Elaine,
It sounds to an outsider like your sister is having an amazing rush. It might not have been the rush that you wanted for her, but if she ends up happy, and with three pref parties to go to it sounds like she might, it is all smiles and roses (or squirrels and roses, if you are really lucky
).
I just want to be clear that I don't want to limit what people discuss. I think the horror stories are as important as the happy ones. I just want to let the folks happy with their results enjoy their threads without a lot of second guessing about the evils of the process in the middle.