Tuesday....yea!!!....then no!!!!

Tuesday was a wonderful day. We participated in a ceremony at the care center called the "Receiving Ceremony." All of the adoptive families are at the care center to officially receive their children. The social workers same some nice words, the children are recognized, we receive notes from the nannies and work of the children while they were at school. The other older children at the care center watch all of this and sing us songs during the ceremony. Although I can imagine it is difficult to watch others leave with their parents, I do understand that these children are being prepared for their own parents to come (all of the children at the care center have passed through court). Our children were dressed in traditional clothing which they kept. Terefech's dress and scarf seemed to give her great comfort on Tuesday and the days that followed. There is cake (which the four older children cut with a ceremonial knife), the kids leave a handprint in a book, and there is so much emotion. Terefech was excited but also realized the impact of the day. We were so lucky to take a picture with one of her nannies which we will treasure. Rich would probably like me to note that he was oblivious to the events of the day...that is why he is wearing his rainbow tie-dyed t shirt. He just didn't put it all together (we had talked about wearing things during this trip that you won't mind seeing for the rest of your life, these are important pictures) and now cringes when he sees the pictures.

It was an emotional moment leaving the care center. Terefech cried while leaving, cried in the bus, and cried once we arrived at the guest house. I cried right along with her. It is wonderful that she cried. It means she was attached to the nannies and she was sad to go. In the adoption world, this was good news but it broke my heart to see her endure yet another loss. She did recover with new clothes and shoes and necklaces. Guess that is what make all girls stop crying.

We had lunch at the guest house and then got ready to go to embassy. We waited for about 2 hours before getting called upstairs to the visa window. And that is where it all went wrong. We were met by 3 people, 1 who did the talking. They informed us that when the embassy had done their medical check on Terefech on 3/31/10, they had decided she was older than orginally stated. This new age placed her out of our home study age range and therefore, they would not grant her visa. I literally bit my lip to try and contain my emotions. They were oh so kind to tell us what to do and inform us that without congressional intervention, this could take weeks to get done. We then went into panic, flurry, crazy, numb, hysterical mode. We went to the Hilton where we could get internet access and a phone card. Rich played with Terefech in the lobby while I called and emailed. We then found out that another family had met the same fate so we moved over to the CHSFS offices to continue our work. It was no fun, stressful and just ridiculous. I have my own opinions as to where blame lies for this problem but we will never be sure. Needless to say, it was not a happy ending to our trip.