Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Still Waiting
CIS is saying that they USPS Priority Mailed to the National Visa Center our updated visa 37/approvals, but NVC is STILL saying they haven't received it...a week later! This is so friggin' frustating b/c we can't go pick up Addison without Ethiopia having the approval in hand, and the damn NVC people can't re-send it to Ethiopia if they don't have it or can't find it. Somebody shoot me! These gov't agencies need to get their shi-ite together!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Does It Ever End? Pt. 2
Yesterday we spent our afternoon dealing with both the US CIS and the NVC offices to try to find out why in the world Ethiopia still doesn't have our approvals. NVC (the national visa cabling service) first said that they emailed the approvals to ET, then they said that they sent hard copies (which is required), then they said that it's Ethiopia's fault the stuff isn't there. They sent us back to CIS (immigration folks that issue our approvals) and they said that the NVC people only received hard copies from them (not email copies as NVC said) and that if NVC didn't get them cabled to Ethiopia properly then they'd have to re-request the original hard copies. It was the biggest debacle that is still not resolved. All we know is that NVC did re-request the approvals this morning, so that's a good thing. Now if they can just get them in hand and ship them off to AA where they belong, we could sleep a little easier.
It's so frustrating b/c all of these are US agencies - one of which won't talk to you on the phone after being on hold FOREVER and trying to navigate a bunch of # options that don't match up with your needs and both of which have no clue what they are talking about and just blame each other for everything. A third world country's beaurocracy is looking pretty good these days. :)
The good news is that these papers are needed until our final appt on the 28th of May, and our agency keeps telling us that we have plenty of time. These papers don't effect the adoption proceedings which happen on May 8th, thank goodness.
On a much happier note, we had five friends jump in to offer us Starwood points for our hotel! Huge thanks and shout outs go to Sara Beth H from Smarty Pants, Michael D from MTV, Allison B from Nickelodeon, Pam G from Wrigley, Barbara Z from Smarty Pants. We have a few other friends checking to see if they have enough points to give us. :) You guys are THE BEST!
Other progress we're making: Radames pulled out our four biggest suitcases that are now strategically positioned against the wall in the basement (you just have to laugh), we got three more docs notarized this week, we got in touch with the malaria hotline at the CDC (how sad are we that this makes us happy), we got our 2008 taxes done and out the door!, we got our sit and stroll (car seat and stroller in one) back from ganna, and we started making nightly notes and task lists on color coded notecards to alleviate the daytime bickering! That's a big one. And Addison turned 6 months old on Sunday. How could we forget that one? :)
It's so frustrating b/c all of these are US agencies - one of which won't talk to you on the phone after being on hold FOREVER and trying to navigate a bunch of # options that don't match up with your needs and both of which have no clue what they are talking about and just blame each other for everything. A third world country's beaurocracy is looking pretty good these days. :)
The good news is that these papers are needed until our final appt on the 28th of May, and our agency keeps telling us that we have plenty of time. These papers don't effect the adoption proceedings which happen on May 8th, thank goodness.
On a much happier note, we had five friends jump in to offer us Starwood points for our hotel! Huge thanks and shout outs go to Sara Beth H from Smarty Pants, Michael D from MTV, Allison B from Nickelodeon, Pam G from Wrigley, Barbara Z from Smarty Pants. We have a few other friends checking to see if they have enough points to give us. :) You guys are THE BEST!
Other progress we're making: Radames pulled out our four biggest suitcases that are now strategically positioned against the wall in the basement (you just have to laugh), we got three more docs notarized this week, we got in touch with the malaria hotline at the CDC (how sad are we that this makes us happy), we got our 2008 taxes done and out the door!, we got our sit and stroll (car seat and stroller in one) back from ganna, and we started making nightly notes and task lists on color coded notecards to alleviate the daytime bickering! That's a big one. And Addison turned 6 months old on Sunday. How could we forget that one? :)
Monday, April 13, 2009
Does It Ever End?
Today we got an email from our consultant that Ethiopia doesn't have a record of our updated CIS approval. This is the same issue we had before...and they finally found it when they looked a second time. They keep telling us they don't have a petition for the Rodriguez family. But legally, I'm the petitioner, so it would be under Tyree. I'm assuming that's the problem again. Hopefully we'll hear from our consultant tomorrow that they find it when they look under Tyree, rather than Rodriguez. Radames called the National Visa Center today and they said it was sent to Ethiopia on March 22nd, so it has to be there. Jeez
Aside from that, things are clipping along nicely. The nursery looks adorable and we got another round of vaccinations last week. We have an appt. with a notary tomorrow to get a few more docs notarized, and we got our taxes done for this year. Now we just have to redo a few of our financial declarations docs and have them notarized, too. We'll maybe get to that next week when our accountant has time for us.
We also went away for the Easter weekend, which was nice, b/c we actually got to be a family for a change. We've been arguing so much that we really needed to walk around and make fun of people in Gatlinburg to reconnect. :) just kidding. It was nice though. We went ice skating, went to an amazing aquarium, stayed at a hilarious Christmas-themed hotel, went swimming in the hotel pool, ate at local dives, took a tram up a mountain as it swung in the breeze, shopped for clothes for our trip and for Addison, and had a nice time chit chatting with Ella. She bought some "jewels" (aka rocks) in a gift shop, so we used them at meals to play sharing games. For each rock we put in the middle to person had to say something. Radames and I sadly used rocks to play the "things I could do differently to make sure we quite arguing" game as Ella ate chicken fingers and the "how I'm feeling about this whole process" game as said "can we PLEASE leave this place!?". It was really enlightening, as corny as it sounds. :)
Just let Addison get here already! We bought him the cutest little outfit for our final visa appt at the embassy, so we're ready. :)
Aside from that, things are clipping along nicely. The nursery looks adorable and we got another round of vaccinations last week. We have an appt. with a notary tomorrow to get a few more docs notarized, and we got our taxes done for this year. Now we just have to redo a few of our financial declarations docs and have them notarized, too. We'll maybe get to that next week when our accountant has time for us.
We also went away for the Easter weekend, which was nice, b/c we actually got to be a family for a change. We've been arguing so much that we really needed to walk around and make fun of people in Gatlinburg to reconnect. :) just kidding. It was nice though. We went ice skating, went to an amazing aquarium, stayed at a hilarious Christmas-themed hotel, went swimming in the hotel pool, ate at local dives, took a tram up a mountain as it swung in the breeze, shopped for clothes for our trip and for Addison, and had a nice time chit chatting with Ella. She bought some "jewels" (aka rocks) in a gift shop, so we used them at meals to play sharing games. For each rock we put in the middle to person had to say something. Radames and I sadly used rocks to play the "things I could do differently to make sure we quite arguing" game as Ella ate chicken fingers and the "how I'm feeling about this whole process" game as said "can we PLEASE leave this place!?". It was really enlightening, as corny as it sounds. :)
Just let Addison get here already! We bought him the cutest little outfit for our final visa appt at the embassy, so we're ready. :)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
We're Connected
Well, today we crossed over into the other world of the adoption life - we got linked up with others from our agency via an online group. This is something we've avoided doing for a while, since we've been busy with work and, honestly, I just haven't had time to make chit chat about things that are still unknown.
Well, we're now officially "friends" with 8 other couples that are also adopting from Ethiopia through CHI, each one with our same court date and visa appointment/pick-up dates. :) It's really exciting to now be part of a group of 9 families that will all be traveling together. Radames and I are feeling way less alone in the journey simply because of their emails, posts and our little spreadsheet of "the May 28th visa appointment pack". Through our online dialogue, we've already had someone offer to take pictures of Addison for us while they are there (from an earlier travel group).
We also had a great conversation with our agency rep today who helped us demystify a lot of outstanding docs we still need to do/re-do. My brain is getting ready to explode, but information is a good thing these days.
We also made a lot of progress with the travel agency that CHI uses and recommended. It was SO nice to not be talking to the American Airlines or US Airways fool who has no clue about adoption travel. They knew exactly what we were doing, asked when our court dates were, when our visa appointment was, etc. and gave us a lot of good advice on planning, tix, fares, etc. That's a major relief!
Right now, our plan is to leave out of Dulles (in DC) on Sunday morning May 24th. We get there on Monday morning b/c of the time change. It's a direct flight!!! That's why we're going to just put all of our shit in the Acura and drive for 6 hours to DC. It'll be so much easier than driving four hours to ATL to then have to connect in London or Dubai or Frankfurt. And then we'll return from Addis on Sunday night the 31st and arrive DC on Monday morning the 1st of June. You have no idea how psyched we are to have gotten connected with them today and to now have a non-29-hour flight (both ways) in store. The flight is on Ethiopian Air, which seemed a little too rickety for my travel elitist ass, but we checked out the virtual tour of the airplane online, and it's awesome. You can see it at Ethiopianairlines.com and then click on "our luxury 787 Dreamliner to Ethiopia". We are so chillin' on that bad boy! Ethiopian Air, here we come.
Well, we're now officially "friends" with 8 other couples that are also adopting from Ethiopia through CHI, each one with our same court date and visa appointment/pick-up dates. :) It's really exciting to now be part of a group of 9 families that will all be traveling together. Radames and I are feeling way less alone in the journey simply because of their emails, posts and our little spreadsheet of "the May 28th visa appointment pack". Through our online dialogue, we've already had someone offer to take pictures of Addison for us while they are there (from an earlier travel group).
We also had a great conversation with our agency rep today who helped us demystify a lot of outstanding docs we still need to do/re-do. My brain is getting ready to explode, but information is a good thing these days.
We also made a lot of progress with the travel agency that CHI uses and recommended. It was SO nice to not be talking to the American Airlines or US Airways fool who has no clue about adoption travel. They knew exactly what we were doing, asked when our court dates were, when our visa appointment was, etc. and gave us a lot of good advice on planning, tix, fares, etc. That's a major relief!
Right now, our plan is to leave out of Dulles (in DC) on Sunday morning May 24th. We get there on Monday morning b/c of the time change. It's a direct flight!!! That's why we're going to just put all of our shit in the Acura and drive for 6 hours to DC. It'll be so much easier than driving four hours to ATL to then have to connect in London or Dubai or Frankfurt. And then we'll return from Addis on Sunday night the 31st and arrive DC on Monday morning the 1st of June. You have no idea how psyched we are to have gotten connected with them today and to now have a non-29-hour flight (both ways) in store. The flight is on Ethiopian Air, which seemed a little too rickety for my travel elitist ass, but we checked out the virtual tour of the airplane online, and it's awesome. You can see it at Ethiopianairlines.com and then click on "our luxury 787 Dreamliner to Ethiopia". We are so chillin' on that bad boy! Ethiopian Air, here we come.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Things are Moving Along Nicely
The time is approaching. It's so hard to believe. It is really going to happen! Our court date is still set for May the 8th. We haven't heard of any changes or issues, so we're all set to be the legal parents of Addison on May 8th, 2009. Yep, his name will be Addison. We are still deciding on the middle name, but we are leaning toward Everett.
Addison is because he is our son from Addis (Addis Ababa is the full name of the city, but people often call it Addis). That's where we will pick him up, where he was found (although that seems callous to say), and probably where he was born. The name also means "son of Adam", and we like that because it ties back to the original man, which according to all known scientific evidence, actually came from Ethiopia. The fossil remains of "Lucy", the oldest skeleton remains of a human being (yes, she's almost 4 million years old), are located in Addis Ababa in the national museum. We feel like it's a name he can be proud of and that will always link him back to where he came from - ethnically and regionally. We already have a big letter A on his nursery door.
Yep, the nursery is now done. That was the project for last week that had Radames and I on the verge of a divorce. Terrance painted most of the walls for us and hung up the drapes, thank goodness. Radames and I could not have been any more at each other's throats re: paint spills, why the crib still wasn't put together, etc. Note to self...do not try to work on nursery with husband if you are anal and your husband is not...you will inevitably end up wondering why you married each other.
The room is so adorable now, though. The walls are tan and everything in there is baby blue and chocolate brown. We got everything at Restoration Hardware's Baby and Child...it's the Cloud collection at rhbabyandchild.com. So adorable! All that's missing is a baby!
We also got 4 updated pictures of Addison last week. They are SO amazing. He looks like a whole different kid. So much older. There's one of him in a little bouncy contraption grinning from ear to ear and you can just totally see his personality. I wish so badly we could share the pics. That's the crappy part about this process.
So now we're in the midst of starting to plan travel. We are being told that our embassy visa appointment date that we have to attend (and then fly home the next day or two) will probably be May 28th. Yikes! That means we'll probably leave on the 23rd or so, and be there from Mon to Mon. But Ella turns 5 on the 21st of May, and of course I want her to have a big party, Radames turns 39 on the 25th, Ella's preschool graduation is on the 26th, and work will be crazy busy in May, so the timing is not ideal. But if I went into labor at that time, I guess we'd re-arrange everything anyway, so I won't complain. If the 28th doesn't happen, then it'll be June the 11th...and we'll go on like 6th or 7th of June or something. The crazy part is that we can't book our plane ticket until like 5-10 before we leave (bc that's when they do the final confirmation on the visa appointment), so that has me beside myself with uneasiness. I don't like the idea of not knowing exactly when we leave. And being the travel elitist that I am, my worst fear is that we are stuck in the back of coach near the toilet with a new baby who thinks we've kidnapped him. Dear Lord, let first class please still be available when we can book our flight.
On the hotel front, we are able to use Starwood points to stay at the Sheraton, so that's great. And if we change the dates, there's no penalty or drama. And I think we have enough to stay the whole time, but if anyone who'd like to make a "charitable" donation of SPG points to the Tyree-Rodriguez Sheraton fund, we'd love you for it. It's possible to transfer them over, but we'll have to tell you how.
We're getting more vaccinations this week, too. So that makes me feel like we're making progress. And we just finished up our taxes this week, which is a big relief b/c we have to take copies of our tax returns and all forms, supporting evidence of our income, etc. with us! So ridiculous! But since we don't get to make the rules, I'm just happy that those are done.
We also need to either start to buy things or register for things. We still don't own a carseat, stroller, bottle, diaper, pacifier (ugh! we never used a pacifier with ella, so that's freaking me out), formula (don't even get me started on that one. that is totally scaring me too, b/c ella only ever drank from the...well, you know), clothes, and whatever else kids need. We can't even remember, we are so disconnected from infancy now. Good thing is that he'll be about 7 1/2 months old when we get him, so he'll probably already be eating some foods. But if anyone knows of a website where we can have a registry that pulls for a bunch of other sites that would be so cool and convenient. I'd love to register for everything from a bottle to a cutesy Obama t-shirt. I saw a funny one on cafepress.com. And there's an adorable one that says "Does this shirt make me look Ethiopian?" on it that i'm dying to get. :)
I think that's all of the updates for now. We'll keep you posted. :) Addis Ababa, here we come. Only about 50 days left until we leave. Woo Hoo! Can't wait to hop on the Brangelina express flight. :)
Addison is because he is our son from Addis (Addis Ababa is the full name of the city, but people often call it Addis). That's where we will pick him up, where he was found (although that seems callous to say), and probably where he was born. The name also means "son of Adam", and we like that because it ties back to the original man, which according to all known scientific evidence, actually came from Ethiopia. The fossil remains of "Lucy", the oldest skeleton remains of a human being (yes, she's almost 4 million years old), are located in Addis Ababa in the national museum. We feel like it's a name he can be proud of and that will always link him back to where he came from - ethnically and regionally. We already have a big letter A on his nursery door.
Yep, the nursery is now done. That was the project for last week that had Radames and I on the verge of a divorce. Terrance painted most of the walls for us and hung up the drapes, thank goodness. Radames and I could not have been any more at each other's throats re: paint spills, why the crib still wasn't put together, etc. Note to self...do not try to work on nursery with husband if you are anal and your husband is not...you will inevitably end up wondering why you married each other.
The room is so adorable now, though. The walls are tan and everything in there is baby blue and chocolate brown. We got everything at Restoration Hardware's Baby and Child...it's the Cloud collection at rhbabyandchild.com. So adorable! All that's missing is a baby!
We also got 4 updated pictures of Addison last week. They are SO amazing. He looks like a whole different kid. So much older. There's one of him in a little bouncy contraption grinning from ear to ear and you can just totally see his personality. I wish so badly we could share the pics. That's the crappy part about this process.
So now we're in the midst of starting to plan travel. We are being told that our embassy visa appointment date that we have to attend (and then fly home the next day or two) will probably be May 28th. Yikes! That means we'll probably leave on the 23rd or so, and be there from Mon to Mon. But Ella turns 5 on the 21st of May, and of course I want her to have a big party, Radames turns 39 on the 25th, Ella's preschool graduation is on the 26th, and work will be crazy busy in May, so the timing is not ideal. But if I went into labor at that time, I guess we'd re-arrange everything anyway, so I won't complain. If the 28th doesn't happen, then it'll be June the 11th...and we'll go on like 6th or 7th of June or something. The crazy part is that we can't book our plane ticket until like 5-10 before we leave (bc that's when they do the final confirmation on the visa appointment), so that has me beside myself with uneasiness. I don't like the idea of not knowing exactly when we leave. And being the travel elitist that I am, my worst fear is that we are stuck in the back of coach near the toilet with a new baby who thinks we've kidnapped him. Dear Lord, let first class please still be available when we can book our flight.
On the hotel front, we are able to use Starwood points to stay at the Sheraton, so that's great. And if we change the dates, there's no penalty or drama. And I think we have enough to stay the whole time, but if anyone who'd like to make a "charitable" donation of SPG points to the Tyree-Rodriguez Sheraton fund, we'd love you for it. It's possible to transfer them over, but we'll have to tell you how.
We're getting more vaccinations this week, too. So that makes me feel like we're making progress. And we just finished up our taxes this week, which is a big relief b/c we have to take copies of our tax returns and all forms, supporting evidence of our income, etc. with us! So ridiculous! But since we don't get to make the rules, I'm just happy that those are done.
We also need to either start to buy things or register for things. We still don't own a carseat, stroller, bottle, diaper, pacifier (ugh! we never used a pacifier with ella, so that's freaking me out), formula (don't even get me started on that one. that is totally scaring me too, b/c ella only ever drank from the...well, you know), clothes, and whatever else kids need. We can't even remember, we are so disconnected from infancy now. Good thing is that he'll be about 7 1/2 months old when we get him, so he'll probably already be eating some foods. But if anyone knows of a website where we can have a registry that pulls for a bunch of other sites that would be so cool and convenient. I'd love to register for everything from a bottle to a cutesy Obama t-shirt. I saw a funny one on cafepress.com. And there's an adorable one that says "Does this shirt make me look Ethiopian?" on it that i'm dying to get. :)
I think that's all of the updates for now. We'll keep you posted. :) Addis Ababa, here we come. Only about 50 days left until we leave. Woo Hoo! Can't wait to hop on the Brangelina express flight. :)
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