( CNN ) -- When two small caskets gradually descend into the ground Thursday in Atlanta , it may begin to sink into their father 's head that his children are gone . It has n't so far . As Mark Edge has cried over them , he has felt their presence at his side . Police recovered their bodies in a Santa Ana , California , hotel room nearly two weeks ago . Their mother poisoned them , authorities allege . Jaelen was 13 , Faith was 10 . A custody battle that raged around them for years had just been settled . Edge was supposed to be packing up their books and pencils back in Cobb County , Georgia , making their breakfast , and getting them off to school about now . Earlier this month , a Georgia court ordered his ex-wife Marilyn Edge to hand them over to him . But it seems she was n't going to let him have them . Mark Edge 's lawyer Marian Weeks had a feeling his ex would split town by how she behaved when the custody ruling came down . When the judge awarded custody of the children to the father in early September , their mother made an abrupt exit , Weeks told CNN affiliate WSB . `` When Judge Leonard was giving his order on Wednesday afternoon , she got up and left the courtroom in the middle of it , '' she said . Weeks told her client that she thought Marilyn Edge might flee to California , where she used to live . It was n't the first time . She had bolted with them before , Mark Edge said . After her children 's father received visitation rights a year ago , Marilyn Edge ran away with them to her native Arizona . `` But neither of us thought she 'd kill the children , '' Weeks said . Police arrested Marilyn Edge not far from the hotel where Jaelen and Faith 's lifeless bodies lay . She had rammed her car into poles protecting an electrical box in a Home Depot parking lot . Police think she was trying to kill herself . Orange County has charged her with two felony counts of special circumstance murder . The special circumstances being multiple murders and murder by poisoning . She could spend the rest of her life in a state prison without parole if a court convicts her . Marilyn Edge is scheduled to enter a plea to the charges in a Santa Ana court on October 25 . Indescribable pain . She had often used their children to hurt him , Mark Edge alleges . But finally they were going to live under his roof , and he was excited about that . `` I started doing all the preparations that I needed for my kids as far as trying to get them in school , '' he said . `` My mind was just on them . '' Then the police appeared at his door . The news hurled him into a dark place . `` It hurt me so bad ; I had a feeling that I never felt before . It was the total opposite of what I felt when they were born , '' he said . The pain was immense . He could n't describe it in words . Edge checked himself into the Veteran 's Administration hospital , his lawyer said . Facing his wife . Edge is still holding fast to his deceased son and daughter . He is together with them in God 's hand , he says . And he is still doing things for them , imagines their future stretched out before him . He pictures his son going to his school prom . `` I do n't see them as not being here with me right now . I see my children still here with me . When I sleep , I dream of my son , and I dream of my daughter . '' Edge says he is strapped for cash . The Willie Watkins funeral home is taking donations to help pay for his children 's funeral . And he is trying to raise funds on gofundme.com to pay for a trip to California , he told WSB . There , he may have to face his former wife again , at her murder trial . CNN 's Amanda Watts contributed to this report .
As he watches their burials , it may slowly sink in to Mark Edge that his children are dead . Authorities allege that their mother poisoned them . A court had just awarded their father custody , but their mother fled with them to California . Police her in a parking lot , where they say she tried to kill herself .