Faith's 7th Birthday!!

Faith turned 7 years old on January 4th. She's such a special part of our family and it was so much fun to celebrate her birthday. She's grown up so much over the last year especially with her new role as a big sister. She's such a blessing and we couldn't be more thankful for her!

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Joseph's 8th Birthday!!

Joseph turned 8 years old on September 4th. We always love celebrating things in our family. Joseph talked about this year's celebration for weeks! He asked us if we could go to a water park as a family for his birthday and we said yes! He also got to have a few neighbor friends over for some cake and ice-cream.

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Faith has lost 2 teeth!

Faith has been growing so much! It's crazy to look back a few years ago to when she only had two teeth. Now, she has lost both of those first two teeth.

It's been so much fun for Faith to have her turn at loosing teeth! She loves walking around with a hole in her mouth.

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Faith's 6th Birthday

Faith turned SIX on January 4th! She is growing up! We all loved celebrating her birthday at Nammy & Papa's house. Can you see the picture on her cake? It's Elsa...her favorite character from the movie, Frozen.

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Christmas Play

Since we were in Albuquerque this fall, Joseph and Faith had the opportunity to be in a Christmas Pageant at church. They are both so outgoing and I knew that they'd love to do this! I'm really not sure if they enjoyed it more or if I did... This was such a good experience for us!

Joseph played King Herod and Faith was a villager from Bethlehem who helped the Wise Men find the baby. They both had several lines and they did really great! They also learned songs and dances with the whole group. All of it was so much fun!

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Faith Day 2014

Every year, on November 21st, we celebrate the day that Faith came into our family. Some people call it "Adoption Day" or "Gotcha Day." We call call it "Faith Day!"

This year we got to celebrate Faith Day in Albuquerque! We started the day out by going to get donuts with just the four of us! Faith had to have a pink donut with sprinkles!

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Jojo's 7th Birthday

Joseph had such a fun birthday in America! We actually got to celebrate a few times, which made it extra special! Once he got to open presents with Grandma & Grampa, once with just our family, and once with friends and Nammy & Papa's at Chuck-E-Cheese's!

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Photo Book

I just finished working on a photo book for Joseph and Faith of their last 3 years in the Middle East. It's been so good for me to reflect on our time here. Joseph and Faith are blessed with a lot of great memories and good friends!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

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Lip Sync Contest

Last week we went to a Lip Sync Contest. Joseph and Faith loved participating! They practiced their songs for a week ahead of time. Faith's song was "Let It Go" from Frozen and Joseph's song was "Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie.

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Faith's Preschool Graduation

On Thursday, June 5th, Faith graduated from preschool!

A few weeks ago they took this picture of her in a cap & gown. The sash she's wearing says, "Congratulations on graduating from the Little Dears Preschool." She's holding her certificate.

Last year Joseph graduated from the same preschool. They had a simple graduation ceremony at the preschool for his class. But this year they held the graduation in a party hall.  Below you can see pictures & videos from her graduation ceremony.

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Riding on 2 wheels!!!

It has been fun to watch Joseph go from struggling with his bike to LOVING riding his bike! He has learned how to ride without his training wheels and we're so proud of him!!

What a joy to celebrate this milestone in his life!

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Jojo Day 2014

This year on April 28th we celebrated 6 years since Joseph joined our family. We call this day "Jojo Day!" It's always so sweet to look back and see how God has blessed our family with such a great boy!

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Here's another comparison photo. We have some friends who live in the same apartment we lived in when Faith was a baby. Just being there brings back so many memories. This is a picture by the front door.

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Faith's 5th Birthday

Faith turned five years old on January 4th!

She was really blessed this year to have her Nammy & Papa here to celebrate with her!

She also got several different celebrations this year because the Christmas Reading had to be scheduled on her actual birthday. The day after her birthday was her big party at her school!!

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Isn't it fun to see how much kids change in just one year?

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Faith Day 2013

Every year we celebrate "Faith Day," which is the anniversary of Faith's adoption. This is a special day for our family as we remember the day that we became a family of four! It's tradition for the kids to put on their Ethiopian clothes. We're thankful for our precious Ethiopian born children!

We had a short photo shoot at a beach before dinner. I love taking pictures of these kiddos!



There's something really special about Faith's smile! It's hard not to smile when she's smiling. Her laugh is also contagious! This picture was probably my favorite from the photo shoot. What a great girl!!

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Joseph's 6th birthday

Joseph's birthday is September 4th and this year he turned 6!! Yesterday it was fun to hear him walking around the house saying, "I'm six years old now!"

We had a Spiderman theme this year and we invited a bunch of his friends from his preschool class and from the village. It was the first time I had done a birthday party with local kids...I was pretty nervous.

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Faith started preschool

Faith's first day of preschool was Wednesday this week. She was so excited to go back to the local preschool and be with her friends again! She has a new teacher this year. Joseph's teacher from last year (whom we LOVE) is her teacher this year! 

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Starting Homeschool

We have officially finished our second week of homeschooling!! It's definitely been an adjustment for all of us, but it's been so good! We're all enjoying learning!

Joseph is doing kindergarten at homeschool and Faith will be going to preschool again this year. So, she's been coming in and out of our schooling time. It's fun to see that they're both learning! 

I have missed teaching, so I've been looking forward to this! I guess I didn't realize how much I'd really enjoy it. I feel so blessed to be able to do this! We start our day with prayer (something I didn't get to do as a classroom teacher) and both kids want to pray! I have finished prayer time with tears in my eyes a few times now. They have such a simple faith I love to hear them ask God for help! He's been good to us!

Here's a few pictures from our first couple of weeks of school:

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Preschool Graduation

On Tuesday, June 4th, Joseph graduated from preschool!

They took this picture of him in a cap & gown and put it in a frame for a gift! I love this picture!!! The sash he's wearing says "Congratulations on graduating from The Little Dears Preschool!" 

Below you can see some pictures and videos of his little graduation ceremony! 

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outdoor fun

The days have been pretty hot lately, but the evenings are still cool enough to be outside. We've had some fun times outside during this time! One day we found a really great park! We didn't even know it existed and it's very close to us!

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Random Preschool Post

It seems that there's been a lot happening at the preschool lately. They've been learning a lot and having lots of special days  too! They've had field trips and party days...most of it I don't have pictures of. bummer.

Joseph's teacher started a chat group with all of the mom's of the boys in his class. That's been fun! She'll post pictures sometimes!

Faith's teacher has gotten sick and had to leave, so they have a sub for the rest of the year. It doesn't seem to bother Faith at all. She's got so many friends, that's the best part for her!

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New Cats!

Aunt Melissa got new kittens and we were so excited to meet them!

I talked with the kids before we got there about how to be gentle with them since they're still new and they're babies. They did a pretty good job! There was one time that they did something to make Faith laugh really hard! (He laugh can be really loud.) It made the kittens scared and they ran off! haha!!

Here's a few pictures and one video of the kids and the kittens.

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Jojo Day!

April 28th is Jojo Day! It's the date that we officially had Joseph in our arms. We took him from the orphanage and he was no longer an orphan! That is the date that our lives changed forever! We were no longer just the two of us. We became a family of three. What a ride it has been! We are so amazed at what a blessing this boy has been and continues to be! His personality is so much fun. He keeps us entertained at all times.

This year we celebrated 5 years with him! Five wonderful years with my favorite boy!

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Another tooth is gone!

Joseph lost his second tooth the same day as the Easter Reading. We were all exhausted that evening. The kids went to bed and I laid down on the couch. I was surprised when he got up after he was down for the night. He came out and brought me his tooth! I couldn't believe it! His first adult tooth came in and pushed his second baby tooth out.

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Easter Baskets at Preschool

Joseph and Faith were so excited about Easter! They brought Easter Baskets to give to their friends at
school. Their friends didn't understand what it was, but they were happy about their gifts. Inside to baskets they got candy and a picture of Jesus with a verse on it.















Here's a few pictures of their classmates with their baskets! What fun it was to give these out!

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Random Feb/Mar pics

This is a pic of the kids' first face painting experience! So fun!

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friends at school

Here's a few pictures of Joseph and Faith with their friends at school! They really love their friends! When they come home talking about the fun times that they have with their friends at preschool, it makes us happy! Even thought it's hard to send them.

Joseph has only boys in his class.

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Joseph lost his first tooth!

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!

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Winter Break

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...

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Faith turned 4

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!

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Faith's first stitches

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!"

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Faith Day

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!"

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Preschool Update

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!

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Halloween in the Middle East

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).

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Preschool Happenings

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.

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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!

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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...

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School Started!!

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!

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Jojo turned 5!!!

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!

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