Seriously? What did I ever do to these people...........

So Embassy didn't go so well today. We were one of 6 Hope families with appointments today. We were 2nd to last to go through. Everyone else breezed right through, no problems. We should be the same right?.......Not so much.
We get to the Embassy Agent Guys window and he immediately says there is a problem. What?......WHAT??? He explains that there is a physical for Minte that says he is 9, our home study shows we are approved for a child 7-8, and the boys birth certificate says he is 6. "So which one is it?" asks The Guy. "Ummmmm, which ever one will get me the visa." Is what I thought. I refer to Rahel. She tells The Guy that Minte is 9. Wrong answer.
So The Guy explains that the age range has to meet the home study approval and my options are to go back to the doctor and get her to agree that he is 7-8 or to get a home study ammendment saying that we can adopt a child 6-9 years old and then come back. A home study ammendment? Yeah right! Over night? YEAH RIGHT! So we, meaning me, Aiden, Minte, Rahel, and my driver Salsawi take off alllllllllll the wayyyyyyy acroooooosss Addis Ababa to the doctor. By this time it is 4:00 and the Embassy closes at 5. We finally get to the doctor and we all sit in this little room where Rahel pleads with the doctors on duty. None of them look familiar from the other day when we were there to get Minte's physical. They are all talking quickly in Amharic and looking at Minte and shaking their heads. Meanwhile I am praying that they are blind or stupid, or willing to take bribes. Just kidding.....sort of. Anyway I can tell it is not going well and finally Rahel gets up to leave. She looks at me with these sad eyes (the same ones she had when she had to tell me we wouldn't be bringing Theo home) and she says "No." That's it, just NO! I know your English ain't the greatest lady but I need some elaboration!!! Rahel ushers me outside and as soon as I walk out the door there is Gananew, Shim's brother. He walks up to me and says "I am very sorry, Jaclyn." And then he HUGS ME! What! You're sorry! Your giving me hugs! "What the hell is happening here?" is all I can think! That's when I finally burst into tears. I turn my back to them all and cry into my hands. I feel someone walk around me and stand in front of me, waiting. I finally look up to see who it is. This is when I realize that God has appointed this time, right now, with mascara running down my face and snot dripping out of my nose for me to meet Shimeliss face-to-face for the first time. Nice. "Hi, nice to meet you. Sorry for all of the crying. You probably don't want to shake my hand right now." is what I said to him.
In typical Shim fashion he refers the crying girl to Grace! He actually pulls out his phone and calls Grace to talk to me while I am crying! He had to talk to her anyway but he let her talk me off the ledge first. Finally he explains to me in English that the doctor that first saw Minte is out of the country and won't be back until the next day, maybe. We will come back to see her. In the meantime, sweet Grace and my sweet social worker Heather are already working on getting an addendum started just in case. I calm down because all of this sounds so much better than just "NO". But the tears are already flowing and with the stress of this entire adoption I can't just stop them now. The flood gate has been opened and all that, right? I keep telling Shim and Rahel, and Gan "I am sorry, I know it will be ok, I'm just frustrated." And they know all that we have been through so they just let me cry. We decide that nothing can be done until tomorrow anyway because by now it is well past 5:00 so we say goodbye and agree to talk in the morning.
I get into the car with Salsawi and we leave. He lets me cry for a bit until I get my tears under control just in time for my Aunt to call and ask happily "How's it going?!" And here comes the blubbering idiot again. My Aunt finally realizes through my sobs that I am asking her to have my mom call me. We hang up and I continue to cry quietly but Salsawi can't take it anymore so he pleads with me, "You must stop crying or you will become sexist! Jaclyn, please you don't want to be sexist, you must stop." That was all it took. I put my hands to my face and burst out laughing. "No," I said " I don't want that!". I have no clue what he meant but it worked, telling me it would be sexist to keep crying. Last time I was in this state of mind, bawling and not being able to stop, God sent me a Christian driver with the perfect Bible verse. Today he sent me an Orthodox driver with bad English. I'm thankful for both because they both had just the right thing to say to help me out.
I am pretty sure with all of the crying and laughing, Mintesinot thinks I am unstable. Give him a few more weeks with me and he will be sure of it!!
Thank you Grace and Heather for all you are doing for me. I will sleep better tonight knowing that you guys are on top of it and doing all that you can!
Blessings!
Jaclyn