- Which John Hughes Character Are You? - Friday, April 29, 2005 You are Clark Griswold (from National Lampoon's Vacation)! You're full of optimism and boundless energy, and no one loves a good family trip more. No one else can swear a blue streak like you either, Sparky! http://quizilla.com/users/riverblue/quizzes/Which%20John%20Hughes%20Character%20Are%20You%3F/

posted by VRA @ 7:50 AM [[ 1 comments ]]

- - Thursday, April 28, 2005 Melissa and I just got the best invite, to date! We have been asked to accompany Mark and Ruth to an event at Jumbolair in Ocala, featuring the Governor of Florida (blah) and several other celebs such as Preston and Travolta. I'm not obliged to go into too many details, other than it's a black tie affair (push ups for me to tone those arms). We're mainly going to provide emotional support for the family, but it's still going to be an event to remember, representing the Sheriff's Office!

posted by VRA @ 8:55 AM [[ 1 comments ]]

- Selfishness - Monday, April 25, 2005 From Mass on Sunday: A holy man goes up to God and asks him, show me the difference between Heaven and Hell. God says, ok. He opens a door where you see a big oval table with a large pot of stew in the middle. The holy man's mouth starts watering from the smell of the stew and he begins to get hungry. He notices something odd, each person sitting around the table was extremely frail and skinny, like they haven't eaten in days or months. Each person had a spoon, but the handle of the spoon was so long that all they could do was scoop up a spoonful of stew, but they couldn't reach their mouth with the spoon. God explained to him that that is Hell. He then opens the door to the next room, where the holy man sees the same thing. That big pot of stew that again made his mouth water and stomach rumble. The people all looked well fed and satisfied this time. The holy man couldn't figure it out, they all had the same spoons, with the long handles that couldn't reach their mouths. God then explained to the holy man that in Heaven, they don't look out for themselves, instead they look out for each other. They use those long spoons to feed each other.

posted by VRA @ 6:44 AM [[ 0 comments ]]

- - Friday, April 22, 2005 This is the speech that Mark Lunsford wrote and presented in Washington DC on behalf of Victim Advocate funding an the President potentially cutting it. Eight weeks ago, I had a beautiful nine-year-old daughter who was the light of my life. She was smart and funny, direct and to the point. She was more than just a daughter to me - she was my best friend. She was everything that I had planned to make positive changes in our lives. She gave me reason to be strong and to be positive, and to work hard to give her the things I wanted her to have. And BEFORE I could fully give her the things I wanted her to have, someone stole her from me. I will never see Jessie go on her first date. I will never be a grandfather to her children. There's more than raising a child than bumps and bruises and bicycles and bandaids. I will never have those things with Jessie. Eight weeks ago, a repeat sex offender stole this life away from me. Eight weeks ago, I had NO idea what the Crime Victims Fund was. But I found out quickly, after the abduction and murder of my daughter, Jessie Lundsford. There's a lot of shock and trauma when you are a victim of crime. In the middle of the chaos, two victim advocates showed up to help my family. They answered ALL our questions about the investigation and case. They informed my family of our rights as victims of crime. They provided me with information about what was going on, and what would happen next. They provided me with advice about how to deal with the news media (no offense to anyone here, but ya'll can be a little intimidating to a personwho is in shock!). Most important, they helped my Mom and Dad, who were having a really tough time with Jessie being missing, and then found murdered. The advocates showed up to the house and did ANYTHING that was needed: answering the door and phones; answering my folks' questions; explaining the investigation process.... ANYTHING. They are family to us now..... And their help allowed me to do what I needed to do, then and now. I never knew where my strength came from to get through this tragedy, and they helped me understand that I had it in me, to work hard in Jessie's name. I am here today because of this strength, and I will be here for years to come.THIS is what is at risk today. The President's budget would wipe out the Crime Victims' Fund. Our advocates, Melissa and Kelly, are funded in par tthrough the Citrus County Sheriffs Department from this Federal Fund - it comes NOT from taxpayers' dollars, but from fines and fees on convicted offenders. I can tell you JUST how important it is for offenders to pay for what they have done. NO amount of money can bring Jessie back, but we can hold offenders accountable through the VOCA Fund, and help innocent victims of crime. There are THOUSANDS of Melissa's and Kelly's who help victims and their families, just like my family and me. Wiping out the Crime Victims Fund willwipe out services and support that were life-saving to my folks, and that allowed me to be able to speak out for the last two months, and to speak out today. For years, I drove straight through Washington for my work. Today, my work is stopping here in our Nation's Capitol and urging our Congress to oppose wiping out the Crime Victims Fund. It is one of the most important stops I will ever make, and I do it in Jessie's memory.

posted by VRA @ 9:26 AM [[ 0 comments ]]

- The Feast of Saint Austin - Wednesday, April 20, 2005 For those of you a little more versed, you may be able to explain this to me a little more. I guess I was just so in awe of the "miracle" surrounding, that I forgot to ask the important questions. How, Why, When, etc... Today, during my meeting with our Priest, Fr. Austin, I was setting up Tyler and Austin's baptism. He was explaining to me what would happen, we watched a video, looked over an information book and filled out some legal forms. When I listed Austin's birthday, August 28th, he told me that interestingly enough, Austin was born on the date of the Feast of Saint Austin. I found that to be very, very interesting. So, for those of you who are able, look into this and tell me what you can find! I Google'd it, and the closest thing I found was the Feast of the Prophicies. PS. My priest is fine with chewing gum during mass, funerals, etc...

posted by VRA @ 10:36 AM [[ 0 comments ]]

- Love Being A Mommy! - This morning started out one that all parents dread. Tyler came in and said his tummy hurt. Yep...the inevitable...he was about to either have a bout of poo-poo or puke. It was the later of the two. He ran in the bathroom and, shy of details, threw up a very tiny amount. Chris and I looked at each other, until he volunteered to stay home with Tyler. After all, I have been using my sick time for my mom's appointments, so it's his turn, right? Right. I knew you'd see it my way. Anyway...being that the volume and consistancy of the "inevitable" was that of phlegm--ok, I know I said I'd spare details, but a good writer always puts his reader in full mental image, right? Right! Again, I knew you'd see it my way. So, we decide to send him to school. After all, he did blame it on the octopus he had eaten the night before with Grandpa at a local seafood restaurant. (It couldn't be the 12 packets of butter that he ate, plain---!). My story, I can ramble all I want. On our way into school, about 3 miles out, he decides his tummy hurts again and well, you guessed it---projectile. I do a Rusty Wallace manuever and whip into the parking lot of, how convenient, a car wash! For the record, I did NOT walk him through the car wash, but did think about it! hee hee. So, here I am, at one of the busiest intersections of the county, using tissues and a water bottle to clean Tyler and my back seat. All the while, Austin has to remind me that Tyler just "FREW UP" all over my new car. I strip him down to his underwear, put him in the back seat, clean out his backpack and tell him if he has to throw up again, please do it in the backpack. He looked at me like I was an alien. We made it home, uneventfully, and daddy took over. I snuck out the door, fast, with the Lysol, Clorox wipes and new bottle of hand sanitizer to "disenfect". Love being a mommy!

posted by VRA @ 10:15 AM [[ 0 comments ]]

- Growing Older But Not Up? - Wednesday, April 13, 2005 I'm not really sure what to title today's post, or how to start it. But, the moral of the story (that is easier said than done) is kids first. Monday after the Victims' Rights ceremony I went to gram's house to see the girls. They went with their mom on a cruise to Cozumel from Thursday to Monday. Monday, since they had to leave the ship early in the morning, I suggested everyone come over to gram's house to hang out, rather than sit at the airport and wait for the plane until they depart, at 7:00pm. We had originally suggested going to Busch Gardens, or a water park, but the girls were a little concerned about having their mom hang out at the airport for 10 hours, which is totally understandable. So, to our surprise, they decided it was ok to go to gram's to hang out. Chris picked them up at their port at 10:00am and went to gram's. I got there around 1:30. After a busy morning I was ready to just chill out by the pool. I said hi and gave Mandy a hug, then went in to see Melissa (who by the way was wearing a sweatshirt in the 80 degree weather--nobody said she's all there!! HA HA!) and say hi. Their mom was sitting there, and though I wanted to be respectful and say hi, she wasn't really paying attention to me, so I felt it wasn't really a good time. But, was any? I mean, after all...it's been 7 years that Chris and I have been married and almost 9 years we've been together and our relationship as the new wife/ex wife hasn't been the best. Actually, it's not that it's 'bad', per say, she just hasn't really every liked me, nor have I ever expected her to. I try to be cordial, and honestly have nothing against her so we could have a working relationship, for the girls, if needed. Anyway...I changed my clothes and went back out by the pool. Now, I can only imagine how uncomfortable this was for Karyn, as first of all, she's having to hang around me and my family. I walked out and said, "how are you". She apparently didn't realize I was talking to her, because she didnt' really acknowledge, so I greeted her by name, again, trying to be respectful, and make her feel a little more comfortable. I mean, I'm not trying to befriend her, but I'm not going to shun her either. Without going into every conversation all of us had that day, I'll just say it was a pleasant afternoon. This is the first time (I think) in 9 years that Chris, me, Mandy, Melissa and Karyn have been in the same room together, in a social environment, without any hostility. I guess you could say it was a rehearsal for Mandy's open house in June. Like I said, it worked out just fine, so I think, all stress of planning a graduation party aside, her open house will be excellent, with no worries. It's nice for everyone to act all grown up, even though we all might not be yet!

posted by VRA @ 8:17 AM [[ 1 comments ]]

- Proud Mommy - Friday, April 08, 2005 Tyler got his 1st loose tooth today! Chris thinks he'll lose it by this weekend, but I don't think it'll be that quick! I will update on the ETA for the tooth fairy! ***** He and daddy pulled his tooth out the same day!

posted by VRA @ 10:50 AM [[ 1 comments ]]

- If That's What Heaven's Made Of... - Wednesday, April 06, 2005 Andy Griggs sings a song, I'm not sure the exact title of it, but something to the effect of "If That's What Heaven's Made Of, I Ain't Afraid To Die". This is such a great song and reminds me a lot of the Lunsford family. Background: March 18th, 2005. Went with my mom to her first appt. It was scheduled for 1:00pm, and I wasn't sure if they would even let us back there, but I wanted to be there to see what it was going to be about- what they do, how they do it, side effects, etc... Her first treatment was scheduled to be about 4 hours long. In the meantime, a victim had called me and asked if I would accompany her to injunction court at 3:00. I told her I would make every attempt, but wasn't sure due to my mom's chemo. I ended up being able to meet her, which was good because it's a small world and I knew her ex-husband, who's truely a jerk! During court, my cell phone vibrated...I ended up turning it off, it was Chris, and I knew whatever it was would have to wait. As I was exiting the courtroom one of the girls from the State Attorney's office came up to me with a sticky note. Call Chris Prus ASAP--URGENT. I started to panic. All that went through my mind was something happened to my mom during chemo. I stayed with my victim and her attorney for a couple of minutes, which seemed like forever and finally exited the courthouse where I could get service on my cell phone. Chris told me the news. The man they were looking for for questioning in the Jessica dissapearance had confessed. He was at the scene roping it off as a crime scene (which is across the street, about 150 yards away from the Lunsford home). I knew I had to get to the Lunsford's house, but I also had to get someone to watch the boys. I called my Uncle Bruce, who was with my mom and grandma, and asked if he would watch the boys. He said he would---well, as it turns out, I had a lot to do before taking them to my grandma's, so I didn't even get to the Lunsford's house until dark, maybe 7:00. I knew it would happen, I just didn't know when. As things were starting to add up with this Couey guy, I still had this thought in the back of my mind that this guy could just be a psycho who wants attention from a murder (yes, it does happen) and may truely have nothing to do with this crime. I walked into the Lunsford home and was greeted by Mark and Archie. I could help but cry, which is very unusual for me. (Not the crying part, but actually crying with (for) a victim.) Mark said, "Kelly, why the red nose? She's home now...that's all we asked right, is that she come home?". Well, yeah I guess...but it wasn't supposed to turn out this way. A million thoughts went through my mind. Melissa and I sat with the family, took food, flowers, cards and Easter baskets from well wishers who were dropping them off all night. Shortly after midnight we left, in hopes that we would have more answers Saturday. We did. Chris came home Saturday morning at about 4:00 and told me they found her. I felt so sad, but incredibly relieved as this was the start of something new and huge. Details started to emerge of the heinous murder of Jessica as the day and weekend unfolded. I went back out the the Lunsford house at about 7:00 Saturday morning and sat with them for the day. Again, we brushed away media, gawkers, onlookers and tourists (yes, tourists!). More food, flowers, cards and people rolled in. It was an amazing sight. At the intersection of their street and a main road a memorial had been set up. There were pictures, angels, flowers, bears, dolphins, etc... You name it, it was there. As the week went on, things started getting even more tedious for Archie, Ruth and Mark. They were being told information about Jessie's murder that no parent, nor stranger would ever want to hear. They were being forced to make room for family and friends, yet still managed to keep their composure and do a wonderful job with the media. The next week was spent making funeral arrangements for Jessie. Her viewing (closed casket) was Thursday. Funeral, private, for family and friends was held on Good Friday. The pallbearers were the deputies and detectives that worked with the Lunsfords since day one. Sgt. Dave Wyllie (in charge of doing all of Mark, Archie and Ruth's polygraphs); Detectives Gary Atchison and Scott Grace (obtained the confession from Couey and were the unfortunate ones, along with Special Agent Scott Bolin, who heard the grim, nauseating details about Jessica's murder); Deputies Chris Prus and Steve Conley (followed up on more than 3,000 leads that came in regarding the case, also kept in close contact with Ruth and Archie); and Deputy Juan Santiago (first deputy to respond to the missing child call on February 24th, 2005). The Lunsford family picked this group because they knew each of these individuals because of the impact they made on the family. It was one of the most touching things I've ever seen. The public memorial service was filmed live on every major network in the Tampa area. It was very nice, with songs like "Amazing Grace", "Ships in Heaven" by Blackhawk, "Don't Stop Dancing" by Creed and "Fly" by Celine Dion. That was all the room we had for songs, because we also had a slide show of pictures of Jessie. It was sad but also a beautiful ending to a tragic month. I've said the before, but the thing that bothers me most about this whole thing, aside the obvious, was that the father and grandparents were truely victims...all the while being looked at as criminals. That is the first thing I thought when I walked through their door on that Friday night. I apologized to them over and over, on behalf of our office, for what they had to go through, the interviews, the interrogations (if you've never seen a real life interrogations you never want to...you too will feel like a suspect!!!!), the polygraphs. In the back of their minds, working with law enforcement was the only thing they could do to get their daughter/granddaughter back and that was their goal, no matter what they had to go through. Our sheriff had a tremendous amount of pressure on him to get this little girl back. One person said to him, the second day she was missing, Sheriff, don't give up. You're the last hope this little girl has to see her family again. It gives you chills and it stuck with him until the end, which is one reason he took this so incredibly hard. At the memorial on Saturday when the Sheriff spoke (and got a standing ovation, by the way) he said in closing, that he would trust them with his 9 year old and they are just like family to him. He continued with, "Archie, Ruth and Mark, I love you guys, and I'm sorry I didn't bring her home alive" in a tearful close to a beautiful ceremony.

posted by VRA @ 6:27 AM [[ 1 comments ]]

- I'm getting old...on my husband and mom's birthday! - Friday, April 01, 2005 I know I said I would update this week--but I'm not really ready to write about Jessica yet and I'm not sure if I have the time to write about my mom, so I'll just tell you all that I'm sick. Of course! This is my every other month sinus infection. Yes, I've considered having sinus surgery but after hearing some of the horror stories I choose not to. I'll just continue to go to the doctor, take antibiotics, pass it around my family, then we'll all be well again. It's only logical, right? This one is a little different. I think I'm just getting old and falling apart, in all actuality. I went shopping for Chris' birthday a couple of days ago and throughout the course of our conversation Kelly and I discussed being sick. She, for the past 3 days has had a sore throat. I laughed, because she said she had the sore throat at night but of course by the time she woke up the next morning she felt well enough to go to work. Always happens like that! Well, what do ya know....by the time I got home my throat hurt. I took it as sympathy pains. The next morning it still hurt, but not bad enough for me to go to the doctor. Well, I must have gone downhill last night because I woke up this morning and could hardly breath, my left lung hurt so bad. Maybe it's sympathy pains for my mom, since her cancer is in her her left lung and she did just have her chemo yesterday--AND...today is also her birthday. I have a doctor appt. at 9:45 this morning. Oh...my other ailment. While I was blow drying my hair this morning using my 2" round brush, my thumb went numb, which isn't the first time it's happened by the way, reminding my I should probably have my carpal tunnel checked. I'm just getting old, that's all there is to it! PS. Speaking of getting old, Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband.

posted by VRA @ 6:19 AM [[ 0 comments ]]