Everyone has been asking me, "How did it go yesterday?" It makes me feel so loved that there were so many of you praying and thinking about us. I decided to write this post in response to everyone's questions.
I will start off by saying that we have been waiting and praying for this day for YEARS. We have been so anxious to go and get it over with so we could finally go on with our lives.
Finally the day had come. Our morning was hectic, getting all the kids ready for school making sure they had all of their Valentine's Day party stuff, group picture order forms, back packs, etc. Crazy morning! Kyle took Kenzie and Braxton to school and I took Madison to school. "Where did Bailee go?", you might ask...with us. If you were unaware, let me catch you up. Wednesday morning, our attorney found a fax in his fax machine. It was from the other attorney. They had filed a motion for the judge to talk to Bailee. How jacked up is that!?! So now, everything we have been so careful not to say around the kids didn't matter. Now, we had to set her down TWO days before court and explain the big picture of the last five years. She knew some of the stuff already, but there was so much she didn't know and, of course, I gave her the nine year old version. She cried saying she was scared and I could feel my anger growing towards "Megan". So, Bailee (who is terrified) has to miss school screwing up her perfect attendance and missing out on her class picture. Her CLASS PICTURE!!!
Okay, back to our morning...after all of the kids had been dropped off at school, we headed over to Krystole's house to drop off Bailee. Did I mention I have one of the best friends in the world!? She is getting up early to go sit with Bailee during the court proceedings. Love you Krystole! So we all climbed back into our cars and headed towards the courthouse. We pulled into the parking lot. We gathered all of our things and told Bailee we would see her later. We went to the third floor and sat down. We waited and waited and waited......an hour later, "Megan" finally arrives. "Great first impression" we thought.
So, it was time. We got up and followed our attorney into the courtroom. Kyle went to the front with him and we sat right behind them in the front row. The judge came in, swore in all of the witnesses and had them leave the room. We filed this case to the court, so we got to go first. We hadn't been in the courtroom 10 minutes and Kyle is already on the stand. As he walked to the stand I could feel my heart racing and my body shaking. I was so nervous for him. He answered the questions perfectly. He didn't ramble at all!! He did great!! He wasn't up there too long and then he was done. Halleluiah!! Now I could sit in my chair, relax and watch her world come tumbling down. If only, if only.....
"Megan" went next. Her testimony was ridiculous as usual saying anything in the past was a "haze" for her. She couldn't "remember"...blah blah blah!!!! WHATEVER!!!! I just KNEW the judge was thinking the same thing. After her ridiculous testimony was over she sat down. The judge told the attorneys to meet him in his chambers...holy crap! What is going on?! They came back and we called our first witness...Mandy from CPS. By the way, we are so very thankful for this lady. She kept Bailee safe for so long and with our agreement we made with CPS, she is still safe. Anyway, she came in, sat down and answered a few questions. Then she was excused....WHAT!? That's it?! She was our key witness! What about the rehab failures, the dirty drug tests, the arrest made at CPS, the counseling sessions that were never completed???? And don't even get me started on the burglary, second pregnancy and probation!!! I could go on and on...as she stepped down and made her way through the courtroom, you could see the "shocked and confused" look on her face. The lady that did our home-study for the adoption case was up next. She came in and the same thing happened. I am so confused.
Next, it was their turn for witnesses. Her stepfather was up first. Keep in mind, this was the same man that testified on our side years earlier. He sat there and talked about how important he was and how honorable he is because he used to be a peace officer...blah blah blah....and then he SNAPPED! He started yelling at our attorney, being absolutely belligerent. He was escorted out of the room and a few minutes later returned. He sat back on the witness stand and apologized to the judge. The judge accepted and they resumed as if nothing had happened....WHAT THE CRAP IS GOING ON?! Their next witness was "Megan's" grandfather, better known as the enabler. He was stupid as usual and his testimony was to no surprise to us.When he was done, we took a recess. Kyle and our attorney left to talk in the hall. After a few minutes, I went looking for them. The anticipation was killing me!! I found them around the corner sitting in some chairs. I ran over and said "Well?" Our attorney's exact words were "We're screwed"....the judge didn't care at all what we had to say. All he cared about was the time period since she has been on probation...for BURGLARY!! Which didn't matter to him either. Remember when the judge asked for the counselors to meet him in his quarters? Well, he did that to completely chew out our attorney asking why we had CPS here. Her testimony didn't matter and neither did the social study lady. Our attorney explained that the case with CPS had been closed because "Megan" wouldn't cooperate and they couldn't keep the case open any longer. The judge said that was ridiculous and pretty much called our attorney a liar. Which explains why our attorney got right to the point with her while she was on the stand. The judge didn't want to hear her at all and only let her testify to see if our attorney was telling the truth. We were called to recess because the judge wanted to speak to the probation officer that had been following "Megan" for the past year that she has been "sober". Great, we are screwed for sure....
Forty five minutes later, her probation officer had arrived. She walked into the courtroom and sat down on the stand. Well, great! She looks twelve and probably has zero experience with crazy people like "Megan". As our attorney began questioning her about "Megan", she told him that "Megan" was "very cooperative" during her probation period thus far. As she is telling him this, he is frantically reading over the report she gave him only moments before. The entire record they have of her probation visits and everything she has done with them. Page after page he went over, he asked her about "Megan's" cooperation. There was something on almost every page saying she was NOT cooperating. And the very lady that said she was "very cooperative" told him after every single situation in that report that she was not cooperative. The report basically said she was not completing her community service hours, she was not being sponsored with some program she was required to attend, she lied to a different probation officer about having any debt ( $10, 000 in back child support is a pretty big debt), not paying her probation fees...the list went on and on. PRAISE THE LORD!!! This witness may be our only hope.
The witness is released and the judge excuses himself and says he is late for a meeting. He said he would call both attorneys with his verdict around 3pm. The other party leaves the court room while we stay to make sense of what had just happened. After a few minutes we started to leave as well when the judge comes back and says he has already missed his meeting and for us to go ahead and stay. We sat back down, but the other party never came back in. Weird. Both attorneys went to the judge's chambers, talked for a few minutes and then came back out. We never saw the judge or the other attorney again....this hearing is so weird!!! He gave his verdict to the attorneys. I have never heard of that. Anyway, our attorney walked toward us with a strange smirk on his face. I couldn't contain myself and asked him what the HELL was going on. He said, "Let's step out into the hall" with his weird little smirk. We get out into the hall and around the corner to "our" little corner. We all sat down and explained that neither party is getting what they want and that we will have to return in six months.....the words that I used at this point I am not proud of and will not repeat, but saying I was upset is the understatement of the century.
Here are the Temporary Terms:
Bailee will be picked up every 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturday of every month at 10am and be returned home on Sunday at 1pm. And she will continue to be supervised by the "enablers", but will be able to stay during the nights. During our six month wait, "Megan" is supposed to be evaluated by some drug-alcohol-something-something professional...obviously I didn't hear anything said after I heard the visitation time. After the evaluation has been made, we will return to court....most likely to hear what we have feared since she was left in a hotel room...Standard Visitation...All I can think about is how she will be missing church every other weekend. How can this happen?! How can she get away with it again?!
We don't know what will happen and we are broken once again. This was supposed to be the end. The truth was supposed to be revealed, except the judge to want to hear the truth. All of our time, money, emotions...EVERYTHING, was for nothing!! She gets to do all these horrible things and just get away with it! Our family has been through absolute HELL and she just gets to walk away!!!!
So, basically we get to spend more money and wait longer. We are in a bad place right now and need some serious prayer. As I started typing this very post, Kyle came home early from work. He has been in bed ever since. Please pray for us. I beg for more prayers.....I just don't know what else to say right now.....
