Our Justice System at Work Again

We received notice from the Prosecuting Attorney's office today concerning the whole parole hearing issue. They were informing us that due to an error by the judge, Ryan Sundermann was receiving credit for the 180 days he served in county jail against his 6 year sentence. As you all remember, Sundermann's bond was revoked and he was ordered to serve the 180 days for violation of his probation of driving without a license and consuming alcohol. It was not for the manslaughter charges because he had posted bond on those charges. Instead of withdrawing the warrant issued in our case, the judge terminated the requirement for a bond. A technicality that will allow him out of prison earlier and probably the reason for the early parole hearing. I swear this system works for the criminals every chance it can! It just makes me so angry! Why is it that we have to fight every step of the way. Why does everything work in his favor! I thought once he was in prison the fight would be over for 2 years until the first parole...guess not. In this justice system it's the criminals with the rights and not the victims. Innocent until proven guilty - HE'S BEEN FOUND GUILTY - so why do we still have to do this!? It's time for an overhaul of the system! You know as well as I do that as soon as he gets out he will be right back to drinking and driving because he even said under oath that he doesn't have a problem. So let's just hurry and let him back out so someone else can lose their little girl too. Sorry for the angry outburst, but seriously, when is justice going to work the way it should? The Bible even says an eye for an eye. Maybe it's time to get back to that old way again.

~Brenda

Parade

Here's the scoop...We are number 102, so we should be a ways back this year. (Hopefully Cole and Scott will be able to join us this year after going thru on the firetruck.) We (the float) has to be there at 7:45, but the rest of us can get there at about 8:45 since the parade doesn't start until 9:00. This should give us enough time to put streamers, balloons, and any other last minute touches on. I'm not sure what the trailer will look like because I left that in the guys' hands. We'll have to wait and see what their talents produce. We are to line up on the road down from Roberta Hall this year, but you can always call Marc or I that morning and we can tell you where we are actually at. As far as the weather, I checked and there is not supposed to be any rain. It is to be 42 by 9, but feel like it's 38...so bundle up! Remember to wear your Abby's Hugs shirts and I will have extras there in case someone needs one. Hope to see everyone Saturday!
~Brenda

Gloomy Weather

Sometimes the weather reflects my mood. The cloudy, overcast days seem to make it ok to be sad. The drizzles can hide the tears as they mingle together on my face. The dampness can hide the fact that I didn't want to fix my hair like usual. The chill in the air makes curling up on the couch under a blanket seem more for warmth than for sadness. Some may not understand the sadness that is held in the depths of the soul after a child is taken from you. I have come to the conclusion that it will never go away, never heal. I think it is there to shape who I am to become from now on, to make sure that as time begins to rob the mind of its memories that this one will never be stolen. I have always had that fear that I might forget something about Abrielle, the sound of her laugh, the way her big brown eyes would sparkle, or the way she would bounce along instead of walking. I want to hold on to every detail of her life, no matter how minute it may be. From the fact that Marc had painted her toenails blue just days before the accident to the fact that she and I blew bubbles on the porch the night before. I want to keep the vision of Abby running down the hill to the swing, yelling for me to push her and the sight of her pulling on her cowgirl boots with her capris to run out and help Marc set blocks around the fence post. I have always been afraid that the memories of the next day would somehow steal these away. Maybe this is a strange fear to have, but the way my mind works some days makes me afraid that this could happen. Some days it seems like it was such a long time ago that Abby was running through the house and the next day it is as if I just lost her the day before. These are such strange sensations to feel ok (normal) one day and the next be a total wreck, crying at anything. It seems as though grief has many layers that we must go through.



~Brenda

More Donations

Last night I went to Kool Kids at the Methodist Church to pick up donations that were collected from the kids. They had gathered stuffed animals and some other fun for the Foundation. The kids were all dressed up in costumes for the evening. Here they are...

I also finally received the little notebooks for the parade (I still don't know anything yet). Ok, everyone can laugh. I did. I thought I was ordering the same thing I did last year and just thought wow, the price has come down. I guess I messed up because they are only maybe 3 inches tall. They are tiny. Oh well, I guess they will work this time.
~Brenda

Donation News

The Venture Club has donated to the Foundation almost since the beginning. They have provided ziploc bags, animals, and coloring books as well as monetary donations. You may be wondering just as I was in the beginning, Who's the Venture Club? They are a small group of about 10 ladies that do wonderful things for good causes. They have continued to pledge their support for the Foundation and have given us another monetary donation. We are truly appreciative of this support.

The ladies at Community of Faith Church donated animals and coloring books this month too. We were able to bag those on Saturday along with the other donations we had. Thank you to these ladies for thinking of us.

~Brenda

Harvest Time

Harvest is here and I thought it would be the perfect time to show off my little farmers. Here are Marc and the girls playing with his old farm toys. They are playing in Abby's room, but it was before I painted it green and put cute little bugs all over the walls. This will give you a small glimpse of her room. Hopefully someday I will be able to share pictures of her room how she left it. I will have to wait for one of my strong days for that because all I can do now is cry every time I go in there. Everything is just waiting for her to come back. It's sad. Besides Marc, Mady and I, only one other person has gone in her room. That was you MeMe and I guess the Hart's man does when he sprays for bugs. Ok, enough of that, here's the pictures of the little carpet farmers in action.I think these were taken on a weekend in the winter and everybody had put on comfy clothes after being outside in the cold. Abby has a combine in this one. Abby's taking her combine over to Daddy's tractor and wagon with a semi waiting for their grain. I'm not sure what Mady has.Abby was so excited to find a "bobby cat" in with Daddy's tractors! She loved playing with her bobby cats. She had a big one and a little one that we would take to Mady's t-ball games for her to play with in the dirt. She was also given a motorized one to ride from Tom Parker. She absolutely loved that thing! She would scoop stuff up with its bucket (usually a cat) and she'd be off. I have to mention too that she is wearing one of her "Becci shirts" as she called them. When Aunt Becci worked at Sport Shop, she always had to make the girls shirts. Abby's favorites were the ones with the NW paw print on them and she would wear them every day if we would let her. You might also notice too how she picked up her room...everything is heaped in one of the toy baskets, while one is empty in the earlier pictures.

~Brenda

Saturday Bagging

We had a good crew for the bagging and parade prep on Saturday night. We had some pros from last years parade prep, Kara and Randi, and were able to band the crayons in no time. We were also able to break in the McKee's too. They have helped with other things, but this was the first bagging they were able to make. Here are some pics. Timmy & Laura hard at work tying ribbons to the crayons.Teresa McKee cut apart tags while Teresa Frueh punched holes. Randi, Chloe, and Kara rubber banded the crayons.The finished product. Lots of crayons for the kids. We will pass out little notebooks too, but even though they shipped out last Monday, they didn't make it in time for the prep night. Our group of men hard at work bagging.

The ladies and kids making cards.

We bagged up 102 little prayer lambs in memory of Katherine Steiner. The lambs are kneeling and have their arms folded like they are praying. We purchased these with some of the memorial money we were given. We still have some money left, so we will be on the look out for more cute little animals.

BONUS~ Here is a picture of Elly and Tyler (Beth's little guy) in the tub together after a night of entertaining all of us baggers. I don't think they could have fit any more toys in with them.

~Brenda