Ryan Hale My life and times, stories and happenings

We picked up Julia today!

We hadn't expected that Julia would be going to sleep on Gina's shoulder tonight. We thought that we were going to be hanging out in the guest house and anxiously awaiting to go get Julia from the transition home in the morning. I think our guide saw it on Gina's face though because as soon as we got off the plane and into the car, he asked if we wanted to go get her...or if we wanted to go get lunch. Dummy me (Ryan), I thought he was trying to get us to go get lunch, so I said, "Sure, lunch is fine." Gina says I was just being polite, but it was pretty clear that she was ready to cut to the chase, so we changed course and went to the Shalom House and saw Julia right away. We couldn't have been in Addis more than an hour before Gina was picking her up out of the bouncer that they had her in, complete with white dress and bonnet for her big day! She is a pretty little girl and we're sorry that we can't post those pictures yet, but we will as soon as we can.

We're the first family to arrive, so we're back in the Morning Coffee Guest House with our hosts who have now fixed us lunch and some awesome soup for dinner. The other families are scheduled to arrive in the next few hours and then we will all head back to the home to pick up their children in the morning.

Julia has been great. She didn't cry at all when we picked her up today. She just seemed curious to understand what was going on. She seemed to like getting her hands into my beard and snuggling in with Mom. She can sit up for a little while but eventually falls forward onto her arms. When she lays on her belly, she gets herself propped up on her arms and even started getting to her knees and revving the engine, sort of in the pre-crawl stage. Her appetite had evidently waned when she came up to Addis but the ladies at the home said that she has been eating well since and that seems to be proven out this evening with a couple of bottles and a dinner of cereal, soup, and sweet potatoes.

So now she's out. I've been coughing a bit so that keep stirring her, but we'll take care of that with the Tylenol PM tonight and we'll all sleep well...let's hope. She's a tiny one and we're glad she's ours!