Love Is....

I have lost three close family members to domestic violence. My aunt was murdered when I was 10 by her husband of one month. He stabbed her 28 times no one even knows what the dispute was about. She left a six year old son. My cousin who was like my older sister was murdered when she was 23 year old and I was 20. Three hours before her son's father shot her, my mom and I were at her house and were upset at the huge bruise on her arm. She smiled at us and said he SAID he was sorry.....she left two little girls and a 3 month old son. Two years ago another cousin of mines naked body was left in a wooded area, she was last seen arguing with her off and on long time boyfriend, there has been a couple of arrests but prosecutor seems to have little interest in taking this court to trial. She left two preteen daughters. All of these crimes were committed by men who purported to LOVE them. I always go back to (IMO) the authority on Love, who said:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant (1 Cor. 13:4)...where in there does that leave room for abuse? where does it leave room for murdering the very one you claim to love? My heart goes out to Jennifer Hudson & her family. I am crying the same never ending tears. In one second, some idiot demolished your life as you knew it. And nothing can ever change it back. As time goes on, you build it into something new...something different. Something not quite as good as it was...after all those loved ones are no longer there with you. It never hurts any less...it's just not as close to the surface. But something will remind of that person and even now almost two decades later, the pain of my cousins passing can overwhelm me. I wish I could tell every woman who is with an abusive mate, not to allow him to do to her family what has been done to mine. I wish I could show them all the years of pain and tears that has been inflicted on children who are missing bright smiles and warm hugs of their murdered mothers. I wish I could tell all those abusers, hey we love her too, she doesn't BELONG to you. But I can't. I can only continue to pray for those whose pain I know all too well.

Missing my family

On May 1st the Reverend Dr. Sylvester Armour, after 80 years the last six in a paralytic state, passed from this life. Now that may not mean much to you but he was my Grandad and even though I had made peace ~or so I thought~ with his going, it knocked me for a loop. I could remember all the fun times when he took me and all the other grands to Geauga Lake. I remeber the rides on his home made motorcycle {it was the back of a VW Bug and the front wheel of a chopper}. It had five places for one of each of the grands to sit! I remember him giving us a weekly "allowance" just because. It makes me sad that my kids wont get to know that Grandaddy. They only know the sick man in the nursing home who they could hardly understand. I remember and thats the Grandad that I wasnt ready to let go. But I prayed for his soul and I prayed for ease of my grief. Granddaddy, I love and miss you....and I always will.

Some days I do ok. I go through the day caught up in the myriad details of caring for my family, house...life in general. And then some thing brings you to mind, an old school song, a place we used to go, something we used to do, and its like the last two and a half years have not gone by. I miss you JUST AS MUCH as the day I found out you had been taken from us. My heart is just as heavy as the day I stood over your coffin and begged God to give you back to us. My eyes are just as full of tears as the day I watched them lower the coffin in the cold November earth. Thanksgiving 2005 just wasnt the same and will NEVER EVER BE. I miss and love you Tahnee, sister of my heart, and I always will.

Tue 3/25 Blog Prompt

DSP Prompt
various family shots and journaling about the pictures

All of these pictures are from my relatives in Cincinnati. Its been almost a year since I have seen them and boy do I miss them....but pictures do help some...
These are my lil cousins....their mom was murdered two years ago and it hurts me to see how grown up they are getting and how much I miss their mom. They both for different reasons remind me of her when we were growing up together.

These are two more of my lil cousins. Their mom took a 14 year break between children. We all thought that her daughter Bree would be the only child....and up pops lil Tyrin! He is an adorable sweet baby who looks just like his mommy and big sister when they were babies.

here is my lil cousin Quan...he was first great grandson born ...after 4 girls....so he was QUITE spoiled. I can't believe he is old enough for his voice to change!!

These three are the youngest of the cousins....Shayla, Shiya and DJ. Their daddy is my cousin and is 8 years younger than me. I can hardly believe he is the father of three!!! The youngest Shayla shares the same middle name Ylonne as my youngest daughter Zaniyah. They were both named for his sister Tahnee Ylonne Jackson. RIP dearest cousin and sister of my heart. Believe me when I say that you are loved and missed greatly.

Still feeling blah

I feel so stagnated. I know a lot of it has to do with missing family members who have passed away as well as those who have moved away. I can remember Christmas Holidays from long ago with the grandkids (me included) and my cousins from out of town came. We would play Monopoly with my aunts & uncles (My Uncle Rick always cheated) while Grandma cooked the best sweet potato pie (and I got my OWN pie)....My dad would be singing off key while we all laughed at him.

Twenty or more years later, those days are gone. My Aunts Tammy & Cristy as well as my cousin Tahnee have gone on to heaven. And they live in on my heart. My grandma has cataracts so bad she hasnt baked in years. And she lives all way in Cincinnati. I haven't seen her in two years almost.

My heart is heavy and eyes are full of tears

I had followed this story praying desperately that Latasha would be found unharmed and returned to her family. Well that was not to be. I know the deep hurt that her family is going through as it has only been two years since my 29 year old cousin was found murdered in a wooded area. No one who has not experienced a tragedy of this magnitude can understand how this devastating this is.

Why do men feel they OWN women. Not just in this case or in my cousin's (her ex is a person of interest) but Scott Peterson, OJ Simpson (he got off on a technicality) , Drew Peterson, Rae Carruth, all murdered women they SUPPOSEDLY loved. Where do they get the idea that its is ok for them to murder these women. That these women are not entitled to breath air? What gives the the RIGHT to take away these mothers, daughters, sister, cousins, friends out of their family member's lives? Domestic violence makes me SO angry. I don't understand how you say you love someone and then hurt them in the worse way possible.

Please pray not only for her family but for me and mine.

Ex-boyfriend charged in JSU student’s killing

The Clarion-Ledger

Brian Albert Broom/The Clarion-Ledger Jackson Police investigate the scene on Brown Street where a body has been discovered.

The ex-boyfriend of a JSU student missing since Nov. 13 has been charged with killing her, officials say.

Stanley Cole, 24, is suspected in the slaying of Latasha Norman.

A body found this afternoon off Brown Street in north Jackson is that of Norman, Jackson Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jeffery Scott confirmed late today.

The remains were found around 2 p.m. in a wooded area on Brown Street near County Line Road.

Cole, a criminal justice major at JSU, was in a Pearl court early Thursday for a hearing into charges he struck Norman Oct. 9 at a restaurant in Pearl. He was later taken into custody for further questioning in Norman’s disappearance.

Cole, whom Scott had termed “a person of Interest” a few hours earlier, was formally charged with murder after Norman’s body was found.

Cole apparently led police to the body.

The university, which spearheaded vigils and other events to keep Norman’s disappearance in the news, has cancelled classes Friday in her honor.

“I want to extend my deepest and most profound sympathy to the Norman/Bolden family, Latasha’s friends and others who loved her,” JSU President Ronald Mason Jr. said. “There are simply no words that can take away the anguish felt in the face of such a heinous and senseless act.”

The Jackson State Department of Public Safety has been investigating Norman’s disappearance along with the FBI, Hinds County Sheriff’s Department and the Jackson Police Department.

“We all worked around the clock, hoping that we could bring Latasha back safely,” said Chief Rebecca Coleman, director of the Jackson State Department of Public Safety. “Now, our efforts must shift to seeking justice. We mourn with Latasha’s family and friends.”

A memorial service in memory of the junior accounting major is set for noon Monday in the Rose Embly McCoy Auditorium on the main campus.

Coroner Sharon Grisham Stewart said more testing would be needed for a positive identification of the body. It was badly decomposed, police said.

An autopsy is planned for tonight.

Norman, an accounting major from Greenville, had been the subject of a nationwide search.

Her story had been featured on CNN. Digital billboards leased by JSU for advertising purposes had for days flashed Norman’s picture and listed law enforcement contact numbers.

Producers of the popular TV show, America’s Most Wanted, were in Jackson on Wednesday, filming a segment on Norman.

Norman, 20, was described as a serious student who kept to herself.