Brief update

Hi guys and gals,

I don't have a ton to report in this update, as Carlos' phone connection has been poor, and he has a tendency to be less wordy than I in his emails (and far less than I'd like when I want to update :) )  Still, things have been happening, and I want to stay on top of it as much as possible.  So...

A few things. 

1.)  The Hague Convention hearings continue, and Carlos was in court again this past Tuesday.  This time, it was his turn to be cross-examined by the very biased prosecutor, as well as Ana's attorneys.  Fortunately, cross-examination isn't nearly as tough when one is actually telling the truth, and has been from the get-go...there are no "stories" to remember, just facts :)  Plus, for those of you who know my brother, he's pretty clever under pressure ;)  All I know as far as details from this day in court is that it went VERY WELL from Carlos' perspective, and he felt good about it afterwards.  I'm still expecting this trial will be over soon, but I did hear that the judge is allowing Ana to bring in a few more "witnesses" from other towns.  In Carlos' opinion, this may very well be to his benefit, as her witnesses up to this point have only served to weaken her case, and it lessens the chance that she will be able to file an appeal based on missed opportunities after a decision is made.  More on this when I actually nail him down for some info...

2.)  Visitation with Sage has been hit or miss recently.  At one of Carlos' recent visits with Sage, they played, as they usually do, but instead of calling him Carlos as he has been, Sage kept referring to him as "Martin."  After a couple of times, Carlos asked him gently, "do you have a friend named Martin?"  To this question, Sage reacted with a bit of trepidation, as though he didn't know what he was supposed to say, but it wouldn't have mattered because Ana wouldn't have given him the chance to respond anyway.  She immediately blurted out that "he knows lots of Martins...he has two in his class, one here, one there...Martins are everywhere"...(okay, so maybe she didn't say it quite like that, but you get the point).  For those of you that don't know the whole story, or can't recall the significance of the name, "Martin," this was the name of Ana's paramour, with whom she had been having an affair when she was in N.C., and with whom she subsequently took Sage to stay in the dangerous border town of Nogales, Mexico, while still feigning a normal marriage to my brother.

3.)  Ana now has a track record of completely skipping out on scheduled visitations for Carlos and Sage.  Last night, Carlos was driving home (later than what this sister considers safe there <3 ) from a missed visit for which he drives 1 1/2 hours to attend.  Evidence for this was submitted to the courts (maybe today?).
We'll see what happens with that.

4.)  My car decal should be here tomorrow...will post pics!
5.)  Still hoping for a trip to Mexico in the next couple months...waiting for my passport to arrive :)

Have a good night all.  More updates when available.  And, as always, thanks for your support!!
--Sonia