Ollie at play

Ollie at play
Originally uploaded by littlegdoe

We are learning how to post video! let us know what you think!

Go Gophers! Pictures online

You can see all our photos at

http://flickr.com/gp/38204721@N00/RYBi51  

Let me know if you have any problems!

B

Back home

Hi everybody,

we are HOME.    and so happy to be here!   our flights were fine, we got a bassinet the whole way home and Oliver was a champion sleeper.... slept 6 hours on the way from Addis to Amsterdam, and 7 hours from Amsterdam to Minneapolis!   the only problem was take off and landing when we couldnt have him in the bassinet and couldn't move around in our seats... none of us could get comfy.

Then we got home to a really nice reception at the airport from our moms and dads (grandmas and grandpas) and my brother Kevy.  

Oliver didn't mind his first car seat (did we mention there aren't carseats (or even functional buckles in Addis?  Kind of scary but no choice in the matter), and we got home for a couple hours of visiting with the family.

Notice the time of this post (1:00 am?)   well, after they left (4pm), we pretty much all passed out until Oliver just got up.  so you might say our sleep schedule is a little off.   Hopefully we'll eat and play for an hour or two here, then back for a "nap" until morning.   

More posts coming soon with the details from the trip, pictures, and video!

Love you all,

B G and O

Update from Brian, Gina, Oliver:

Hi Everyone!

The internet has been down for a couple of days sorry! Here is a recap of what has been going on... drool, poop and spit-up and... here are some more entertaining things.

Medically everything is going just fine. Oliver has almost finished his anitbiotic and the impetigo is almost entirely gone (healed over). Just a regular cold with a runny nose but it is also getting better.

Embassy Day went well. We have a little Ethiopian passport and Visa for the US. We will finalize everything at home.

On Wednesday we went to Hosana, the area where Oliver was found... it was a very long day, but it was really wonderful meeting some people. We met and heard the story from the man who named him, Si'elet, "a gift from God". He is a wonderful man and we will remember him and the day we met forever.

Then Thursday was the 5 year aniversary of the agency in Ethiopia, so it was quite a big deal, held at the UN building in Addis.... it was also a huge fiasco. The story will be much better told in person, but here is a tidbit - Oliver led a revolution and was suppressed by the UN, who apparently do not allow babies in their buildings. it was ridiculous. a celebration of an adoption agency and they treated the babies like terrorists. Actually its the first time I've ever heard of a successful UN enforcement action...

Everything is going great. We got up at 4:45 am to go on trip East to see hippos. But... after a long trip we didn't even see any. Oh well, he was a good traveler but overtired, he took a 3.5 hour nap and then slept from 8:30 to 6:30, tired little boy. Brian changed his first diaper in a moving van! No mishaps! Good job Brian!

We are packing getting ready to finally come home. Everyone is welcome to come to the airport if you are able, but definitely come over when we get home. Oliver is really used to lots of people but be prepared he may be crabby or sleepy but we would love to see all of you, LOLA too!

Here is our flight information:



The following flights are confirmed:
Date: Saturday, April 25 Flight: NW 8576/*KL 543
Departs: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ADD) at 10:50PM
Arrives: Amsterdam-Schiphol, Netherlands (AMS) at 5:45AM on Sunday, April 26
Class of Service: Economy Class (V) Seat: 10-D, 10-E
Flight Duration: 7 hours 55 minutes Approximate Miles: 3,552
Meal Service: Meal Served Aircraft: Airbus A330-200
Note: *Operated by KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES
Note: Check in with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
KL Confirmation Number: 5U6KHP


Date: Sunday, April 26 Flight: NW 41
Departs: Amsterdam-Schiphol, Netherlands (AMS) at 10:40AM
Arrives: Minneapolis/St. Paul-Int'l, MN (MSP) at 12:40PM
Class of Service: Economy Class (V) Seat: 29-D, 29-C Aisle
Flight Duration: 9 hours Approximate Miles: 4,155
Meal Service: Dinner Aircraft: Airbus A330-200
Note: Operated by Northwest Airlines


Love you all, see you soon! hopefully we'll be able to send an email from Amsterdam.

B, G and O

More Oliver Pictures!

One of the pictures is Oliver with 2 of his buddies Charlie and Taye (from left to right). His other friend Finn was under the weather and not able to make the photo shoot (he is feeling much better now).

New Pictures

(This is Kevin... posting updates from Brian and Gina :-) )
We are feeling lucky with the internet today, so trying to send pictures we took this morning. Today we had him for 1/2 a day, Tomorrow he is all ours!

Update from Ethiopia!

Hello All,

Oliver is a cutie patootie! Tiny, not fussy and he can already roll over at barely 4 months. He also really likes Brian's beard. We got to meet him for about 5 hours today and we will see him again tomorrow! Here is what is going on for us this week.

The guesthouse is really nice and we are here with 5 others, they are all really nice and we are having a good time. Ethiopia is a very interesting place we'll get to see much more of it in the next week. This week is Orthodox Christian's Easter so it has impacted our schedule quite a bit, but that means we get Oliver early so fine by us.


Saturday
Family Meetings w/ social workers, doctors, nannies, journalists (yes, we have our own PR team!)
Visit Oliver!
Shopping in a local market
Dinner @ an authentic Ethiopian restaurant with traditional dancing.

Sunday
1/2 day with Oliver ato out guest house
Free Time
*It is Easter Sunday for the Orthodox Christians and EVERYTHING is closed*

Monday
Tour of Children's Home Academy (school) and visit the National Museum
Farewell party for the children at the care center (Their nannies adore them!)
Oliver is now ours completely! Every bottle and diaper forever...

Tuesday
Time with Oliver
Hair braiding class (But... we all have infant boys so maybe they'll so something else?)
Embassy Day - Interviews, sign final documents

Wednesday
Trip to Hossana (South) @ 6:00
Visit man who found Oliver
See orphanage, etc.

Thursday
Ethiopian Cooking Class
Family Interview @ the guesthouse by our PR team
Colelct all final paperwork including Visa, etc. to prepare for the trip home

Friday & Saturday
We are on our own so we'll see....?

On our way!

At the airport plenty early. We had the genius idea to buy a 30 day pass to the MQA lounges. That is going to be Awesome in Amsterdam layover for 5 hours each way! Brian can even shower, which is great news for Gina!

pictures!

apparently we ARE allowed to post pictures!  here is Oliver taking a nap....

hanging with some friends

And entertaining a nanny!

No news is good news!!!

What we mean by that is nothing new to report except we are still leaving on Wednesday @ 11:30. We spent our last weekend, sans baby, living it up by packing, making copies, frequent trips to Target and cleaning. Brian also ran 19 miles on Saturday, major stress reliever. Wow, sure will miss this relaxing life!

Here is a sample itinerary of what our trip will be like. Click on the pictures and they should open up big enough to read!

Our dates are a little different but you get the point! We do know two things: Brian will change his first dirty diaper sometime early on Friday and we go to the Embassy on the 21st. Wish us luck on both accounts.

On a super positive note Oliver has a NW frequent flier account, he will have almost 10,000 miles before he is 6 months old! He loves to travel just like his parents, look for him to get bumped up to first class.

Fascinating Facts about Ethiopian travel!

yesterday was a very interesting day... i learned a lot about international travel.

It turns out, it is VERY difficult to get a plane ticket to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 6 days notice! 

Also, believe it or not, there are not daily flights to Ethiopia!  And nothing nonstop from minneapolis :)      We just  knew we had to be there from April 16th to April 24.

We had a few possiblities at various times, but couldn't confirm becuase the agency was waiting for one more OK.  

Then, we found out that since Oliver is a "Ethiopian National" he would need a visa to fly through most European airports!  For example, we had a flight that connected through Paris, but that would have added 3 days to our trip to get a Visa for him! 

For your future reference, Ethiopian children can connect through Amsterdam without a visa.

Finally, our terrific travel agent and long time family friends Bob and Tubby Lohmer, found us a flight that arrives on the right day, connects back ONLY through Amsterdam, is actually reasonably priced!, and only leaves one day later (leaving Addis Ababa on a Saturday is much easier then a friday).  Plus it is Northwest KLM the whole way.  1 million thank yous to them!

Also, they are trying to to secure us a bulkhead seat with a built in 'Bassinet' (baby holder).  Which would be FANTASTIC.   Has anyone out there traveled 18 hours with a 4 month old?  Any tips would be welcome!

So, we leave Wednesday the 15th, arrive Thursday the 16th, Depart Saturday the 25th, and arrive home Sunday the 26th.

More later!

B

Name Clarification

Si'elet is his Ethiopian name, given to him by the agency.   He was orginally named Si'elet Aklilu.  The Birth certificate name (Si'elet Brian Doe) is assigned by their protocols.  

We plan to name him Oliver, and will either keep Si'elet or Aklilu as his middle name, when we return.

Sorry about that!  just one of the many interesting aspects of international adoption!  I'll post some more fascinating facts this afternoon!

We're Leaving

Just booked our tickets!

We leave on Wednesday the 15th and will get there on Thursday the 16th!

We get back on Sunday the 26th!

His Birth certificate name is Si'elet Brian Doe.   Pretty cool, if you ask me!

On the fast track!

Wow! After months and months of waiting we are starting to move fast. Our court date was last Friday, April 3rd and today Tuesday, April 7th we were told we might be getting on a plane next week, Tuesday, April 14th. Jeez, talk about a total reversal of fortunes! Tomorrow we will book our plane tickets, we would have done it today but we are waiting for ONE MAN to sign off on everything! Keep your fingers crossed, we'll post tomorrow about our flight, etc.

We think we can finally post pics of Oliver but we have to check with yet another person. Sometimes it sure is a bummer being a rule follower!

We made it through court!!!

we just made it thought one of the last major blocks!  Looks like 5-6 weeks until we can travel!

The next step (**see outline below) is that the written court order and a written letter from the Ministry of Women's Affairs need to be obtained by our staff in order for your child's birth certificate to be drawn up and sent to CHSFS-MN via e-mail attachment.  This process usually takes about 2 weeks or so.  Once we receive and review the birth certificate to confirm that everything is correct, you will receive a travel date for 3-4 weeks from this time and can confirm your ticket purchases. 

Brief outline of the court process:
1. We receive a family’s child acceptance.
2. We notify our staff in Ethiopia to proceed forward.
3. The staff in Ethiopia prepares a family’s documents for submission to the registrar.
4. The family’s documents are submitted to the Registrar
5. The Registrar logs the documents in and awaits assignments of court dates by judges
6. A date for a hearing is given (you are currently waiting to be assigned a court date)
7. At the hearing, the judge reviews the case and either advises his/her decision or requests additional information
8. Decision is made or new court date is scheduled
9. When the decision is granted, the written court order is drafted and is usually issued within a week

10. Once the court order is issued, a letter of support is requested and received from the MOWA office (**you are here)

11. Once the MOWA letter is received, the birth certificate is issued - it usually takes 3-4 weeks from court decision for CHSFS to receive the birth certificate
12. When the birth certificate is issued, we will receive a scanned copy of it and we will verify that the information is correct. At that point, we will advise family of a travel date - approximately 3-4 weeks advance notice.
13. We advise Ethiopia staff that the birth certificate information is correct and they will proceed to obtain the child’s Ethiopian passport, Embassy medical exam and will prepare the final paperwork to submit to the Embassy.