God is Incredible

My family has come a long way in the last 6 years. We've had to learn a new way to live life without Stephen and find a new "normal." My son Trey is so much like Stephen it almost makes me believe in spirit possession. My son Jacob has a lot of Stephen's traits, also. When my dad came to visit, he was weepy a lot of the day just looking at Trey and thinking how bizarre it was that he was so much like Stephen. We stay busy. We have a tight schedule. But we do things together. Family is so important. We know all-too-well how quickly someone could be gone.

This is a picture from Mother's Day 2013. It's my mom, me and the kids.

Left-to-right: Trey, my mom Sheila, Jacob, Me and Makinsey

That first day when IT happened, my mom and I traveled to South Carolina and didn't think we'd make it a day without Stephen. But here we are, 6 years later, with smiles on our faces. God is incredible, is all I can say. God is good, ALL the time.

This song by Plumb really got me through, and it still makes me emotional when I hear it.

"I Killed a Man."

This is the video that was shared on YouTube that my Dad responded to in the media. This man killed a 61-year-old Navy Vet because he was driving drunk, the wrong way, on an interstate. He took full responsibility for his actions and it pleading with people not to drink and drive. It's a campaign called #saveyourvictim.

The under-age drunk driver to killed my brother also took responsibility for her actions, even going to far as to travel to Florida from South Carolina, without her attorney, to meet my family and answer any questions we had about the night Stephen died. She also stood up in court and admitted what she did and apologized. But she shouldn't have had to do that. She shouldn't have driven drunk in the first place, then she wouldn't have anything to be punished for, or guilt to live with for the rest of her life. Please spread this word to others. Drinking and driving is not worth it.

Don't drink and drive.

Six Years Today...

Today marks the 6th anniversary of Stephen's death. I am ok. My mom said the other day that she has always had problems dealing with "hard stuff." I told her she survived the death of a child and she's living her life still. So many other things could have gone wrong if she had chosen to deal with it differently.

My dad and step-mom chose to fight drunk driving. My dad was featured on his local FOX News affiliate last night.


FOX 10 News - Phoenix, AZ | KSAZ-TV

The sentence wasn't correctly reported but the story is still important.

Offender Update...

For those of you who have followed the case from the start, here's an update: The drunk driver who killed my brother (I'll just call her "the offender" for this post) has been on Home Incarceration for the last (almost) 3 years. Her sentence was 1 year in prison and 3 years HIP. Earlier this week my dad got a phone call that the offender could not be located by her equipment (ankle monitor) and was feared to have violated. A little while later, my dad got another call that "it's ok, she's been home all along and that the equipment had malfunctioned." That day, I called the Greenville, SC Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. I spoke to a woman about the offender. I could not locate the offender on any online searches and I was trying to find out how long she had left on her sentence. A couple days go by and I finally get a call back today. The offender finished HIP yesterday and will be reporting to Dept of PPP on Monday to do 2 years community supervision. I will get a call next week explaining the parameters of her probation. I know she still has to pay my dad back for the funeral. She has only paid $100 over the last 2 years. I wish she'd go ahead and get it paid. Every time my dad gets a check, it'll be a reminder of Stephen's death. I also know she has to do 300 hours of community service. I really hope she'll use that time to do some good...maybe speak about what she did, the dangers of drunk driving, drinking under age, etc. I would also really like to hear from her. I'd like to know where her head is at right now. Strangely, I'd like to know how she's doing.