It pays to know people

I had a firm discussion with our agency today. I told them the Amos and I NEED to know the exact steps required to get us to embassy. We also want to know which of those steps have already been done and how close we are rather than holding our breath every Thursday just to hear "Your documents haven't arrived but he's on it". I want to know if this is something I can travel to Kepler's region to get to speed things along.
While this was all taking place I had also been emailing a friend of a friend who happens to live in Addis. She got back to me today stating that I don't need to worry about a time limit. I can stay with her until this whole thing is sorted out! Seriously?! I was so excited because this means I can go, take custody of Kepler and stay with a kind American who works a lot at a hospital and is welcoming me into her home with open arms. She even said, "I won't even know you're there. I work a lot but I have a cook, a guard and a housekeeper. It's much easier than life in Seattle." This is HUGE because now I have time to spend with Kepler and a place to stay for FREE while all this document stuff gets sorted!
We may be buying tickets this weekend depending on what our attorney says about our case in the next couple of days!