How We Got Here - Part 4: The Year 2010

After the hearing in November, there was a long silence with no news about our cases or about the boys.  I heard from a few people who visited the hogar where we were told Gerson and Elviz were taken after the raid, but no one ever saw my boys there.  After a few months, curiosity drove me to action, and I hired a private investigator to try to find out what was going on.  We found out that the boys had been moved to a small hogar in zone 6, and that the judge had made some new requests of the biological family at the last hearing.  We had no idea what the next step was. 

In June 2010, I went to Guatemala with no solid plans of why I was going or what I was going to do when I got there.  I groveled my way into a brief meeting with the biological family.  I was shocked to find out that there was a hearing scheduled for the end of the month.  I was equally shocked to hear from 2 different sources that the "decision was already made" in the case, and that Gerson and Elviz would be going to live with their grandmother after the hearing.  I begged and cried my way into a very, very brief visit with Gerson and Elviz.  It was truly a miracle and a blessing that I saw them.  We were all thrilled, and when Gerson hugged me, he sighed and said, "Soy contento."  It had been a long and confusing separation, and I was so grateful to be able to tell them that I had not forgotten them, had not abandoned them, and would never stop loving them.     

That is my puffy, crying face.  I cried so much that I got a blister and then a scar under my nose.  It's my permanent reminder of my crying skills and how far they had gotten me in Guatemala.

I went home crushed in spirit.  But I surrendered, and I was ready to accept what seemed to be inevitable.  The hearing date came and went, and I could get no news from anyone about what had happened.  Finally after a month, I hired someone new to go to the court and look at the file.  We found out that the judge had, again, postponed a ruling and had made more requests of the biological family.  The next hearing was set for March 2011.