Time at the park
Enjoyed hanging out at the park recently with the kids. Evan is into going down the slide head-first. This was a quick moment between slides.
International Snow Sculpture Championships
Speaking of Breckenridge, we actually went up there a couple of weeks ago to see the International Snow Sculpture Championships. Each year, there is an event with snow sculptures being built and judged for their artistry. The snow sculptures were pretty unbelievable. Below are some of the pictures that we took, but we thought it was interesting to learn about some of the history of the event and the process that the artists go through to create their sculptures.
This one was called Constant Motion. We thought it was appropriate to take Ellie's picture in front of it!
Skiing in Breckenridge
We've enjoyed getting into the Colorado lifestyle with a little time in mountains every now and then. I took Hannah and Ellie out skiing today and we had a really good time. Spent a few runs on the bunny hill and then made our way up the mountain so they could get a few runs in on the green hills and try out the real thing. Ellie really had to learn that you have to go across the hill to prevent going too fast. In fact, on our first run higher up on the mountain, Hannah had fallen and while I was trying to help her up, Ellie took off down the hill because she was so excited. She made it over a ridge to the next green while I was still working with Hannah and a couple of seconds later I decided I had to chase her. By that time, she was already at the bottom of that first hill with a ski patrol guy having caught a crying Ellie. So that was a bit of a lesson for her, but once we got all of that straightened out (after waiting for 5 or 10 minutes, I had to walk back up the hill to find Hannah), we worked out the back-and-forth, nice-and-slow approach and they started to figure that out. Here is a little bit of video of the girls working out their new skills as they made their way down the mountain.
We also made a couple of stops for pictures along the way and caught a quick shot of them while we were chowing down on hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch at the Vista Haus up on the mountain.
The Known Universe
I love this kind of illustration for something so huge. A bit mind-blowing. I would suggest clicking the full-screen icon in the bottom-right and watching it that way!
Going to see Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is one of my favorites. They're a country band, but the have a pretty unique style that I think is a little raw and not so polished as you get with several of the country artists these days. I found out that they are going to be at Red Rocks in September, so we jumped at the chance to go! Here is a video from the CMT Country Music Awards show recently:
Evan J. Hale
Evan came into the world at 1:58pm this afternoon. We had quite a journey getting there though!
First of all, he wasn't really ever supposed to be here in the first place. Ten years ago, we stood in front of a screen while our doctor completed a test to see if we could have more children. After having tubal pregnancies both before and after Hannah, the doctor told us that it wouldn't be possible. After adopting both Ellie and Julia, we found out that Evan was determined to defy the odds!
Last night, we came to the hospital to be induced. We started at about 10pm having some initial preparation medications and then this morning they started the Oxytocin to begin the contractions. A couple of hours later, they broke the water and then shortly after gave Gina the epidural. After that, they started an exam, so I walked out to go talk to the grandparents who were down in the waiting room. Suddenly, nurse Amy, who was doing the exam, appeared around the corner into the waiting room and started waving me back to the room. On the way back to the room, she told me, "Gina is 7 cm and I just shook hands with the baby!" I thought she meant that things were just moving quicker than expected, but she meant it pretty literally. Turns out that he had pushed his hand and part of his arm out and as the nurse was doing the examination, he grabbed her finger!
The lead nurse tried to push the hand back in a little bit, but he wasn't having any of it. He actually pushed it out even further, so they called Dr. Franco to come and check it out. He decided that they needed to do a C-section right away, so they put the surgical stuff on us and out the door we went! The C-section happened within the next twenty minutes and we were seeing Evan. Awesome!
Here are a few pictures from our day today:
Julia Joy Hale
We made it home last night and were able to spend a few hours with my parents and the girls before we crashed. We had a little picture-sharing and story-telling time this morning and are trying to rest up. Just before coming home, I started putting together a quick slide show which I finished a little bit ago. We'll do some additional videos once we get all of the grandparents together with Julia, but I thought this was fun, so we put together a few pictures and some music. Hope you enjoy!
Julia Joy Hale from Ryan Hale on Vimeo.
We made it!
The last few days have been interesting, like a civics lesson in Ethiopian government and adoption process. As mentioned in my last post, we met the birth parents and then they went back to Awasa. On Tuesday night, we decided that we really needed to try to head home and with some skyrocketing airline prices, we decided to give it a shot while the gettin' was good. Without the court decision finalized, we went ahead and booked the tickets, and almost didn't make it. Thankfully it all came together.
The Shalom orphanage had to write a new history for Julia based on the new facts with the birth father in the picture, so they did that on Tuesday afternoon and then drove it to Addis early on Wednesday morning. Mekonnen received that and brought it to the court where we immediately took it to the judge. She accepted the documents but told us to come back at 2pm for the final decision. Mekonnen explained that the embassy was waiting on us with this decision, so she was willing to do it a little quicker for us and asked that we return at noon. Firew, Sisay's assistant went and retrieved the paperwork at that time but then several additional administrative steps needed to be completed before we were able to get the final stamp. They needed to receive the documents, send them to the secretarial department where it was typed up and then reviewed for accuracy, re-typed to fix the errors, and then certified and stamped for the archives. Firew was like a streak, going from one department to the next and begging them to complete the work in each office quickly.
Finally, about 2:30, we finished all of the court process and then we headed to translation office to get that done. While there, around 2:45, I called the embassy where they told me we would have to be there by 4:00 with everything in-hand to be able to get the visa. We felt fortunate that they would do that because that process typically takes a couple of days, but they were well-aware of our situation and were very helpful! Thankfully, the translation office finished their part in a half-hour and then the biggest part of the coordination had to take place. Gina and Julia were at the guest house, Sisay had Julia's passport at the Bethany offices, and, in all of the hubbub with our problem, we realized that our family had never filled out the I-600 form. In addition, we started leafing through the translation and noticed that my name was spelled R-i-a-n instead of R-y-a-n, so Firew had to jump out, run back to the translation office, and get that changed in the documentation while Mekonnen and I flew to the embassy so we were there and reserving a place in line. Gina's driver, Efram, picked up Firew on the way and then she arrived, followed immediately by Sisay in the car directly behind at 3:55. Gina and Sisay were able to make it through security and up to the visa portion of the embassy by 3:58, so we made it! We worked our way through the interview and then they printed the visa on the spot and we were on our way.
Congratulations all around ensued after we were out of the embassy and then we gathered for dinner, along with Birtukan and Nesibu, our guest house hosts, to celebrate before we made our way to the airport for our flight that night. Now, we're in Frankfurt, Germany, and waiting for a few more hours before our flight on to Denver to arrive this afternoon.
I think Gina and I will send something more formal along to the Bethany offices, but I want to take a moment to just say how thankful we were for everyone in Ethiopia for working with us to solve the problems we had. Yes, there were mistakes made, and while in the middle of the situation there were times when we were pretty frustrated about the whole thing, but everyone worked so hard to put everything back on track and to move things forward as quickly as possible. Mekonnen, himself, dedicated over a week and a half of time to personally see things through. Sisay and Firew both played critical roles in getting everything accomplished, and they all did it seemingly without complaint. At the same time, Nesibu and Birtukan took us in and treated us, literally, as part of their family, caring for us, feeding us, and praying with us throughout the process of resolving the problems. They were on our side the entire way!
So, we're done and on our way. We realized that we had posted a premature blog picture of Julia a couple of days ago, but now, since we're official and on our way home, we thought it might be fun to post a few more! You can see our public albums online, but here are a few highlights. Enjoy!
Still chugging along in Addis
Still another night in Addis after new surprises with the court process. We sent an email to our parents earlier this afternoon with the update. Here is that email:
Well today’s news came out of left field… When Ryan et al. went to court today the boyfriend of the birthmother spoke up and said he was
the father. It was a very long story and a very long morning for Ryan, but in the end they testified in the federal court that they are relinquishing their rights as parents.
However, the paperwork that was written and stamped last week in Awassa needs to be updated to include him as birthfather. They are working on that today and a representative from the orphanage will have it in Addis Ababa by the time court opens tomorrow morning. There is no need to repeat the entire process that they went through with the birthmother since they aren’t married.
So, we try again tomorrow. Legally, they are done and will return to Awassa today, but we need this history to be accurate before the judge will give her final stamp.
After court, Ryan and Mikkonen came to pick up Julia and me to have a meeting with the birth parents. I was very nervous since we don’t have that last stamp from the judge, but Mikkonen reassured us that they weren’t interested in pursuing any challenge to the adoption and
that they were just interested in saying goodbye to Julia. We spent a few hours with them, both at the Bethany office and at a restaurant
where we were able to video them and take several pictures. We think that will be good for Julia someday when she is able to understand
about her adoption.
We believe that we will be coming home tomorrow and probably arrive in Denver late in the afternoon on Thursday. We’ll confirm and let you know where we stand as the day progresses.
Hope all is well on the home front! Girls, Mom and Dad love you and we hope we will see you on Thursday!
Ryan and Gina / Mom and Dad
P.S. I (Ryan) took over writing this email during the part about the birth parents. Gina is in the kitchen teaching Birtukan how to use
muffin cake pans for some muffins she is going to try making tonight. Gina and Birtukan made some banana bread over the weekend and got into a big conversation about baking. Birtukan asked about what the difference was between cake and muffins and so Gina was able to
communicate with a family early in the weekend who left on Sunday to travel after just three days notice. They brought the muffin pans so now they’re working on using them for dinner tonight!
Easter celebration in Addis Ababa
We've been having all sorts of new experiences and fun here in Addis. Yesterday afternoon, Nesibu and Birtukan took us over to the golf club but I was then able to take Nesibu out for a round of golf. We played nine holes and had a caddy. Nesibu had never played golf before, so we went out and just alternated holes. The caddy was a golf pro of sorts, so he helped give tips along the way and we had a fun time over a couple of hours playing some golf.
Last night, we returned home and began to get Julia around for bed. Nesibu had told us on Friday that they would be slaughtering a lamb and he had brought one home before we went to the golf club in the afternoon. As we were changing clothes, we heard the bell for the courtyard door ring and shortly after, the sound of blades being sharpened outside of our window. Nesibu came to our door and asked if I wanted to come and see and then take some pictures. Honestly, I was a little reticent, but I went out for the festivities. Nesibu and the butcher held down the lamb and cut its throat while Edu and Rahi, the smallest boys, and myself watched and took pictures. The rest went ahead and stayed inside, which I honestly can't blame them for!
Over the next couple of hours, the lamb was butchered and prepared for the feast that we'll be having in their home today. This is quite an honor for us to be able to stay here and be with their family. Normally, they would be with their families and, I'm told, serve over 50 people on the food that we will have today. I'm sure I can make up a little bit of the slack there, but it is going to be quite a feast!
I didn't take pictures of the most gruesome scenes, but did take a couple of action shots anyway. Here is the butcher and Nesibu just before the slaughter and then Nesibu and Nati butchering the meat and preparing it a couple of hours later.
