We are cleared to come home, by the grace of God, but what a frustrating week it has been.
Monday *should* have been the day we were submitted to embassy. The medical was finally done (xray read, and clear) and all of our paperwork was complete. It just needed to be authenticated and dropped off at the embassy. The paperwork processor for our agency called us Monday morning and wanted to speak to our driver - hoping for a ride - however, since we knew what needed to be done that day (none of which required our physical presence) and our driver was out of the city working on something else, this task was one he needed to complete on his own (as they would typically do if a family wasn't in the country). He told us that he would do so and then asked us later that afternoon to pick him up on Tuesday for a last minute thing and then we would head to embassy. We packed ourselves to be gone all day - left at 7:30am, picked him up at the agency office at 8:30am and then headed off.......TO UNBELIEVABLY DO WHAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DO THE DAY BEFORE! Oh.my.word. We were not only not ready to submit, because of these last minute paperwork errands, but Little Miss and I were in a car from 7:30am until Noon for NO REASON! To say were were frustrated would be an understatement. Anyhow. The required things were completed and he was dropped back off at the office. He told us that the paperwork would be submitted by another guy later that afternoon after being checked.......we called and followed up at the time he said they would submit (just in case a ride was an issue - we could solve that problem) we were assured that they hadn't gone yet, but would soon and would call us to let us know that they had. 4:30pm rolled around (with the embassy closing at 5pm), still no call from them. We followed up again and were assured that someone WAS there, at embassy, turning it in.
Why is submission so important? Or why could we go on the same day? Due to Little Miss's issues with unsolved weight (despite being exclusively on high calorie formula from the U.S. which typically solves weight issues here) we have had a medical expedite from embassy. This ensured that they would process us fast WHEN we got to the point of having her visa processed. Unfortunately our agency is the one who gets us ready TO be processed and that has been where all of our struggles have been throughout the past.
So on Wednesday, knowing that our paperwork was turned in Tuesday (because they told us it was!), we headed to embassy (with no appointment) - turns out? Our agency didn't submit us on Tuesday like they said they had, the documents were turned in on Wednesday morning RIGHT before we got there. At this point we were just thankful for the embassy's efficiency, as we were seen within *moments* of arriving. However, they proceeded to tell us that one of our documents had an incorrect date and needed to be corrected before anything could be done. Oh.my.word. Now we were back at the agency's mercy. We rushed out of the embassy and called the paperwork processor immediately to let him know the issue AND then called Ephrim (our driver friend who was also with our friend TJ at the time). Ephrim immediately went and picked the guy up to fix the document, but left us at the embassy because it would take too much time to come back and get us. Let me tell you how amazing it was that our friends were in the van with this man. They both knowing the ridiculousness that has been going on for us (pre-being in country AND during this last week), Ephrim used to work for an adoption agency himself (so he knows how things are supposed to work), TJ himself has adopted a child from Ethiopia before, AND these are both men that speaks their minds (in love, but with expectation of doing the right thing by others). There was no better advocates for us then those two who picked up the paperwork processor.....they got things moving because there was urgency (something that culturally is not the norm) Unfortunately, when they arrived at the place to get the new document? The one person that was needed to sign the document - was unavailable that day. We were going to have to wait until Thursday, and since embassy doesn't conduct visa interviews on Fridays? That meant that the correct person HAD to be in early in the morning to sign this document so that we could resubmit it to embassy and then pray that they would see us the same day - if not? Then it would automatically kick us into next week and with our tickets booked back on May 7th, it wouldn't be worth the money to move the tickets up for just a few days time, so it would have literally cost us a week......all because of the inefficiency at the beginning of the week. You can not imagine how Incredibly irritating it the potential for our delay was due to the inefficiency and slack of others, when we have 3 kiddos waiting for us at home.
So today (Thursday) we met the paperwork processor at the location that the document was going to be signed (after Ephrim convinced him that he indeed COULD get himself to the location to meet us). He showed up a bit late, but he showed up - after about 45 min. we had the document IN hand. He wanted to go back to the agency office and give it to someone else to submit to embassy for us - we convinced him that we could indeed submit it ourselves (as we were heading directly over there and involving our agency in anything adds time), he agreed and handed it to us. We were at the US embassy by 10am, at the window turning in the document by 10:05 told to wait, were called back to the window (and told to raise our right hands - THIS WAS IT) for our visa appointment and then asked when we were hoping to leave. We told that beautiful man behind the window that we were hopeful to leave TONIGHT (the same day) and he said alright, come back at 3pm to collect your completed documents - WHAT?!?!?!?!?! Praise the Lord. Grace. I got back in the van in shock - once again, how to say thank you when words aren't enough?
Wow.
We emailed our travel agent immediately as we are hopeful to leave tonight (although knowing that it was only 2:30am where she was, so we wouldn't hear anything for a while) and then went straight back to the guest house and started packing. Funny how this trip seems to be ending how it began.....packing in faith that we are leaving, regardless of direction ;) Although the rush back isn't the same as it was here - it can be delayed by a day and this mama won't miss adding a child to the fold, she is already ours. Praise be to the Lord!
Also, so all you Americans feel super safe.......security at the embassy is of the utmost. There are guards outside that ensure that no pictures are taken of the outside of the building, no loitering on either side of the street around the embassy, obviously passport checks, appointment checks, plus metal detectors, etc. - but they also will not allow you to take any electronic devices AT ALL inside (phones, cameras, batter chargers, ipads, wires, etc.) We emptied out our bags of such items and ran it through the bag scanner - we couldn't believe it when our bag was flagged because of Little Miss's plastic pink cell phone. Ha! They checked to see if it was real, but even after seeing that it was a toy, we had to leave it there with all our other electronic devices - if nothing else they are consistent - and teaching these kiddos young!
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