Joseph, Faith & Eve

Joseph lost his first tooth!

>> Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Joseph lost his first tooth at the end of February!!

It was sort of shocking how it happened. The tooth wasn't loose that we knew of. He used his teeth to open the top of his water bottle and it came out. He was so confused that he picked it up and threw it away.

He didn't know that it was even possible for teeth to come out. So, when Tim and I got excited for him he was even more confused! haha!

Winter Break

>> Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Joseph and Faith had a Winter Break for 2 1/2 weeks. It was so much fun to have time together as a family! We had a sort of "staycation," and enjoyed doing things close to home!

We found some fun parks to play at with just our family as well as with friends. The kids rode their bikes and they both got better at riding! We also went to the beach and to the fort...since the weather was so great!

Check out some of our pictures over these couple of weeks...

Faith turned 4

>> Sunday, January 6, 2013

Faith's birthday was on January 4th and we were all so excited to be celebrating this precious girl! She's our little princess and she has been such a blessing in our family in so many ways!

We had everyone over to our house for lunch that day! Faith was so excited that it was her turn to have her birthday. I still can't believe she turned 4!

Belle is her favorite princess and she had asked me to make a Belle cake for her. She also got to wear a special shirt with Belle!

Faith's first stitches

>> Sunday, December 30, 2012

I got a phone call from the preschool and the director said, "Faith fell down and you need to take her to the hospital!" I got into the car as fast as I could and soon found out that Faith had a cut on the back of her head. It was obvious that she would need a couple of stitches, but I knew she'd be ok.

I'm actually surprised that Faith hasn't had any other major injuries until now. She's quite clumsy, always falling down or bumping into things. Often times when she's running I find myself yelling, "Faith! Be careful!"

Faith Day

>> Sunday, December 2, 2012

November 21st is Faith Day at the Saltzman house!! It's the anniversary of when we went to Ethiopia and had her in our arms. A few days later we left Ethiopia with this tiny, precious little bundle! Our lives have never been the same. This girl is such a blessing in our lives!! She's full of spunk and laughter, which is so much fun!

She had been so excited about this day for a while. We had decided that we would go to Johnny Rockets and Faith was ready to order Chocolate flavored Coke! What a treat for her!

It's our tradition for Joseph and Faith to wear Ethiopian clothes on this special day. We talk about how we went to the orphanage in Ethiopia on this day and how happy we were to bring Faith into our family!! Faith got a new name that day! She went from being "Bethlehem" to "Faith Bethlehem!"

Preschool Update

>> Saturday, November 10, 2012

It's been more than a month since I've written about the preschool. It seems like so much has happened in this last month! It's been a huge learning curve for the kids and for us. But, thankfully, Joseph and Faith really love going to school!

Halloween in the Middle East

>> Sunday, November 4, 2012

Last Wednesday before the kids went to preschool, Joseph announced, "Today is Halloween and we need to dress up!" I'm not sure where he got the idea that it's Halloween since it's not a public holiday. Stores don't have decorations. Only a few restaurants are decorated. I know his friends at preschool don't talk about it, they don't know what it is.

So, we found a couple of costumes that we have and pretended like we were in America, dressing up for Halloween. Joseph was Spiderman and Faith was princess Reepunzel (as she calls her).

Preschool Happenings

>> Friday, October 5, 2012

Joseph and Faith love school! It's such a joy to hear them say, "I love school, Mommy!" They wear uniforms three days a week and "sports clothes" on the other two days. One day they came home with a note that said they should wear "party clothes" on Thursday, since they were having a party. Here they are in their party clothes.

Of course they were excited about a party, who isn't? They came home that day full of sugar, but very happy! It was a special day for the preschool.

Fun at the Beach

Last week we decided to pack sandwiches and go to the beach. We brought snacks and sand toys to share! Even though we live on an island we have to drive 45 minutes to get to a beach. It was a fun time.

I couldn't help but compare this beach time to previous years when our kids were younger. Now Joseph is one of the oldest kids and they're swimming out farther in the water! It's fun to watch them grow up!

swimming weather

It's cooling off a little here in the Middle East...enough to go swimming again! There were a couple of months that were just too hot to go swimming. The water temperature had risen to where it wasn't refreshing to be swimming.

Joseph and Faith love swimming and it's so much fun to watch them continue to improve in their swimming abilities! Faith loves wearing her swimming suit without floaties, but she's not quite confident to swim without help. She watches Joseph swimming all over the pool, though, and wants to be able to do what he does!

Enjoy some of our swimming pictures below...

School Started!!

>> Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Joseph & Faith started school on Sunday at the local preschool/kindergarten. (Sunday is the first day of the work week here.) Both of the kids were so excited that they hardly slept the night before the first day!! They had picked out their backpacks and their uniforms were ready!

You can see how excited they are by how they're running to their school in this picture.

I, on the other hand, was nervous. I tried not to show them that I was nervous. I was concerned about the language barrier and cultural differences because this school is in the village and they only speak Arabic there. After the first day I was happy and the second day went even better! Today, the third day, the kids actually came home speaking some Arabic. I was worried for no reason. Both Jojo and Faith have come home each day telling me how much they love their school!

Jojo turned 5!!!

>> Friday, September 7, 2012

Joseph's Birthday was on Tuesday, September 4th. We were all really excited to celebrate this wonderful boy. I'm still so often amazed that we are blessed to have him in our family! He's so vibrant and full of personality!!

He was SO HAPPY all day on Tuesday. Right away when we got up we made sure to make it special! After Tim got home from work and the kids took a nap, we headed to the mall to build-a-bear! This was something that he has been looking forward to for a long time! For dinner Joseph wanted McDonalds...big surprise!

We had a party on Wednesday evening at our house too! I love this boy! I want him to feel loved and honored on his birthday. He's such a special gift from God!

Dancing Pics

>> Saturday, August 25, 2012

Joseph and Faith love to watch SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance) with us! Faith says, "Mommy, can we watch 'So We Think We Can Dance'?" They love to try to do the dance moves with the dancers...it's fun to watch!

School Uniforms

>> Wednesday, August 15, 2012

One of the things we needed to do to get ready for school was go to the tailor and get Joseph's and Faith's uniforms made. When I registered them at the local preschool, I paid for uniforms. I thought it was pretty cheap for a uniform and then I realized that I only bought the fabric.

This was a new experience for me. I had to take the fabric to the tailor to make the uniforms. Thankfully I've been to the tailor a few times lately, but I still didn't know which style to ask for. Joseph's was easy, but Faith's was more difficult. I am still hoping that I chose the right style for hers.

Olympic Friday

>> Sunday, August 5, 2012

On Friday I got to teach the kids at Friday School. (We have church on Friday mornings.) I used the Olympics to point the kids to the Bible!

Verses

>> Saturday, July 21, 2012

Joseph and Faith are both very good at learning verses from the Bible! They enjoy it! It keeps me on my toes because I learn the verses with them. Below you can see a couple of videos of them saying their verses!

Swimming in May & June

>> Thursday, June 28, 2012

May & June have been good months for swimming! Both kids have grown so much in their swimming skills, it's been so much fun to watch them!

Just the other day they were holding hands jumping into the pool. Joseph said, "I LOVE swimming, Mommy!" Faith said, "This is fun!" My heart is so full of joy when I see my kids happy!

Below you can see a slide show of some more pictures and a couple videos...

Faith is growing up

>> Friday, June 15, 2012

It's so much fun to watch this girl grow up! She has such a fun personality. I love it when she gets determined to do things that big kids do.

Just this week she blew me away by deciding to jump off of the diving board! After she does these things she feels so empowered and proud of herself!!

B is for butterfly

>> Saturday, May 19, 2012

We're coming to the end of our little preschool group and it sure has been fun! Joseph and Faith can hardly imagine what school is like without Jonathan, Eli, and Morgan!

This week the focus was on B for butterfly. I tried to make it fun since none of us are all that motivated to work hard on academics right now. So, the kids got to play Elefun. They enjoyed catching the butterflies!

Pool Time

>> Friday, May 18, 2012

It sure is heating up here in the Middle East and this week we started swimming at the pool again! It has been fun for the kids and for me.

Superhero Birthday Party

Last week I got to be the photographer at our friend's 3rd birthday party! It was a very fun party with a superhero theme! The kids each got a mask and had to fight ninjas (balloons)! My kids brought their ninjas home with them and kept fighting them for the rest of the day.

J for Juice

>> Saturday, May 12, 2012

Last week the letter of the week in preschool was J! It was especially fun for Joseph and Jonathan! They said, "It's OUR day!!" I agreed with them that the best names start with J! ;)

Part way through the morning I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the village to order some juice! I asked Diana who was in the other room, homeschooling her older daughters. She didn't sign a permission slip or anything, so maybe we shouldn't call it an official "field trip." The kids had a lot of fun!

fun at the park!

>> Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I took the kids to a new park yesterday with some Arab friends. It was fun because there is an aviary with several really big birds! Joseph loved the birds!!! Faith loved running through the fountain. She was soaked when we left.

There's a few pictures and videos below:

comparison

>> Friday, May 4, 2012

Here's a fun comparison of how much these kids have changed in one year. It sure is fun to watch these two grow! Each new stage is so much fun!

Joseph's friends

Joseph is a very social boy and loves to interact with the boys in the village. The problem is that there's a language barrier. They don't understand him when he speaks to them in English. I guess we need to work on teaching him Arabic!

The other day he was at the center of this group of boys. He didn't mind being the center of attention! They were trying to practice their English with him. I told them to teach him Arabic!

Jojo Day!!

>> Monday, April 30, 2012

Four years ago, on April 28th, we were in Ethiopia picking up our baby boy. We celebrate this day every year and we call it Jojo Day. Last weekend we celebrated Jojo Day and it was a lot of fun! The first Jojo Day was a lot of fun too, but these kids just keep getting more and more fun! I can't believe we've had our fourth Jojo Day. I look forward to many more Jojo Day celebrations!

This boy is such a blessing in our family! Tim and I agree that we couldn't have picked a better one...God's choice of putting Joseph into our family is best! I love so many things about him. I love that he is so outgoing, happy, caring, silly, energetic, and downright cute!

Z is for Zebra

This week in preschool the kids learned the letter Z! They got to make zebras with toilet paper rolls...they had a lot of fun doing this! Each of the zebras had different colors.

Regular Week

Last week was a nice week for our family. It's the second week of the session at the institute where Tim teaches and we're settled into our new routine. We've been able to be in our community and have been intentional about spending time as a family! We are thankful! Here are a few pictures of our week...

School with Jojo

>> Friday, April 20, 2012

Between traveling, back pain, out of town visitors, and sickness I haven't taught the preschool group for a while. So, it's just been Joseph and me doing school.

It's been such a sweet time that makes me look forward to officially starting homeschool this fall!

Random Pictures

I take a lot of pictures of my kids throughout the week. I want so much to treasure this time when they are little and so cute! I wish I could somehow save these moments that are so precious and I know it's going by so quickly.

So, I'm including some of the random, fun pictures that I took this week. I hope you enjoy them! I sure enjoy these kids.

Easter Egg Hunt

>> Monday, April 9, 2012

On Easter morning we had an egg hunt for the kids! It was a lot of fun. They all loved it and the parents enjoyed watching them! What a blessing to have so many friends to do this with and a fun yard to hide the eggs in!

Happy Easter!

>> Thursday, April 5, 2012

Happy Easter from Joseph and Faith!

Friday School

When we are in the States we go to church on Sundays and the kids go to Sunday School. Here in the Middle East we have church on Fridays. The kids have a lesson and some play time while the parents have prayer time and a Bible study.

These kids are really close in age and they have a lot of fun together! We tried to have some play time outside before it got hot...the kids liked that! We even got a picture of the kids all together before they started playing!!

Jojo's pictures

>> Thursday, March 8, 2012

Here's a slideshow of the pictures Jojo took in February. I always like to see what life has been like through his eyes!

letter G

Today we worked on the letter G and reading three letter words! These kids are so smart. Sometimes I can't believe how much they can do.

Faith's Hair

>> Wednesday, March 7, 2012

I sure do love Faith's hair. It's different than what I've been used to, but I'm slowly learning how to take care of it. I'm so thankful for the times that I can take her in to get her hair braided at the Ethiopian salon! They are SO good at it! They are also such sweet ladies!

Whenever we get ready to go there, Faith starts practicing the greeting that we know in Amharic. Today she walked into the salon and greeted the ladies. They kissed her and said, "Look how big she's getting!"

Our Cats

I have been asking Tim to get me a pet bird, but he thinks they would be loud and messy. Don't tell him, but...he might be right.

Instead of birds, we have had some cats coming around to visit us. They like it when we put a little bit of milk out for them. Joseph and Faith love to watch them drink the milk! It's fun to watch the kids and the cats!

i is for insect

>> Thursday, March 1, 2012

This was a fun week in preschool! I love teaching these kids and they seem to love learning!

They learned about the letter i for insects. We talked about time to the hour. I was surprised at how well they understood this! After learning about the clock, they heard the story "Grouchy Ladybug."

W is for Water

>> Thursday, February 23, 2012

This week the kids were focusing on the letter W for water. On Monday they learned about how water can be solid, liquid or gas with Rachel.

I decided to have them paint with water...I mixed some paint with water and gave them a straw to blow it around on their paper! It was fun!

O is for octopus

>> Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Last week in preschool we talked about the letter o for octopus! The kids are starting to read more three letter words. It's fun to watch them put it together!

On Wednesday we made an octopus by tracing the kids' hands. They used finger paint to make an ocean scene...it was fun!

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