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Ethiopian Adoption

Two Saltzman Kids!!!

>> Saturday, November 28, 2009

We have two kiddos now!!! Joseph and Faith have enjoyed each other this week. I hope and pray that they will become best friends!! Of course Jojo gets frustrated with us because our attention is a little divided...but I guess he'll get used to it.




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Ready to go!!!

>> Friday, November 20, 2009

We're packed and ready to go to Ethiopia!!!! We leave in just a few hours.

We've worked hard to get all of the immigration paperwork that we'll need to get Faith her IR3 visa to the States. We've filled out the DS230 and the DS30. We have all the paperwork ready to turn in the I600 and the I864. We have travel insurance and health insurance. We even filled out the SS5!!! I feel like I'm speaking a whole different language! haha!!!

Joseph has been "helpful" and he seems to be excited to go get his sister! I think he's in for a little bit of a shock when he realizes he won't be the center of attention. But, I know he'll love her!

Last week we took this picture of Joseph helping us get diapers and formula for Faith. I think we have everything we need. (At least I hope I didn't forget anything.)

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Christmas music

>> Wednesday, November 18, 2009

We love Christmas music!! We can't wait to hear Christmas music like this when we're in the States!!


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2 1/2 days until we leave!!

It's hard to believe that we'll be leaving for Ethiopia in just 2 1/2 days!! It's finally here!! We've been waiting to go get our little girl for so long. We're so ready to have her with us!


We've been working really hard this week to get ready. There's a bunch of paperwork that we need to have ready for the U.S. embassy appointment on Tuesday. This is where we'll get her visa so she can immigrate in as a U.S. citizen!! Because we saw her before her adoption was finalized, she will automatically become a U.S. citizen. :) After we have some time to visit family we will get her passport and then return to our home overseas.

Of course there's lots of things to take care of along the way like paperwork for the passport appointment and her social security number. We also need to get her to a good doctor. She sure has been through a lot with her health. Just last week she was in the hospital overnight for pneumonia. :( So, pray for her to stay healthy during all of this traveling!

I'm totally amazed that we will be in Ethiopia for Thanksgiving!! We'll be extra thankful this year!! I'm not sure I'll be able to eat any turkey, though. I really don't know if I'll be able to put her down.


Maybe I'll put her down long enough for Tim to hold her too!


We're also feeling so blessed to be able to be in the States for Christmas time! We have been in the Middle East for three Christmases and we sure have missed it. This will be a special time to be with family and celebrate the birth of Jesus! :) :) Not to mention, we'll have our own little Christmas baby, with a Christmas name...Faith Bethlehem!

Joseph is talking about the baby all the time too. I think he has a pretty good idea of what's happening with her room set up and looking at pictures of our visit trip. He likes to talk about the dog at the orphanage too.

Anyway, I look forward to having both of my kids together. I'm praying that they'll be good friends as they grow up!



I can't wait to post pictures of her sweet face!! We'll do it as soon as we have clearance to do so!

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Book Review

>> Monday, November 9, 2009

I feel like I've been in moving mode for a while now and it's hard to believe that we're finished!! We're moved into our new apartment and it already feels like home! Everything has a place, the pictures are hung, and the books are on the bookshelf.




As I was unpacking the books, there was one book I just couldn't put away before blogging about it. I have had it since we decided to adopt from Ethiopia, but I hadn't gotten around to actually reading it until a couple months ago. It's a biography about an Ethiopian woman named Haregewoin who rescued many orphans from Ethiopia. The book gets great reviews on every website and blog that I saw about it. The author even has a website. The title of the book is "There Is No Me Without You."






Joseph and Faith were once orphans in Ethiopia and now they are our children. They each have their own stories of how they were abandoned and left for the police to find them. We're grateful that they were found. I hold Joseph so tight sometimes thinking that I can't believe that I get the opportunity to be his mother. I can't wait to hold Faith and to be her mother too!


In the book, "There Is No Me Without You," Haregewoin is critcized by her friends and neighbors for taking in so many orphans. Her response to them really struck me. She said, "How can a child live without a mother?"


She took in many children who, sadly, had to watch their parents die from aids and other diseases. These children had also lived in such awful poverty. It was neat to read about how some of these very children were adopted. The author of the book writes, "It turns out not to be very difficult for children to adapt to electricity and plumbing, a clean water supply, modern medicine, cars, groceries, paved streets, playgrounds, school, shoes, bikes, dance lessons, and loving parents. What is hard - even impossible - is for children to survive the death of their parents without loving substitutes."


I was surprised when I found myself unable to put this book down at night. I read late into the night several times and talked about it nonstop to Tim for a couple weeks. Even my mother, who lives on the other side of the world from me, kept hearing me talk about it! I recommend it to anyone who is willing to allow their hearts to be broken for Ethiopia, for orphans, and for aids vicitms. After reading the book, I found myself feeling so privileged to have a small part in rescuing orphans.

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