On November 9, 1998 I met with the court appointed psychologist and did the evaluation. When asked what the minimum I hoped for was I responded to simply have the custody order enforced. The maximum would be a change in custody.

     On November 14, 1998 the children still did not come down for visitation.

     On November 23, 1998 my ex-husband was scheduled for the Medical Service Evaluation as well as my children. The court appointed psychologist called me that afternoon and said that my ex-husband wanted to make up some time to me and would I be willing to let him drop the children off to me that afternoon.

     She had only met with my children for 15 minutes.....how the courts can expect to fully understand how a child feels in 15 minutes is beyond me, but I will remain optimistic. When I had spoken to the children on November 22, 1998 no mention of make up time was addressed with me by my ex-husband. What a snow job for the Medical Service Personnel.

     Of course I agreed to visit with the children for the week. This will probably be used to my detriment somehow since they missed school as a result.

     They at least were able to spend Thanksgiving with me as scheduled and we really enjoyed our time together. I made certain they visited with their paternal and maternal grandparents during this week since it is always hard to tell when the next time may be.

     MORE HOLIDAY CHEER

     On Christmas Eve my ex-husband failed to bring the children as scheduled. So again I spent the holiday without them although they were scheduled to be here from 12/24 at 9PM until 12/31 pursuant to the custody order. I will simply ammend the petition which is being heard in February because experience has taught me nothing would happen even if I went to the court system for an immediate remedy. The sad part is my children are the ones that suffer when they are denied the holidays with all of their family.

     ASSAULT CHARGE AS A RESULT OF HIM HITTING MY BROTHER

     We went to court today in reference to the incident in Hancock back on 10/30/98. We actually did not have faith going in to court today because of all the disappointments that have arisen over the years. This proved to be no exception.

     The State's Attorney called my brother, myself and his girlfriend to the witness stand first and we stated the incident as it had occurred. Next my ex-husband was on the stand to testify. His testimony matched ours with the exception of him denying actually having hit my brother. He admitted having put the car in gear and the car lurching forward, but denied that any impact had occurred prior to him putting on the breaks. He stated that I had been holding the car door keeping him from closing it as we exchanged words and I asked my daughter to go ahead and get out of the vehicle. He also stated that he had glanced forward and saw my brother standing a few feet in front of the car smoking a cigarette, while his wife was standing towards the front passenger side between the wheel and fender. All of this coincided with our testimonies.

     Once he was done after displaying some anger to the questions by the States Attorney, his wife then took the stand. Her version was completely different than all that had been heard by the court even her own husbands account done only moments before. She stated she was standing in front of the vehicle 6 inches from my brother as he yelled obscenities, laughing at her hitting on the car. Her husband's testimony was completely different.

     After she made her statements the States Attorney said to the court obviously the two of them had not spoken enough that morning prior to coming because of the vast differences in their testimonies. Even the public defender at that point had nothing further to say other than there was no intention to cause harm or injury on the part of his client. While the judge did admonish my ex-husband regarding his disregard of the court ordered visitation, due to the conflicting testimonies he found him NOT GUILTY. The State's Attorney himself could not understand the decision and apologized to us in the end.

     I have requested a copy of the taped testimony as well as a written transcript. Once it is reviewed by my attorney and we receive advise regarding the matter, we may forward it for judiciary review, but will definitely introduce it during the hearing in February.

     I still have not seen my children and really do not expect to until about two weeks prior to the hearing. He will definitely wish to come back into compliance with the order prior to the hearing.