And right after saying updates don't always come very quickly...

Not 20 minutes after adding my last post to the blog my phone rang!  Yes, you guessed it, my brother calling from Mexico.  This phone call was a rare treat, not only in that it happened, but also because the static and echo that is usually on the line when he calls was all but absent this time.  The only hindrance that remains ever present in our conversations is our constant attempts to speak over the other one, as he tries to get his stories completely told and I try to get all my questions answered before either his phone stops working or he suddenly has to go.  Tonight's call was with a purpose on my brother's part, and ended with me literally verbally numbering my questions, requests and statements to him as quickly as I could to get them all out (1.send pictures, 2.stay safe, etc., etc.), whilst my 2-year-old plead with me, "who are you talking to?" "read me a book," and so forth (in all truthfulness, keeping up with this blog and dropping all else when my brother calls does, at times, make me feel like the opposite of him in terms of parental involvement, but my kids seem to understand to an extent how important this is, and I try to do it mostly after they're in bed). 
One thing I wanted to ask Carlos tonight, but forgot, was if he thought Sage would like to receive a package with pictures drawn by his cousins for him as well as some photos.  I have to ask because I know there are some complications with trying to send things between countries.

And now, to try to remember the details:

1.)  Carlos had a visit with Sage today, which his lawyers attended.  The more I hear about this family of attorneys, the less inclined I am to believe all I hear about lawyers in general.  Either that, or these particular lawyers are a rare jewel in the profession, as they have been so helpful to my brother during his time there, both in legal terms and in trying to make his time in Mexico a bit less complicated.  They attend many evening visits with him, playing with Sage and trying to ensure he gets the time he was awarded to visit without interruption. 
Tonight's visit was a notable one.  Carlos and his lawyers met Ana, her younger brother, Sage, and Ana's father eventually, at an outdoor location near a cafe'.  Towards the beginning of the visit, Sage and his dad played (as they love to do) with some of the toys Carlos had brought along.  This time, the new toys were a small 4-wheeled "car," that is powered by pedaling, which Sage could sit in, and a Kung-Fu Panda bear.  Sage loved the toys; they played with both and also with the usual foam swords and such that they both get into.  When Sage first arrived, Carlos walked over to him and gave him a hug and a kiss on the head, telling him he missed him and was happy to see him.  Carlos' lawyer, when speaking to Sage, would tell him "go show your dad" or "go tell your dad..."  Sage did not appear at all uncomfortable with this. 
Now, on all visits, Ana tends to hang close-by the entire time, listening to the entire interaction so that she can "intervene" in case Carlos or Sage might say something they're not supposed to.  On this particular visit, she was more vigilant than usual, trying more than she normally does to provoke conflict.  At one point she asked Carlos' attorney if he could tell Carlos to speak to him when he had something to say, and have him (the attorney) relay the message so that she didn't have to speak to Carlos.  Later in the visit, as Sage and Carlos were playing, she told my brother to stop playing with the "guns" with Sage (these toy guns by the way, shoot out cotton balls, and slowly enough so that they come out at an angle and fall quickly to the floor). 
As the visit progressed and she again saw Sage enjoying himself, she became increasingly agitated, and would try to distract Sage from his dad.  As Sage was playing with his little car, in response to another perceived (or more likely, entirely fabricated) infraction, Ana got mad and wanted to end the visit early.  She walked over and tried to take Sage out of the car to leave.  Carlos held onto the car and both he and his attorney informed her that the visit wasn't over, and to let Sage play for the rest of the visit.  When she told Sage it was time to go, he said "I don't want to go."  Not long after, Ana's father showed up and began to provoke Carlos.  He kept telling him not to be rude to his daughter (which, by his definition, apparently meant refuting her negative remarks or outright lies and trying to see his son).  When both Carlos and his attorney told him to stop interfering with the visit (Ana's dad was actually court-ordered not to attend visits because he likes to create conflict), he announced, "I'm going to call the police," to which they responded, "go ahead."  He left, and a bit later (around 50 minutes before the scheduled end of the visit) as Carlos was standing at the counter of the cafe' paying for his drinks, he turned around to see several swat team looking police officers, one of whom, at least, was carrying a machine gun.  He realized they were there for him when one asked him if there was a problem here.  All the while, the attorney had been recording much of what was taking place.  Carlos asked the police officer to talk to his attorney, to which the officer responded, "I'm talking to you."  Carlos said, "okay," and began to explain that he was visiting his son who had been abducted from the U.S., on court order from the local courts, that Ana's dad wasn't supposed to be there, etc.  All the while Ana's dad was trying to butt into the conversation (despite having already given a lengthy "testimony" to the officers when he called them), and the officer kept telling him to be quiet until he heard Carlos and his attorney.  The lawyer showed the officers the court order.  Ana's dad tried again to make a case that "see, Carlos is being aggressive."  The officer stated that in fact, he (Ana's dad) was the only one who was trying to cause problems.  At some point while all of this was happening, Carlos was able to sneak over to Sage and told him, "no matter what they tell you, I love you very, very much, and I miss you everyday."  When the visit was about over, Sage wanted to take his new "car" with him, and at first didn't understand why his dad wanted to take it back with him.  His dad asked  him, "do you ever play with your new bike?"  Sage said "no."  Carlos then explained to him, "if you take it with you, you might not get to play with it either, but I promise I'll bring it back next time."  Sage was disappointed, but seemed to understand.

As you can imagine, my heart just about jumped out of my throat when my brother started to talk about the swat team cops with the machine guns, but even they ended up seeing the reality of the situation and did the right thing.  Sage is no longer as shielded from the reality of what is happening as he has been, and I'm afraid to think of what's going on in his little head, but I truly believe that he knows his father, whom he has seen only a handful of times in the last three years, loves him deeply, and is not the "stranger" Ana makes him out to be.  I so want to hold that sweet little boy in my arms soon.

Back to court on Friday, and Carlos PROMISED me some photos and videos soon!!  Videos tend to take forever to maybe upload onto blogger, so I may end up just providing a link here to youtube when I get them.

Good night everyone!!
--Sonia