Another Glitch

We've been told time and again to never expect things to run smoothly. Things will keep getting in the way, but will always work themselves out. This is one of those times.

We have a I-171H (Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition... now I know why they go by form numbers!) Anyway, it basically states that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services accepted our application to bring a child home to the US to raise in our family. It was sent to us in late March 2007. It expires September 21, 2008. In order to be approved, we also had to get fingerprinted through the USCIS. That expires April 24, 2008. (Why is one for 15 months, and the other for 18 months??)

Anyway, we knew we'd have to reapply for new fingerprinting to get an updated I-171H that has a non-expired fingerprint date. No biggie. Planned to do that next month.

However now we just got word that our I-171H needs to be appealed. A new rule through the USCIS says that since we changed from NSN (non-special needs) to SN (special needs), we need to appeal the original decision and pay more $$$ (of course). Ugh. Ok... I understand that things change, and we need to just comply. No sense getting upset over it, but we are highly confused! Our agency case worker doesn't seem to know the specifics behind it and said to contact our social worker (who in the past has usually sent us back to the agency to find out the details). So now we're left with... do we go ahead and request new fingerprints first? Do we wait for our new homestudy and request the new I-171H first? Can we do them simultaneously? Ugh.

On a happier note, the Hollar household is getting ready for a new addition to the family. We're closer to finishing Grace's room. I hung up the pink curtains and painted the pink stripe. The new bedding set arrived (and looks so cute!). I plan to get her name spelled out somehow in letters (like the other three kids have) and put that over the armoire that Nana and PapPap purchased. It's a small room, and yet somehow I couldn't get the photos to really show how good it's looking. So these two photos show most of what's in there. There is also a double closet to the left of the armoire, and a pink-basket 2-shelf unit between the two windows. That's it. I think a big pink flower rug would finish it off nicely. :-)

The boys' room seems to be working well for them (if only they could be more alike and therefore be harmonious living with one another... ha! ) In fact on Freecycle this weekend, I scored 4 valances for their bedroom. All blue and white checkered... so they match their blue, sage, and red room perfectly! A few $5 rods, and now their windows are finally "topped"... only took 4.5 years after moving in to finish them. :-)

And just so we don't forget Reagan, I took a photo of her too. She acquired the curtains that used to be in Tommy's old room. She wanted more blue in her room, so she's got it! :-) We'll have to weave some more blue in there later. Right now it's so PINK!

I'm sure we'll work out all of the paperwork details in plenty of time. I'm just glad we're hearing about this new change now, and not 2 weeks before we need to leave! It's just another hurdle in the neverending mess of paperwork with adoptions.