As she was sitting there thinking about her past staring at the paper in front of her she felt sad. She had shared her story before but this was different. She had never really thought about it in so much detail, nor had she ever written it down. She grabs her pencil and she starts writing:

My mom was married to a man named Gilbert at age 17. Together they had my sister Jessica Marie. Now Gilbert was a very  abusive man. He would beat my mother all the time. Although my mother knew that this was not a good situation for my sister, she thought that Gilbert would change. But he still continued to beat her until she built up enough strength and determination to leave him. My older sister and mom went to go stay at my grandma Lourie’s house. One day as my mom and Jessica were playing together my aunt Maria came over to invite my mom to a party at her house. And my mom being the party girl said “ Yes I will be there.” Later that weekend my mom left Jessica with my grandma to go to the party. While she was there she met a man named Ben who she shortly fell in love with. Ben was a very kind man. He took in Jessica as his own, and loved her so much. Later he and my mom had my older brother Robert Anthony. Not  even after a full year later they had me. As my parents fell deeper in love with one another, two years later they had my younger sister Kayla Renee. My mother was a stripper and my father a “businessman”. But the negative point of my father Ben was the fact that he was in a gang, which would come to affect him later on in his life.

One day my  mom left  my younger sister at two months old, with two gay guys that worked with her while she went to Lufkin Texas where my grandma lived. The two guys took advantage of the opportunity and they kidnapped my baby sister and left town. When my grandma asked my mom where Kayla was she told her saying “ None of your business” and finally my grandma got tired and she hit my mom and again asked  “Where is Kayla?”, And after my mom finally gave up acting like a tough guy she told my grandma that she left her with two gay guys that she worked with. Knowing my mom couldn’t get involved with the law because she was a wanted woman, my grandma called her older sister Sophia who lived in Utah. (Sophia was the only sibling that my grandma had that was responsible) And Sophia agreed to help out my mom in the search for my sister. After flying to  Houston Texas Sophia went down to Corpus Christi Texas where my mother and aunt lived. They drove several places where my mother used to work. Everywhere they went was a dead end.  Finally they started checking hospitals. Sophia and her husband and my mother and aunt were fortunate to go to the Sinton hospital. One of the hospital nurses pulled them aside. She said she saw two guys that brought her in and she felt suspicious about them and so she had them fill out  a form that had them fill out a lot of personal information, like their driver's license number and address. Using the internet she used the forms the guys had filled out and with the driver's license number she came up with a address a P.O. Box number in Sinton Texas. They drove down to the post office in Sinton, but they  would not disclose the physical address and neither would the police. So they saw the judge the next morning and after the situation was explained, he called the police and the judge told them to help them. About 20 minutes later police were there and had received a street address of the house they lived at. They drove a few miles out of the city and they stopped at a street before the house and told Sophia and her husband Ernesto and my mom and June that they want them to stay here until they waved them in, just in case things got violent. And after waiting for what seemed like forever they saw one of the policemen wave at them giving them the signal to head over to the house. When they got to the house, there was my baby sister Kayla. It was around July 2001 Kayla was 5 months. She was finally back in the arms of my mother. After all of this my Aunt wanted to take Kayla because she wasn't sure if this would happen again. So she ended up taking her back to Lake Jackson where she owned another house. Life went on the way it had been before my sister was kidnapped. My dad kept his lifestyle going as a “businessman” and my mother as a stripper. But he often talked to Sophia about taking Kayla back because he wanted our family back together. My aunt had grown to love Kayla and was hesitant about giving her back. 

About a year later on May 6, 2002 my dad's sister came over and he noticed bruises all over her body and after asking what had happened she said “ I did something wrong, it’s my fault.” Like all brothers Ben was a very protective guy and so he went to her boyfriend and said “Don’t touch my sister again or you'll regret it”. And knowing my dad’s reputation and being scared of him he decided to act first. A  couple of days passed and It was my grandma Hernandez's birthday and he was on his way to her house in Corpus Christi. And while he was walking his sister’s boyfriend was driving in circles around him and by the third time he drove around my father was in front of my grandma's house and  the boyfriend shot him in the back three times and drove away. My grandma was in tears after seeing her son die right in front of her. And when my mother found out about the death of the one man she loved with all of her heart a piece of her was broken. And my father’s dream of having our family back together was lost. My mother went down the deep end and started doing hard core drugs. Four years after my father died my mom had changed her ways. She didn’t care about the fact that we hardly went to school. And long story short the state of Texas got involved. And they were threatening my mom that they were going to take us away and so my sweet Aunt took us in and we moved to the great state of Utah.

At the age of 8 I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At 12 years of age when I was in 7th grade my aunt adopted us. My aunt had five other children who are now grown up. They are a huge part of my life. Their names are Ernest Jr. who is married and has two children, Ernestina (Tina) who is married and also has two children, Eduardo Robert, Ezekiel (Ziggy) and Esteban (Steven) Jose. Steven lives in South Jordan Utah is serving in the Military and he is also a realtor. Ziggy is a coach here in Provo. He coaches Ultimate Frisbee and he is the best coach out there. He has taught me so much about how to be a better player. He is the best brother anyone can ask for. Edward is a very successful man, he got an MBA at Purdue and is now a manager at Amazon in Kentucky. Tina used to be a science teacher but wanted to start a family and now she is a stay at home mom.  Ernest is a Emergency Room nurse in Virginia. They have all witnessed us growing to become more like them.

We have left the traditions of our biological parents and the rest of our family and have started a new and better tradition. My aunt who grew up in the backwoods of Alabama was beaten as a child. She had no school at all. She was a beautiful young woman. She met my dad who was in the  army and served in the Vietnam war and they were married. My aunt who I know as my mother has had cancer and even then she was a strong person. She put up a good fight and she fought the cancer and she is now cancer free. My father has had a heart attack, he has ten stents in his heart. He also has a lot of problems with his bones and muscles as well. He is also a very strong man. At their ages now they should be retired and living on their own. But they know that they are ther only ones we have.  My mom is a songwriter and she loves it. My dad is a realtor and he is so devoted. Now at age 16 I’m here living the greatest life in the prettiest home filled with love with my siblings right by my side. And I am the happiest I've ever been. Utah is my home and I am grateful that God was looking out for my family, and has given me the opportunity to live my life in a good environment.