Frustration Mounts

Amazingly, I'm still incredulous that this process is so frustrating. Though I went through it not a year and 1/2 ago, I somehow expected the experience to be similar. It isn't. As you know, this time its been fairly challenging financially for us and we are doing everything we can to make it doable. That said, I had a conversation with the agency yesterday. I have reserved tickets for me and my sister to go to Addis on the 25th of November. (The agency had previously told me that it was 90% chance of going to Ethiopia then.) After a discussion with our travel agent, who can get us a missionary rate to Addis and back, I found that without at least 2 weeks notice I'll get reamed for tickets. When I called the agency for a more solid idea of whether that date was it, do you know what they told me? That they really wished they could be more helpful, but they would not know anything until the Ethiopian staff called them. That they did not expect a call until November 13th. NOVEMBER 13TH!!!!!?????????!!!!!! I calmly asked her if she was aware of our situation, and that we were trying to save as much as possible........etc. etc. etc. She said, as I heard paper crackling in the background, that there was nothing to be done and I would have to just wait. I'm sure I had steam rising from the top of my head and broke down in tears after cutting off the call. I was, unfortunately, in the parking lot of Lowe's so had to pull it together. I'm so tired of keeping my game face on and 'going with the flow' that I could scream! The agency has changed so much since last year (when my dear friend left the agency), and now I feel like we're just a check to them. It's a sad sad way to feel when your child or children are at stake.

Got more recent pictures, though, of our little Sweetpea. Here she is. I so want to hug her.