NEW YORK (AP) — Blanche Steen's morning routine remains unchanged. Each day, she prays for the safety of her sons — George, alive and well in the city, and Eric, missing in the ruins of the World Trade Center.

She had just finished her morning prayers Sept. 11 when she received a call at her Long Island home from Eric, who worked as a bond trader for Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the Trade Center's south tower.

The north tower had been hit by a hijacked jet, and Eric was planning to get out of the building.

Minutes later, Blanche watched on television as a second hijacked plane slammed into the other tower. She did not hear from Eric again.

A Roman Catholic, Blanche Steen said she continues to start each day with prayers for the well-being of both her sons.

"People have survived other tragedies, earthquakes, for 14 days or longer. I'm not giving up hope," she said. "I'm a religious person. Most of the time I pray, my prayers are answered. I feel Eric with me."

The slimmest of hopes linger for families, whose members speak of reunions with missing loved ones even as city leaders say relatives must prepare for the worst.

Five survivors have been found in the Trade Center rubble, but none since the day after the attack.

"Just like everyone else, we're still hoping," said Sharlene Beckwith, mother of Michele Reed, last seen trying to evacuate the Trade Center carrying a blue L.L. Bean book bag. "We're going to bring her home."

As days have passed, though, the chances of finding anyone alive have grown dim. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has been edging closer to the point where leaders must declare the search for survivors futile.

"We're not there yet," Giuliani said Thursday. He said rescuers continue to cite instances where people have survived longer after other disasters.

"Until they tell me that's not the case, this is going to be a recovery effort. A recovery effort for human beings," Giuliani said.

Leaders of the rescue say they remain hopeful some survivors will be found, but that it might be a handful at best.

"Families are moving to a state of accepting the worst," Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said Wednesday after visiting a family center where people have gathered for counseling and news of missing loved ones.

The Esquilin sisters, awaiting word on their brother, Ruben, occasionally catch themselves talking about him in past tense. Ruben worked as a maintenance employee for Fiduciary Trust in the south tower.

"We have to correct ourselves. We haven't heard anything, so we talk about him in the present," said Priscilla Esquilin, 41. "Because we still have a lot of hope."

Priscilla and Mary Esquilin, 39, spoke about their brother in the Manhattan apartment where Ruben grew up with them and a younger sister. Ruben, 35, shares the apartment with his mother, Priscilla and her 18-year-old son.

The apartment is filled with signs of Ruben's pastimes: Hundreds of compact discs and videos, such as "Gladiator" and "The Truman Show." A championship trophy for the 1999 National Federation of Hispanic Softball Leagues team. Ruben's white, yellow, orange, green and blue jujitsu belts.

Ruben was working at the Trade Center during the 1993 terrorist bombing there and helped a group of visiting children to safety, his sisters said. They did not hear from Ruben after last week's attacks, but they are sure he was helping others evacuate.

"I told him the first time, after the bombing in '93 — it's kind of cruel to say and I don't want people mistaking me — but I told him not to be a hero the next time. Only I guess that's what he did. But he never listened to me, anyway," Mary Esquilin said, laughing sadly.

Blanche Steen, 62, said she showed former President Clinton a photo of her son at the family center Wednesday. Shortly after, she broke down and wept as she gazed at a missing poster for Eric, one of hundreds of fliers families have posted outside the center. A police officer wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her away, offering consoling words.

Eric Steen, 32, had moved to Euro Brokers months earlier after working for Cantor Fitzgerald in the other tower. He was at the Trade Center during the 1993 bombing, and his older brother had urged him to find work elsewhere, Blanche Steen said.

His mother, a retired hotel worker, had only a few seconds to talk with Eric the day of the attacks.

"He said, 'Mom, I'm just going to make a couple more phone calls, and then I'm out of here,"' she said. "Evidently, he shouldn't have made the calls."

Eric's tidy living room is filled with reminders of her son, including an action figure from the original "Planet of the Apes," one of his favorite movies. Shelves are loaded with Eric's videos, compact discs and books, including Thoreau's "Walden" and Salman Rushdie's "The Ground Beneath Her Feet."

On the apartment door is a rose hung there by the building manager.

"If Eric never comes back to me, I don't know how I'm going to deal with it," his mother said. "I may have to be strong and face reality, but I do still feel him with me, not gone."