Update and Vent

We have made the decision to bring our daughter with us to Rwanda and Ethiopia as well as our son. I was previously worried about how the trip might affect my daughter who was just adopted from Ethiopia 1 year and 9 months ago. But I think it will be a good experience for her and I think she is best of with all of us together as a family. So I worked some more miracles today and was able to book her airline ticket and we have a appointment with the travel clinic tommorrow. There is however one miracle yet to be completed and that is for our visa packet to arrive at the US Consulate in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I know it was resent to the National Visa Center last Wednesday because I was sitting there with the USCIS officer when it was confirmed to me. However I have not yet received a email reply from the NCS saying that it was received and their phone line is constantly busy. I am setting my alarm at 5:30 am to call them ASAP when they open. Since I am still up very late that equals barely any sleep tonight. I just do not understand why this should be so difficult. We payed the US Government over $800 to process this paperwork and all they did was loose it and now there seems to be no rush to fix the problem. And the big problem is that our international adoption agency told us that 12/4 to 12/18 were our confirmed travel dates and that if we did not go now then we could not travel untill January. Now at the same time we are being told that we cannot confirm our travel arrangements with them (hotel, transporation, food) untill the consulate in Ethiopia confirms that they have the visa packet. Should the agency not have known a little sooner that our visa packet was not where it was supposed to be? What am I paying for? Well since I am not going to leave my son waiting for us, while he watches four other families come and go with their children at the orphanage this week, I booked our tickets and we are leaving for Rwanda regardless. I am prepared to make our own travel arrangements and to take care of the paperwork myself in Rwanda and Ethiopia if necessary. I am however confident that our visa information will arrive to Ethiopia before we get there. I have done everything that I can from the ground to take care of this (including contacting our congressional representative) and the rest can be done by email and phone.