This week, Greyson Leo Phillips turned nine weeks old. He’s finally out of neonatal intensive care after 51 days, and he has more than doubled his birth weight of 2 pounds, 2.6 ounces.

But he’s not home, unless an Airbnb in the Brazilian coastal city of Florianópolis counts at home. Instead, Greyson is stuck in a Brazilian bureaucratic nightmare, unable to leave Brazil and go to his real home in Minnesota.

Greyson and his parents, Chris and Cheri Phillips of Cambridge, have been battling a maddening bureaucratic Catch-22 after his premature birth during a winter trip to Brazil. Because of a technicality, Brazilian authorities haven’t issued his birth certificate; the office said it cannot issue a birth certificate because Chris and Cheri’s passports, like all American passports, don’t have their parents’ names.

Without a birth certificate, Greyson can’t get a U.S. passport.

Without a U.S. passport, Greyson can’t go home to Minnesota.

“We’ve been working on this since day one, and we have nothing yet,” Chris said.

Their odyssey began in mid-February. Chris, who used to live in Brazil, has a daughter from a previous relationship who lives with her mother in Florianópolis, about 700 miles southwest of Rio de Janeiro. He and Cheri traveled there to celebrate his daughter’s eighth birthday. Cheri’s doctors encouraged her to make the trip; she’d had zero complications and was yet to enter her third trimester. This was the time to do it, they told her.

A couple days before their scheduled return in March, Cheri felt back pain, then contractions. Early the next morning, Cheri was bleeding. They went to a hospital at 4 a.m. For days, doctors tried to stop labor.

“That was our hope — just calm down her body and get on planes and go home,” said Chris, who works in marketing and communications at Children’s Minnesota. “It soon became apparent that was not going to happen. This baby was go to be born in Brazil.”

Greyson was born March 12 with a hole in his heart, struggling with apnea. As Chris and Cheri huddled over their son in an incubator, their Realtor and mortgage broker completed the sale of their St. Louis Park condo and purchase of their Cambridge house. Friends and family moved their stuff into their new home.

The main holdup seems mundane. Brazilian hospitals give parents a certificate of live birth, then parents must visit a local registry office for an official birth certificate. But officials refused to issue the birth certificate, Chris said, since Chris and Cheri’s passports don’t have their parents’ names. (American passports don’t include parents’ names, but Brazilian passports do.)

Chris’ uncle shipped the couple’s birth certificates and marriage license, which have their parents’ names. Those were deemed unacceptable because they don’t have an apostille stamp, which authenticates a public official’s signature for use in a foreign country. They hired a lawyer to secure Greyson’s documentation. A month later, their case hasn’t gone anywhere.

After the Brazilian birth certificate, the couple will need a consular report of birth abroad and a U.S. passport from an embassy or consulate in Brazil. But according to U.S. State Department policy, applicants must physically go to the appointment.

This presents multiple problems: The nearest consulate is 300 miles away in a region that’s experiencing severe flooding. Greyson can’t fly without documentation. And Greyson is too small for his car seat, so they can’t drive.

The family received a bit of good news this week: After pressure from U.S. Sen. Tina Smith’s office, the embassy agreed to send a representative to Florianópolis to process Greyson’s American documentation.

But only after they secure a Brazilian birth certificate.

“Mentally, we are not doing well,” Chris said Wednesday as he drove to a federal office in Florianópolis to extend their tourist visas. In their “first piece of bureaucratic good news yet,” Chris said, Brazilian authorities extended their visas until Aug. 21.

“It’s mentally exhausting,” said Cheri, who works as a philanthropy services manager at Saint Therese Senior Living. “Now that he’s quote-unquote ‘home’ in an Airbnb, it’s honestly even harder on me. The only reason we’re here now is because of all the bureaucracy. I’m either on the verge of crying or I’m mad or I’m just sitting on couch with Greyson, cuddling or nursing him.”

There’s been only one blessing from this experience, Chris said: Spending more time with his 8-year-old daughter, Melory, who he typically only sees three times a year.

“And she’s had the opportunity to bond with Greyson,” Chris said. “That’s the only silver lining.”

Sells is entering his sixth season with Minnesota, most recently serving as Vice President of Hockey Strategy for three seasons (2021-24). He is responsible for salary cap management, player contract research and negotiations, analytics and hockey strategy and Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) compliance. Sells originally joined the Wild organization as Director of Hockey Analytics, a role he held for two seasons (2019-21).

Murray is entering his fifth season with Minnesota, most recently serving as Director of Hockey Operations/General Manager of the Iowa Wild for three seasons (2021-24). He is responsible for scheduling, NHL transactions and player contract research and negotiations and will continue to assist in the day-to-day operations of the Minnesota and Iowa hockey operations departments. Murray joined the Wild organization as Assistant to the General Manager, holding the role for one season (2020-21).

Kelleher is entering his 18th season with the Minnesota Wild, most recently serving as Director of Player Personnel for two seasons (2022-24). He will oversee the Wild’s professional scouting and player personnel efforts in North America and Europe and support the team’s preparation for the NHL trade deadline and free agency. Kelleher joined the organization as a part-time professional scout in 2008-09 and was promoted to a full-time professional scout for the 2009-10 season before serving as Director of Professional Scouting for three seasons (2019-22).

Hendricks is entering his sixth season with the Minnesota Wild, most recently serving as Assistant Director of Player Development for five seasons (2019-24). As General Manager of the Iowa Wild, he is responsible for the day-to-day hockey operations of the American Hockey League club. Hendricks will also continue to support the Wild’s player development department.

The NFL will release the 2024 schedules for all 32 teams at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Here is what we know about the Minnesota Vikings’ schedule so far.

The Vikings will play each team from the NFC West and AFC South, as well as the 2023 third-place teams from the NFC East, NFC South and AFC East. Minnesota will also see its NFC North division rivals twice, once on the road and once at U.S. Bank Stadium, as part of its 17-game schedule.

Here is the lineup of home and road opponents, listed alphabetically.

After winning the division in 2022, the Vikings took a step backward in 2023, falling to 7-10 following the loss of quarterback Kirk Cousins to a season-ending Achilles injury in Week 8. Cousins departed in free agency this spring, but the Vikings hope to have found their quarterback of the future, trading up to select Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy with the 10th pick in the 2024 draft.

Come back Wednesday night for the Vikings’ week-to-week schedule for 2024, plus season analysis and predictions.

Find the best deals on tickets to see your favorite teams.

(Photo of Ivan Pace Jr.: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)