Half Full or Half Empty???

Right now it feels like half EMPTY and it sounds like we are in for a very long wait. All of this information was, uhm, BORROWED from Kris/Keith's website. They are in the midst of this mess and we're coming up on it. Here is "the scoop":

Upon hearing we are "out" of PGN, we will be recognized as the legal parents of Sydney. However, our attorney, at this time, is unable to register the adoption and get an updated birth certificate listing us as the parents because the city where Sydney was born, Sayaxché, Petén, has passed a law that has CLOSED their registration of adoptions. US DHS says unless the adoption is officially registered in the Sayaxché Book of Adoptions, there is no way to get Sydney a Visa back to the United States.

Antoher family, Kris & Keith are dealing with all of this right now. Their attorney is doing everything in his power to get this rectified. He is taking the Sayaxché law to constitutional court in hopes of getting it overturned, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. He is also filing some kind of legal appeal, which is appealing the judges ruling that the adoption cannot be registered (and new BC issued) because it is the law in Sayaxché. We have all been warned - THIS COULD TAKE MONTHS AND MONTHS to be rectified.

While Kris & Keith are fighting this in the courts, they are making a path for the rest of us in this is same area. It's just SOOOOO frustrating that there is all this going on. The delays that are happening with our adoption are NOT typical. Sayaxché, Petén (think of Sayaxché as the city, Petén as the state, such as Chicago, Illinois) is the only city, to anyone's knowledge, in the entire country of Guatemala that has passed a law that has "closed" the Book of Adoptions. This is really unheard of, something no one has ever experienced before, and certainly not on anyone's radar when we began this adoption. There are a few other families who are caught up in this exact same mess, and there are at least 2,000-3,000 Guatemalan adoptions in process right now. Lucky us, huh?

As soon as anything changes, for any of us, we will let you know. Unfortunately, no one anticipatea anything changing quickly. Guatemala is a country with a very strong religious base, and many of the courts and government agencies there shut down for weeks during the Christmas season. In the meantime, please keep your thoughts, prayers, and positive vibes coming. We will never give up until Sydney is safe in the US.