Timeline Page 7 of 9

Dec 3rd, 2015 thru Dec 24th, 2015

Message to Patrice
Dec 3rd, 2015 11:04pm

I asked Patrice if she would be willing to bring Andrea to our home on Christmas, allowing her the opportunity to spend time with Patrick and I.

CHRIS: Andrea and Patrick should see each other on Christmas. I ask that you and/or John bring Andrea to our house on Christmas so that they may spend time together. There will be noone here except Patrick and me. You would be allowing her to spend a short amount of time in her own home with her son in an environment they are both comfortable with. This is a compromise I hope you can agree with.

PATRICE: I would think we would be able to work out something. We were thinking if having Andrea come to our house in the morning when only Renee's family was here so that it wouldn't be too overwhelming for her. We would like for Patrick to be with her for part of that time. You could come too. We could bring Andrea to your house in the afternoon and then take her back to the nursing home where you and Patrick could visit her. We will have to check with the nursing home and get permission from Michael Gutter before we do anything.

PATRICE: We might want to bring Andrea to your house from 9 - 10:30 and then come back to our house. We would take Andrea back to the nursing home between 2 and 3. We are still working out our Christmas plans with the rest of the family.

CHRIS: Thank you. We will work out the details.

Message to Patrice
Dec 21st, 2015 2:29pm

I wanted to see if Patrice was willing to call Michael Gutter, on our behalf, and ask if he would allow me to bring Andrea to our home on Christmas during our visitation hours (just as Andrea's parents were allowed to do). It was absurd for me to expect Patrice to do this, and I did not expect a response, but if she did, it would provide me some insight into what I could expect if Patrice was appointed guardian.

CHRIS: Patrick and I would be grateful and Andrea obviously would be as well if you would call Michael Gutter and ask him to remove the restrictions against me so that Patrick and I could bring Andrea to our home for Christmas during our visitation hours just as you are. Mr gutter will not return my lawyer's calls or mine and is also not replying to emails.

PATRICE: We contacted him last week about visiting on Christmas. He said he would let us know this week. I will let you know when I hear from him.

CHRIS: You contacted him about lifting restrictions on me?

PATRICE: No I asked him about Christmas. We had nothing to do with the restrictions he made.

CHRIS: Please do not say that you had nothing to do with the restrictions that are currently in place. We both know that the restrictions are in place because of allegations that you have made. I am also aware that you have communicated with Michael several times and that he will not communicate with me.

I have learned that it is necessary to dissect Patrice's words like a frog in 6th grade science class.

• Patrice's statement, “No I asked him about Christmas. We had nothing to do with the restrictions he made”, upset me for obvious reasons, they had EVERYTHING to do with it, and she knows that I know this.
• Patrice's statement, “We contacted him last week about visiting on Christmas. He said he would let us know this week. I will let you know when I hear from him.”, was not written for me. Patrice informed me weeks ago that they were taking Andrea to their house for Christmas, and it is common knowledge (not only by me, but by Pathways staff as well) that Patrice does not need to ask Mr. Gutter for permission of any type. Patrice had already brought Andrea to their home the past two weekends.

Patrice has learned (from me) that all correspondence can be used in court. She made these statements to maintain the appearance that Mr. Gutter is in charge, and they were not the recipients of any special privileges.

Message from John
Dec 22nd, 2015 1:01pm

John sent me a message to inform me that they had talked to Michael Gutter. John stated that Mr. Gutter was willing to allow Andrea to come over to our home, but with two caveats. The first was that Andrea could only visit between 9:00am and 10:30am (conveniently the exact times that Patrice mentioned in my message with her on December 3rd). The second was that he and Patrice accompanied her. John then informs me that they wanted to take Patrick back to their home afterwards.

I have explained my position with them before about allowing Patrick to visit and I was not going override my concerns and allow Patrick to be part of what appeared to be a trade. I explained to them that Patrick and I would visit with Andrea during our scheduled visitation time at the nursing home.

JOHN: I heard from Michael Gutter. Andrea can come to your house on Friday. He had two conditions. First, Patrice and I will have to bring her. Second she can only stay from 9:00 to 10:30 am. After that we will take her to our house. We would like to be able to see Patrick at our house. We can take him with us at 10:30 and bring him back to the nursing home for your 3;30 visit time or I can bring him to your house after I take Andrea to Andrea the nursing home.

CHRIS: Thanks for checking and getting back to me. The restrictions he has in place are unwarranted and will hopefully be dealt with by the cabinet. Patrick and I want nothing more than to spend Christmas with Andrea as we normally do, but that is obviously not going to happen. Patrick and I will be staying at my parents home on Christmas Eve and spending Christmas Day there until our visitation with Andrea.

JOHN: Do where should we bring her

CHRIS: I don't understand

JOHN: Sorry for the typo. We can only bring her to your house. We do not have permission to take her any where else. What about Patrick.

CHRIS: You will simply return her to the nursing home and Patrick and I will be there at 315. If you want to visit with Patrick you can at that time.

JOHN: Just for clarification. You do not want us to bring Andrea to your house in the morning.

CHRIS: No. I hope you understand why. Andrea should not need permission to come to her house and I do not require a chaperone to see my wife.

Email to John and Patrice
Dec 24th, 2015 3:10am

I was bothered by John's message, not only the undertone implying the decisions were made by Michael Gutter, but the back-end request to have Patrick spend Christmas with them in exchange for allowing Andrea a short and chaperoned visit with us in her own home during times conducive to John and Patrice's own holiday plans. I need to learn to dismiss their rhetoric, but there are times I feel that I just can't.

I had previously explained to them my position concerning visitation with Patrick outside of my presence. I decided to send them an email restating that position. I admit it was a self-serving attempt to return the sting I felt, and realized I would not receive a response, but I needed to let them know the consequences of not working fairly with me and left no room for me to compromise.

John & Patrice,

I feel that I need to explain again my position concerning visitation between Patrick and you. I do not currently have any intentions of allowing Patrick to visit with either of you outside of my presence. This is a parental decision and my reasons were clearly explained to John on October 8th.

Since you were aware of my decision, I believe it was inappropriate for you to tie Andrea's visitation with Patrick on Christmas to him returning to your home following the visit. It gave a strong impression that one was bound to the other.

I have asked numerous times for you to sit down and talk with me in an attempt to work through our issues, but you have refused. Until you are willing to address my concerns over your behavior throughout this process, I simply cannot allow Patrick to visit with you unattended.

Chris