Chris vs. The Builder

Recent discussion with our home builder:

Builder: The additions you wanted will cost you more.
Chris: How much more?
Builder: Some and maybe some more. The blah blah this and that adds up.
Chris: Can you break it down for me?
Builder: Oh, sorry, we charged you double for something and charged you for two other things we shouldn't have. It now only costs less than some more.
Chris: We don't want an intercom, never did. Please remove it from the list. We also noticed that in the upgrades part of our manual the surround sound is listed at $$, but this bill you sent has it at more than twice that price. Can you please explain the increase?
Builder: Blah blah blah building you the best house blah blah blah all builders do these things

I am so proud of Chris. He has really worked hard to be sure we get what we pay for and are getting the dream home we want. Our builder is not bad, in fact the house is extremely well built. They just have some issues with communication and pricing. We end up talking to 3 different guys about each thing and we get 3 different answers most of the time. We aren't trying to get anything for free, we just want to be able to budget accordingly. We have been surprised by some additional costs we weren't expecting. Things like $$ for gas service and a meter and $$ for additional electrical wiring and stuff. We would have thought that electrical and gas service would be included in the price of the house. Not so apparently. We knew we would be paying for any upgrades but not for things we thought were basic parts of a home. It kind of feels like buying a car and having to pay extra for the wheels.

We got a brief update on Ahren's case yesterday. Unfortunately it's not good news. We have been kicked out of PGN for the 5th time. For those of you not into Guat adoptions, PGN is the large government office that oversees adoptions. Our file for the correction of Ahren's birth certificate has to be approved by them before we can move forward with the adoption. The file was first submitted to PGN in July. Each time they kick it out they ask for one more paper or signature or something. This time they are asking for another copy of the original birth document from the hospital. But they don't want just any old copy. They want the copy that went to the Central American archives. Why? Who knows. Apparently they are not convinced yet that there is no fraud going on with this baby. I have no idea how long it might take to get this document and resubmit the file. Or if the document will be the last thing they ask for. We have decided to just wait and try not to worry. It's funny, but I feel a sense of peace about him now. I don't know why or where it came from exactly, but somehow it's all okay. He is our son and it doesn't matter how long the process takes, we love him just the same.