Preparing for battle.....

We might have a problem. Our next step involves a large sum of money to the agency for their services. While the money itself isn't a problem, D is worried that we are going to pay a lot of money and THEN somewhere along the process get denied because we live in Germany. This would leave us in the same situation we were in, but with a LOT less money as it is not refundable. (In our situation, they might be willing to make an exception, but we don't want to take the risk) Anyways, I tried to double-check that we will be ok and the answer was that we should check with US Dept. of State or Germany. I asked our home study provider and she agreed that it would be much better to get Germany's blessing before we proceed. She said there's a chance that we could do the entire process with no problems, but that it's a small chance. So, she is going to try to contact some people in Germany. I am not sure if I should try or if that might just make things worse if they keep saying no and become unwilling to hear me out. I may need to call the US Dept of State and explain how basically every expat in Germany (and from the sounds of it, possibly most of Europe) has been neglected as we live in limbo. Host countries won't let us use their agencies because we aren't fluent or aren't citizens, yet they won't let us use US agencies because in their rules-based system, there's no room for that option. The system is so frustrating I could scream! If things weren't so chaotic at home right now (not having a working van might be the biggest stresser there is!!) I might be willing to call and harass as many people as it took to overhaul the system because this is just ridiculous and everyone I have talked to agrees! The Hague Convention might be the worst thing that happened to international adoption. There's no benefit to it being this way! Just a lot of harm done, mostly to the children who desperately need the love of a family! I will not give up. This is FAR from over! God told me to bring her home and I will do that, with or without Germany's help. (Though, if they would be so kind as to give us a simple letter, it would make things SO much easier!)

To be continued.....