then we talked about our court date and we could not believe it is sooo soon, but we are praising God! We pray we pass and we can bring Silas home.

Grace and Emma finding out baby Silas could be coming home soon!

Here is a picture of Grace and Emma when we told them we have a court date!!! They could not stop dancing and yelling.

The girls made signs to announce our court date.

We have court on...

Yes it says April 30th!!! We are so excited!!! It's hard to believe we have a court date in 25 days and we could have Silas home at the end of next month, if we pass court. So please, please, please keep us in your prayers. We are praying very hard!!! If you could please say a prayer for us we would really appreciate it. May God Bless you and your family! Thank you!

Working on Silas's nursery and dance practice for the Mother/Daughter banquet...

2009-03-29T21:29:00.007-04:00

Busy weekend working on Silas's nursery. Out with the pink and brown stripes and in with the blue paint... We have never had anything blue in our house before and we are sooo excited for this change.

Gracie helping paint Silas's bedroom! Our bubby is going to love this room because his new sissy's are helping paint it for him!!! He does like blue right mom? We are going to sure hope so Gracie.

This is Emma helping paint Silas's room! It's not pink anymore mom!!!

Dance Practice...

My dear friend Jennifer is having a Mother/Daughter banquet in honor of her grandmother on May 9th and the proceeds are going toward travel expenses for our Adoption. I feel so blessed to have such good friends. She is putting so much into this... She is having a guest speaker and she is going to share her story about her struggles with fertility, a christian singer, several raffles (which my good friend Becky is helping Jennifer out on this and she has been very busy getting lots of donations) (Thank You!!!), having it catered with lots of yummy food...(the lady catering it is struggling with fertility and she was very excited to help out and she is donating so much to this event), then we are going to show our video of our Journey to Ethiopia so far...
and share facts and information on adoption and Ethiopia. Then she is going to end by having 16 little girls perform a dance for the farewell.

Gracie, Raegan, Madison and Emma practicing for the mother/daughter banquet dance.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We continue to pray for our caseworker Christy while she is in Ethiopia and for Aubrey and her family while they are picking up a precious little girl this week, Maria as she travels this coming weekend to bring home her sweet baby girl, court this week for Dawn, Kristi and Tisha for a referral and Jess, Naomi and I for court dates!!! May God Bless You and Your Family.

Fun pictures from this past week...

2009-03-28T18:42:00.005-04:00

Happy 8th Birthday Gracie! This week we celebrated Gracie's birthday. She had a skating party at sk8 sport. Several friends and family members came to celebrate her big day. She was so proud that she got her birthday wish. Her wish was to get a baby brother. We got our referral on March 2nd for Silas. Graice says God does answer our prayers! Silas also celebrated his 4 month birthday on the same day.

Swimming lesson started this week. Yay!!! The girls had a really good time. They go two times a week for next five weeks. So hopefully they become good swimmers for this summer. The above picture is Madison (the girl's good little friend), Emma and Gracie.

Thanks for checking in. We hope you have a great weekend. We are praying for a court date real soon! May God Bless you and your family.

Welcome!

2009-03-24T21:33:00.000-04:00

Well this is it! We have started our blog. We invite everyone to join us while we move along this journey to bring Silas home from Ethiopia. So please check back frequently for updates, news, chatter and pictures. This page allows you to make comments to our different post, so please use the comment feature to let us know your thoughts, encouraging words, questions or whatever you wish.

A little about us: We are Cory and Angie Bogard we have been married 9 1/2 years and we are blessed to have two beautiful daughters Grace who just turned 8 yesterday HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!!! and Emma who is 6 years old MOMMY LOVE YOU!!! We are in the process of adopting a son from Ethiopia and his name is Silas E. who is 4 months old yesterday HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!

Thanks for reading our blog! I hope you enjoy following us on our journey to bring Silas home!