Long Time No Post

Why hello there once dedicated readers who have likely given up on the prospect of me ever posting again! It has been a fabulous 2+ months here in Denver and I am excited to finally fill you in on all of our busy-ness.

So in our January post I talked about our first Snowshoeing trip to Brainard Lake. Since then we have gone three more times- including two overnights! I have definitely taken to the snowshoeing and camping more than I did to snowboarding (though I am still happy to keep trying to learn the snowboard thing!) I think it is just easier..and a bit more peaceful.

The first trip was with a few friends to the Bear Lake area in Indian Peaks Wilderness. We hiked for two or three hours and it was snowing the whole time- pretty fun! The next trip, which we took the last weekend in February was in the James Peak Wilderness off of the East Portal Trailhead. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot- we got the last spot! It was pretty crowded- with quite a few backcountry skiers- but no one else stayed the night.

We (or, more accurately, Sean)built our first snow cave! It was roomy and warm and pretty awesome. It was built pretty quickly, and just off of the trail.








It was so much fun! The first picture is of Sean using the probe to measure the snow in order to make sure that we had enough space to build a solid snow cave. Sean melted snow and boiled the water to pour into bottles for us to throw in the sleeping bags. It made for a much more pleasant experience! We also just used the Mountain House dehydrated meals so were able to just throw a couple of cups of water into the bag of food and have a great meal in nine minutes. We love this method because it involves no dirty dishes- just a bag we can throw away.

For the last weekend in March we went to Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked up to Ouzel (pronounced ooze-le) Falls on the Wild Basin Trail. We filled out a backcountry permit and hiked. The first two miles were on a road that is actually open in the summer- it is frustrating to hike along a road! It feelsl ike it is taking that much longer to get to the wilderness. Even though we were hiking just two days after a blizzard hit Denver we didn't need our snow shoes for the first 3+ miles of the hike. The best part was that when we got to the fork in the trail where the trail splits into two with the second spoke going to backcountry camp sites. We had to forge the trail the entire way to an adequate camp site- it was obvious no one had camped back there in a long, long time.

Once we decided on a spot to set up our new four-season tent (yippeee hooray!!!) we stomped out a sleeping space (Not flat enough as our backs found out the hard way later that evening)and set up the tent. It is much bigger then our 3-season and it has two vestibuels (so Sean can be setting up the stove in the front vestibule while I load clothes/sleeping bags in through the back vestibule etc.) this one change made a huge difference in both getting camp set up quickly and breaking camp quickly.








In these shots you can see our new tent (and Sean in the vestibule), our backcountry camping permit and a sign that reads "All stock except for llamas permitted"

So it was nice to get out to the woods even during the winter- but it did make me very anxious for the colors that come out during Colorado's springs and summers...once this snow melts there will be many more trip reports!

Thomas Drew Helfrich

On January 12th Thomas Drew Helfrich joined big sisters Kaitlyn and Carrie and big brother Matty as Danny and Kristie's fourth child. He is adorable, wide-eyed and healthy. Kristie is doing great and Tommy has already seen his first round of visitors. Welcome to the world Tommy! Your Unlce Sean and Aunt Sarah can't wait to meet you!

JANUARY

I know it is not over yet...but it's been so long since I've updated I figured I should at least let you all know that we are still alive and still having a fabulous time in Colorado.

Our mountain adventures have not ended, they've just adapted for the winter. Sean has gone snowboarding every weekend (except one) since the beginning of December. I have joined him twice and will continue to learn. Learning out west is great because even though I keep falling, I keep falling into fresh soft powder. I am excited to keep learning, but I think that even when I really really get it I won't go boarding every week. Sean has visited every mountain on our Colorado Ski Pass at least once (Vail, Beavercreek, Brekenridge, Arapahoe Basin and Keystone). We've been really gooad about leaving by 6:00 in the morning to beat the traffic. It only takes making the terrible mistake of sleeping in until 8am once to learn what traffic can really be like heading to the mountains. Drving home is always trafficky- but you're usually too tired to care.

We had our second overnight guest when our buddy Brendan came out in Early January from Philadelphia. He tok his firt plane trip since he was a little kid and braved a connecting flight and all. He and Sean went to A-Basin on Friday (while I worked hard) and we+Chad trucked it to Vail early Saturday morning. Sean gave me my second snowboard lesson and I was connecting turns by the end of it so I can't complain...it will still take some getting used to.




Another big highlight has been snowshoeing. Extra special thanks to both sets of our parents for helping us get what we needed to begin those adventures! Snowshoeing is an incredible way to experience Colorado in the winter. We went this past Saturday and it was 45 degrees, beautiful and sunny, and still plenty of snow to have fun in. We went to Brainard Lake(along with about 125 other people)and had a perfect day. Even though there were a ton of people there, we were never walking on the trail with anyone else. We might pass them or let them pass us, but it certainly wasn't so crowded that you felt like you were walking with another group. We hiked to the lake and when we found it frozen over, walked across it and sat down for some lunch. An adorable(tiiiny) dog chased us out into the middle of the lake.





As most of you know the Eagles had a pretty fabulous end-of-the-season, falling just short of making it to the superbowl. We found an absollutely fabulous bar just off of 16th street- full of Philadelphia fans. They serve tastkakes and edible wings! One game, not against Dallas, a Cowboys fan came into the bar and got booed out!Whenever the E-A-G-L-E-S score the DJ plays Fly Eagles Fly and we all sing along. The best is that it is dark and brick and when it's 65 degrees outside you still have that dark cold Philadelphia Sunday feeling. We took Brendan to the bar when he was visiting and he absolutely loved it...any Philly fan would.



Things continue to go well and we continue to stay busy. Sean is playing indoor soccer on Wednesdays. It's a totally different routine than Media was. I feel like we are hardly at home anymore, even during the week there are only a couple of nights where we are at home the whole time. But we are working on balancing it all out a little more. That being said, we are looking forward to visits form Crick, Chris, Brendand (again), Krantz and Keith- all by the beginning of April. Hopefully we'll have even more visitors soon!

Ethiopia

As I mentioned before, I work as a program coordinator at an international adoption agency. One of the programs that I work on is our Ethiopia program, which is our biggest and most active program. Since beginning work, I have been learning as much as I can about the culture, people and history of Ethiopia, as well as the role that international adoption has played in the country. I am about to get a chance to learn even more because I will be travelling to the country November 28-December 17.

There is a lot that I can try and predict about what the next three weeks are going to be like for me, but I think I am going to hold off on a lot of that until I get over there and can write with some actual experience. Instead, I thought I would take the time to give you some basic facts about the country as well as a little overview of how I have been preparing for the trip.

At the beginning of November Sean and I, along with some of my coworkers, attended an auction, Art for Ethiopia, which raised funds for orphans. Part of their marketing strategy focused on educating the public about the current orphan crisis in Ethiopia, and I took much of the following information from them. Ethiopia is an extremely poor country that has recently seen the faces of famine and AIDS eliminate much of its population. Considered to be the third worst country to be born into, Ethiopian children have a one in ten chance of dying in infancy and 1 in 5 chance of not making it past their fifth birthday. Thirty percent of girls aged ten to fourteen are no longer living with their parents, many running away from child marriages and having little options but to work as domestic workers with little pay, regular abuse and limited social supports.

Over thirteen percent, or 3. 8 million, of Ethiopia's population are orphans, with that number continually rising. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda resulted in 500,000 orphans and the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia resulted in 10,000 orphans - Ethiopia has effectively experienced the impact of 7 Rwandan genocides or 380 tsunamis.

My trip will serve as an opportunity to open a transition care home for Ethiopian orphans preparing to be adopted. We are building this organization from the ground up (OK, so the house is already built, but it is empty. And I actually will be finalizing which house we will use) and we have been in need of absolutely everything. Well, I sent out one email to our clients and have gotten an overwhelimg response:



And that's just the medicines/diapers! We had about 10x as many clothes. People have been absolutely fabulous at collecting donations for us- and all of the necessities at that. I was really concerned that we would be overloaded with infant clothes and toys because they are so fun to shop for. Instead we truly have a solid base for every age range and have practically enough to stock the entire orphanage just based on donations! Unfortunately Delta has ridiculous baggage policies so I will only be able to bring the first 150 pounds (and that is going to cost an extra $200). I wish they had a humanitarian discount or something to that effect.

I will be staying at the Ethiopia Guest Home (www.ethiopiaguesthome.com) which was started by a man (and his wife) who came to Ethiopia to do exactly what I am doing! It is so inspiring. I corresponded with him via email and he signed his name with his job title as Orphan Advocate. I think that has to be the perfect job title. He is very dedicated to our cause and makes sure that his organization is constantly giving back to the orphan community in Ethiopia. The guest home is based in Addis Ababa, the capitol city. It looks like a great place to stay and there are going to be adoptive families in the home when I am there. I so look forward to hearing their stories.


I don't know what else to write now. My brain is definitely overloaded with some mixture of stress adn excitement. I will be going by myself and a lot of the planning has been left to me, so I am waaaay more stressed than I have ever been before travelling. Uusally I just feel excited because I know the people in charge have everything under control. I've had two nearly sleepless nights in a row now because I just can't stop running over the details.

I look forward to writing more from Addis!

Sean=Employed!

So this post is waaaay late, but Sean got a job as an environmental scientist at a local environmental consulting firm! The job is very similar to what he was doing in PA, only with less exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. Yay! His first day was November 3, which means that we were both working within 6 weeks of our move. That is pretty exciting considering the difficult economic times our country is facing at the moment. Unemployment was definitely the riskiest aspect of our decision to move, and we conquered it very quickly. And now we will have health insurance! Such great news, being that my job really lacks on the benefits front. I am so anxious to get some physical therapy done so that I can go for a run/get on a bike/ learn to snowboard. The only big downer with Sean's new job is that it is northwest of Denver and my job is southeast of Denver. And we have one car. He has been a champion bike rider/public transportation taker these first few weeks, giving me the car. We will see how it all works out once we get some more snow and the bike ride is less appealing.

Yes He Did

Today, I am proud as I have ever been to be an American. I look forward to telling my children and grandchildren what it was like to be a part of Obama's victory and the beginning of a new America. Here is the part of the speech that got me crying:







"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

"At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can"
"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons: because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

"And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America, the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

"At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

"When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

"When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

"She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

"A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

"America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves: if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

"This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes we can."

Visit From Mom and Dad

My parents came to town a few weekends ago after finishing a hiking trip in Utah. Of course, they couldn't stay away from the trails, so we took them to the first and second flatirons in Boulder. It was an easy hike and had some spectacular views...and it was only 30 minutes from our place. We had an all around fabulous time( delicious food, good music, great outdoors and terrific people makes a pretty nice combo). We also got to celebrate the birth of baby Zoê together (hence the champagne. Here are some shots from our place and the hike.













We are always open for more visitors!