Favorite Photo Friday

I know it's Saturday...I'm a little behind. Here's our favorite photo this week:

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Ethiopia videos

I came across these videos from Ethiopia. I thought they were both good. It's a good picture of my children's birth country. :)

This first one is 8 min long....so if you have time, enjoy! I enjoyed watching it, because it just gives a good idea of what Ethiopia is like.

Ethiopia: The Whole Picture from Paul Hassell on Vimeo.

This one shows a visit in an Ethiopian home including the traditional coffee ceremony. I thought it was a very nice video!

Coffee Ceremony from Paul Hassell on Vimeo.

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Favorite Photo Friday

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Faith has been with us for 6 months!!

I just finished Faith's 6 month post placement report. It's crazy how time flies. Time sure passed slowly during the waiting period. We're enjoying this little girl so much! She is such a blessing to our family. She just fits in so well! Joseph loves her too. He's often giving her hugs and kisses. She loves to be wherever he is. I hope that as they grow up they'll continue playing together so well.

We've enjoyed watching this precious girl grow! She's as healthy as can be now. She changed so much in 6 months and we're especially thankful for her health! She only has two teeth, but two more on the top keep threatening to come in. We'll all be much happier when they finally break through. She's getting closer and closer to walking. She loves reading books and singing songs. She has started saying and signing some words.

Here's a video of Faith communicating:

Faith "talking" from Tim and Jeni Saltzman on Vimeo.

Here are the 13 pictures that we included in the report we sent to Ethiopia:

Faith, we love you sooo much and we always will! :)

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Jojo Day 2010

Today is Jojo day! We had Joseph in our arms two years ago, April 28th. In the adoption world this day is called "Gotcha Day!" I'm not sure whether we got him or he got us. This little boy sure has changed our life. We see things with a new perspective since he joined our family. Joseph sees everything and everyone as FUN!! He's full of life, always ready to run, jump, and explore! He doesn't stop for very long. Sometimes just long enough to watch Jungle Book 2 - another fun adoption story!

Every year we need to write a post placement report and include pictures. Here are the 12 pictures I included in the report:

Here's a slideshow of Jojo pics over the last year. It's been a year of transition. We've moved twice, traveled a lot, and added Faith to our family. We're thankful that the transitions are over and we can just enjoy being a family of four! Today we're especially thankful for Joseph!!

We're thankful for friends who celebrate this blessing with us.

We dressed the kids up in Ethiopian clothing before we went out for ice-cream to celebrate. Here's a couple pictures of our kids all dressed up:

Here's a short little video of Joseph saying, "Jojo Day!"

Jojo Day! from Tim and Jeni Saltzman on Vimeo.

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catching up

It has been a while since I've updated this adoption blog. Not much adoption news lately, I guess. I've been updated our family blog more. Check it out if you'd like! I'm not sure what I'll do with this blog...I'm still deciding. It's an adoption blog and our adoptions are complete. But, at the same time, I know our lives will always be about adoption...our kids are adopted and we love adoption!!!

Well, since we last updated, we celebrated Faith's first birthday.

Here's a slide show of her party! She sure is growing up fast! She already has two teeth and she loves to be on her feet! She's such a blessing!!

Tim's parents came out here to visit and we had such a great time with them! Here's a pic of all of us together:

We were excited to meet another family that lives close to us that has adopted two kids from Ethiopia. Here's a picture of their kids and our kids when we met them! We hope to see them again soon. They don't live far, but seeing them does involve a few hours in the car.

I've also been in touch with another family in a nearby city that is beginning their adoption journey! They've chosen to go with the same social worker and agency that we used...wow! It's so great to have more families like us that live close!

In other news...Faith's hair has been growing longer and longer. When Joseph's hair gets too long, we just cut it. I've been putting conditioner in her hair and I've even started putting it into pig tails! It's so cute! Here's a couple pics:

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Two Years Ago

Two years ago today, February 14th, we got a phone call. There was a baby boy waiting for us in Ethiopia. We fell in love with him at first sight!!! It came a little earlier than we expected, but we were thrilled! What a wonderful Valentine's Day gift it was!!

This is Joseph's referral picture:


This is what Joseph looks like now.

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First salon experience!

Today Faith had her first Salon experience! Her hair has definitely gotten long enough to start actually styling it. So, I took her to a great Ethiopian Hair Salon!! It was run by Ethiopians for Ethiopians...pretty cool!

Here's a few pictures of her before she got her hair styled:




Here's some hair style pics:





Here's a slide show of her fun hair style:

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