Faces of evil

When a mother has a child - most mothers, I believe - she looks into the face of that child, into their eyes, and all she can see is the work of God in her life, in her arms. She sees hope and promise and perfection. As the child grows, she prays for its safety, health and a good life. She prays that it never wants, is never hurt and that only good things will come in that child's life. It doesn't matter if it's her first child or her tenth (or more). Every new life holds that promise and those prayers in her heart.

Still, we all know that no child grows up free from pain or sickness or temptations. As parents and adults, we didn't make it this far without some heartbreak, various illnesses - some life threatening - or mistakes in judgment. Still, we plan and guide and nurture our children as best we can. We pray to our God for mercy and protection and blessings that our children will grow up to be better people than we are; to have love everlasting and make the world a better place. Thankfully, most children do grow up to be happy, healthy and living good lives their parents are proud of. By the Grace of God, Paul and I have been fortunate with our six children. We pray for them every day, just like other parents do around the world for their children. What we don't pray for is that our childrens' lives turn out like the ones in the pictures below. One newspaper called them the "San Antonio Five". I call them the faces of evil.

"Walking Between The Raindrops" by Mary and Paul Roland on sale now at Amazon.com

"$500,000 by tonight or all you'll need that money for is his funeral." February 27, 2008

That's what the voice on the other end of the phone demanded of my brother-in-law at 6:45AM on Wednesday, February 27, 2008. Paul's been gone just minutes short of 24 hours.Now, we know he's alive. As an added incentive to move quickly, the kidnapper told Tom that Paul was "in a bad way...needs a doctor; maybe a hospital." My stomach lurches at the images of torture and terror that Paul's going through.

Horror turns to panic as the realization hits us that we have less than a day to find HALF A MILLION DOLLARS! Thankfully, a team is growing and assembling in Georgetown, Texas to save the day:

Sergeant Pete Hughey, Detective James Maugham, Texas Ranger Matt Lindemann and First Assistant District Attorney, Jana McKown.

Will they get there in time? Where, on earth, will we ever be able to find that kind of money? Why did this happen?

"Walking Between The Raindrops" by Mary and Paul Roland - An American couple's true story of kidnap-for-ransom in the United States by the most Vicious drug cartel in Mexico - on sale now at Amazon.com.

"No one could have ever invented a story like this. I was especially gratified for their honesty ...", February 22, 2015
By Bridget (Tarentum, PA USA)

"A book of true courage," February 5, 2015
By sharon

"This is a very good book. Follows the victims and suspects from the beginning to the end - seeing the suspect in jail and the victims recovering." February 26, 2015, By Barbara

The worst day of my life - February 26, 2008

7am - Paul kisses me goodbye and leaves. As he shuts the door that connects our apartment to our garage, I step into the shower. It's just another day, same as the last.

10am - My cell phone rings. I think it's Paul but it's someone from his office. He never made it into the office. He didn't call. Somehow, Paul was lost between our apartment and his office just five minutes away.

Noon - Williamson County Sheriff's Office calls me. Opening a missing person report so that Onstar will locate Paul's truck.

2PM - His truck is found but he's not there. His truck is found 20 miles south of where he should have been.

The truck is empty - no wallet, no briefcases, no Paul. All that's left in the truck is his hearing aids; found in the backseat. Hearing aids that tell us, "I was here but someone took me away. Find me."

"Walking Between The Raindrops" by Mary and Paul Roland - An American couple's true story of kidnap-for-ransom in the United States as directed by the most vicious drug cartel in Mexico. On sale at Amazon.com.