Video of Natalie's first year home

Here's a six minute video of Natalie's first year home with us. How she's changed!

The day we met Natalie

A year ago today we met Natalie. She hated us. Here's our favorite video of her reaction. At the time we were so stressed out. Now, we look back at these videos and laugh. Note Sister Marta's terrible timing...

A Walk to Beautiful

The Fistula Hospital lies just down the road from where we stayed in Addis Ababa. The hospital helps women who've developed incontinence problems after prolonged labors (which is very common in the rural areas where there are few doctors). Their work transforms lives.

The video follows the heartwrenching stories of three young women. It's an amazing piece. I don't know how good the Utube quality is. If you have Netflix it's available to watch instantly.

One Day, Two Adoptions--Whew!

We had a big day at the Taupes. Two adoptions in the family! (kind of).

We "re-validated" Natalie's adoption which means she's now officially a U.S. citizen (we've been her legal parents since Dec. 29, 2009 but Natalie was just a "permanent resident" of the U.S.)

Now, with the "re-validation" she'll get a new birth certificate plus she'll get a Certificate of Citizenship (if we hadn't re-validated the adoption and Natalie committed some crime as an adult she could have been deported because she wasn't a citizen. Now she can't). Natalie's been practicing saying "I'm American" all day. :-)

Even bigger news: Pat legally adopted Wes today! For those of you who don't know our story, Wes' first dad died when Wes was a baby. Since Wes was eight years old he's thought of Pat as his dad. Now, it's legal. Wes will get a new birth certificate, too.

Congrats to Pat and our two kiddos!

Oh....the Christmas Disco

Havin' a bit of fun for Christmas with the Krazy Kidz Krew. Nothing is more fun than Disco!!
Enjoy!