Savannah is almost 9

Hello sweeties,

I haven't written much lately as I am so down. I miss you so much I can hardly stand it. I want to hug you so much! We won't be able to share your birthday again this year. Thanks to Judge Rea, we won't even be able to see you at all.

I certainly hope you have a great day and have a wonderful party. At 9, I'll bet you tall enough to break open your piñata yourself! Please have lot's of fun with your friends and brothers and sister!

Here's a picture of your mom and Savannah on your third birthday!

We love you so much and miss you so much. I would trade all I own for a day with you girls! Don't forget to pray that things will be right soon - we do many times a day!

We love you more than chicken!
x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x
Mom Mom + Pop Pop

After Valentine's Day

Hi girls,

I hope you and your brothers are doing well. I am also hoping you received lots of Valentines. My Valentine to you will have to wait for a day when we can see you. Did you have a nice party at school? Don't think we didn't think of you! Every time we went into Target or a store that sold valentines, we felt a shot of sadness through our hearts at not being able to get you a cuddly animal or some chocolates!

I think of you everyday and pray everyday that your mom's heart will soften, and she will know how important you are to us, and also that we are important to you! Don;t forget to pray! Every time I hear "Shout to the Lord" at church, I remember us singing it together in the car!

You are in my thoughts the last thing at night, and the first thing in the morning. I am working on the site savannahstafford.com
which is not up yet. I'm hoping you will be able to find us and read about how much we miss you and constantly think of you! You are forever our granddaughters and we are your grandparents!

We love you more than chicken! Mom Mom and Pop Pop
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Hello sweeties,

I've been making a lot of scrapbook pictures of you and Luna to see one day! I have really gotten addicted to digital scrapbooking - wait till you see them!

Here is a picture of you two wearing the shirts you picked out at Target. You rushed to put them on in the van!

I'm wearing the charm bracelet you picked out for me that day, too! Remember the coffee cup charm Mari picked out, and the heart charm Savannah picked out?

Valentine's Day is coming up. I'm hoping you both have a great party at school! Mari, I sure would like to see you in pre-school! I used to take and pick up Savannah every day, and she was so excited showing me her paintings and crafts. I so enjoyed watching her play on the school playground after school.

Here are some photos of Savannah at Pre-school. Isn't she cute?















Danniele Centeno


I love you more than chicken! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Night Time

At night, when the TV is off, and Pop Pop has gone to bed, I think of you girls even more. I miss you so much it hurts. I'm hoping one day your mom will realize that she is hurting all of us... Tia, Luna, you girls and your little brothers.


Tia spoke to your aunts and uncles in Venezuela, who said they had heard nothing from your Abuelo, and that he kept telling them Tia and Luna were fine! Abuelo is living in Philadelphia now and has not spoken to Tia in over 3 years! I have a feeling Abuelo will hear from them soon.

Tia is going to Venezuela in the spring, and she will tell them all the details of what has happened to our family. Such a shame.

Again, I love you so so so much. I pray for the day to come when I can see you again!

Love, Mom Mom

Luna Baloona

Hi girls,

I wanted to post pictures of Luna too! She misses you and wishes she could see you. She started ballet lessons, and is learning chess! She LOVES the computer and her favorite TV show is Wow Wow Wubsy, and her favorite movie is Charlotte's Web!

We went to the Children's Museum in Pueblo with Luna. She had a great time! We wished you could have been there with us. Just know that you are always in our thoughts, and we miss seeing you and watching you grow. I hope your two little brothers, Micah and Luca are doing well too. Gosh, we've never even seen Luca, and only seen Micah a few times.






Luna and I made brownies, and Luna wore her chef's hat and apron. (A Christmas gift from Erica)

Hello girls

Wow, I have not posted in weeks! But not a day went by that I didn't think of you, or cry at night over missing you terribly.

Luna is getting SO big, and still talks about her cousins, Savannah and Mari. She and Tia also miss you very much!

We have been on the road for 6 weeks! For the first three, we used our van, and Roy, from church enclosed Pop Pop's trailer.



Then, we got a used RV and took Pancho with us. You both would have had fun with us! We spent Christmas with Tia, and while there we learned that Grandpa, my dad, died. We came home long enough to repack, and drove to Michigan for a beautiful Life Celebration service. You would have loved to have been there. It was just beautiful, and Tia and Luna went for a few days too. We ended up staying about a week.


There was lots of snow! We spent slow, mellow days with Jeanette, and enjoying her company, eating well, and reminiscing about Grandpa.


We took our time driving home, and stopped at Tia's house again. On the way to Tia's we visited the Wizard of Oz museum. Mari, I felt vicariously excited for you, and enjoyed every minute. We also saw lots of wildlife along the way, horses, donkeys, deer, rabbits, and even some strange ducks!


We sure miss you girls, and we bought you some Wizard of Oz souvenirs at the museum. Lord only knows when I can give them to you, but I am confident that one day they will be yours. The same day we get to hug and kiss you again, and see your shining smiles and beautiful faces.



I'll post again soon! I love you both more than chicken. We miss you SO SO SO much.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO Mom Mom and Pop Pop

It's been several days since I wrote... certainly not because you're not in my thoughts always... just that we made the trip to Colorado. We hit a lot of snow and ice, and stopped for the night in Albuquerque. The trailer had a flat tire and Pop Pop had to change it on the snow, at night, just one week after his back surgery! We finally got to Tia's house safe and sound! Luna asks for you often. She still has your picture book and looks at your pictures often. She misses you too.

Can you beleive Pancho likes the snow? It comes past his chest, and he does not want to go out in the cold sometimes, but when he does, he plays in the snow! He and Botas are getting along fine.

Tomorrow we are going to Pueblo to do some shopping, and hope we don't meet with MORE snow! I'll bet you and Mari are getting excited about Christmas. Remember how last year we drove around and looked at lights with Tia? Remember how we opened the van door on one street and you girls and Luna shouted "Merry Christmas"? We sure laughed and had such fun that evening! I'll never forget it.

I was so sad not to have been able to see you last week-end or to be able to call you. I sure miss you and I will always love you. I am always your grandmother.

I love you both more than chicken!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

13 days

Its been 13 days since we have had any contact. Seems like a year. The Christmas presents we ordered you before we knew Judge Rea would not enforce our previous visitation order, have arrived. Each visit from FedEx or UPS makes me sadder.

We'll try to get someone to bring your presents, but I don't know if your parents will allow you to keep them.

If not, one day we will see you and hug and kiss your sweet faces again, and I'll tell you and show you your things.

We wish we could write a letter to Judge Rea, Superior Court, Maricopa County, Arizona, telling him of th epain he has caused us, and you and Mari too. If he knew how much you loved US and wanted to visit us. It is so cruel that he is keeping us apart. If we were mean , or alcoholics, or drug addicts, or theives, but we are not. We are good, honest, churchgoing people. I'm sure Judge Rea would not want HIS grandchildren taken away.

Here's a picture of our last day together.

Remember we LOVE you more than chicken!
Kisses, Mom Mom and Pop Pop.

Savannah and Mari Gumbari

Hi girls! Here's a picture I made for you a few weeks ago. I have missed calling you and it sure feels strange not to call you on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When the phone rings, I am hoping it is one of you calling from a friend's house, like you did in the past. Every girl I see when we're in the store, I think might be you. Today, each aisle I turned int he grocery store, I hoped I would run into you.

I hope school is going well for you both, and would love to see you both in your uniforms.

Remember, I'm still your grandmother, and Pop Pop is still your grandpa, and we always will be.

We love you Savannah and Mari... and always will!

We miss you more than chicken!!!
x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x

Missing you so badly

Hello girls,

Mom Mom and Pop Pop are missing your sweet voices so much. We would have been looking forward to seeing you Saturday if Judge Rea had not decided to deny us any visitation at all. I can't do anything about it now, but I think Judge Rea must be having a hard time sleeping at night. Then again, he must be completely heartless to take away the previous order that allowed us to see you twice a month for 3 1/2 hours. How we all looked forward to those visits - your sweet hugs and kissses.

We are very sad, and hope you are not too sad. Every time I see a 5 year old, or an 8 year old, I look twice to see if it might be you.

Pop Pop is recuperating well from his spinal surgery. We will be going to Colorado to visit your cousin Luna for Christmas. How I wish we could all go. I'm hoping your folks will allow you to accept the Christmas gifts we had ordered before we knew we would not be seeing you. We sure want you to have them.

Mom Mom and Pop Pop are praying that your mom will soften and realize the pain she is causing to you and us. Never forget how much we love you. We pray for your well being each day.

I lov eyou more than chicken! XOXOXOXOXOX Mom Mom & Pop Pop

Dec. 8, 2006

Hello My Sweeties,

It's been 6 days since we've seen you, but it feels like 6 years. Hardly a minute goes by that I don't think of you and miss you. There really is such a thing as a heartache. I've felt it many times.

Pop Pop had surgery on his back yesterday, and it lasted 5 hours! We were remembering how interested you both were in the stitches and wound when he had his knees operated on - How the nurse let Savannah help remove the dressing! He would sure have felt better with some drawings and a visit from you here.

Pop Pop will come home tomorrow, and Pancho will be very happy! He misses Pop Pop so much, and lies on his "blankie" by the door watching and waiting for him to come home. He does that a lot when Pop Pop is home too, and we can only think he is wishing you two were coming through the door.

I wear the bracelet that Mari got me, with the heart charm Savannah picked out, and the green coffee cup Mari picked out.

Pop Pop and I are both praying every day that your parents change their minds and decide to let us see you. We miss you terribly.

Here's a funny picture for you - Pop Pop's lunch today, in the hospital! He loved his lunch of crabcakes, Philly Cheesesteak, and cheesecake!

Love you more than chicken! Mom Mom and Pop Pop

No more visits with my granddaughters

Last week we went back to family court to attempt enforcement of a previous grandchildren visitation order. Instead of enforcing the prior order, Judge Rea, Superior Family Court, Phoenix, AZ, ruled that spending time with grandma was a disturbance to my granddaughter's daily activities! He ruled that my daughter had the right to determine whether or not I could see the girls. My daughter made it clear she would not allow me to visit with the girls, so I won't be able to see them for the next 9 years. The oldest girl, Savannah, will be 18 then and I know she will seek me out.

I don't know about you, but I consider grandparents a valuable asset to a child's life. I adored MY grandmother, who became my role model for being a great grandma.

My daughter decided two years ago to punish me for an argument we had, by not allowing me to see my granddaughters. My granddaughters lived with me on and off, and it was I who quit my job to care for Savannah when she was born. I adored her... I loved her before she was born... from the minute my daughter told me she was expecting.

My daughter came home to live then, back in 1997, because her boyfriend did not want the baby. She was distraught, but I told her she had a home with us and we would help her.

Help her we did. She eventually got back with the boyfriend and went on to have a second daughter, Mari. I loved caring for them during the day. I loved them so much. As they grew, we baked and cooked together, took walks and trips to the park, read lots of books, painted. We even set up an ant farm together. We had wonderful times.

Savannah asked me many times over the uears would I promise to always be near her. I promised, and always meant it.

Now that I am unable to call or visit, it is likely they will move far away, with no contact. No one knows what the internet will be like in 9 years, but I'm hoping I can express my feelings here, and maybe one day she will find her Mom Mom online!

I am SO broken hearted. Worse is the fact that my daughter and her husband (yes, they married a year ago... more on that in a later post) called two times when they received their copy of the judge's ruling. We had not gotten our copy till Wednesday. My daughter and her husband got theirs on Monday or Tuesday. We received two calls from them gloating over how they had won, and we lost everything.

My grandchildren's parents think they won, and we lost. While they did win, the biggest losers were my sweet grandchildren, who love us and want to see us.

My daughter broke my heart, with what felt like a sledgehammer. She did not have to hurt the kids too. She does not realize what she has done to the entire family, as she will not allow her children to see or speak to her own sister or niece! My daughter is taking delight in having ripped out my heart.

Since I received Judge Rea's ruling today, my life will never be the same. I have already suffered major depression the past two years, and this is a major setback. Blue Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006. I miss my sweethearts already and am in total mourning.

I'm not a prolific writer, but will attempt to write often. From here on out, my posts will be addressed to Savannah and Mari, my beloved granddaughters, for whom I would give my life.
I used to laugh at grandparents like me, till I too became a doting grandparent.

I love them more than chicken.