Our Drafted Bill

HAPPY 2011 Everyone! ... At least I hope it will be :)

I hope everyone had a splendid New Years Eve. I had a fun-filled evening surrounded by friends! Even though my age is beginning to catch up with me, I managed to have a festive, "dry" celebration! It was a moment of pure bliss saying "good riddance" to 2010 and "HELLO 2011!" 2010 was a burden whose load became more heavy as each month passed. It began on a sad note with the passing of my Grandma Cassell and things were just slowly added until I reached the motherload: October, November, and December.

The glass wasn't 1/2 empty the entire year... Some good things happened... I had my first publishing in a magazine! I did about a 15 photo spread for a nationwide magazine, 100,000 copies printed which was anything but shabby for a dame who only owned her D90 since last May :)

Anyway, I'm just glad to see 2010 gone! Looking back all my troubles began in 2000: car accident, cancer, marriage, divorce... And maybe I'm just having a 10 year streak of bad luck? Anyway, I just have a good feeling about 2011. I'm looking forward to the legal classes I'm taking this semester and I'm no longer going to be navigating the legal system blindfolded. After all, isn't the blindfold for the judge???

Well that's my year in a nutshell/Happy New Year post! I hope that everyone has a safe, happy, and prosperous New Year and I just pray that the Lord lighten my load and let things begin to turn around for me! HAPPY 2011!

Pretrial...

Today I had my pretrial and I finally have attorney! I have been pro se since 2007 and even though the attorney will be only representing me for my criminal contempt charge, it will be one last thing I have to tend to.

Being the optimistic person I am, I think things will work out in the end. These court hearings are mere puzzles pieces that are slowly being put together and when the time comes that the last piece is put in it's place, I will look at the final product and tell myself, "so that's what it is!"


Patience is necessary for things to fall in place, but unfortunately it is the one thing I have very little of. I'm about instant gratification and am very reactive and will do anything possible to get that instant result. But patience and logic is the key. I'm slowly finding the pieces and now I just need to figure out where they go!

WE HAVE A SPONSOR!!!!

My friend Karl Hindle and I have created a bill and have been searching for a delegate or senator to sponsor the proposal. After 2 meetings and a couple of emails, we finally have one, Senator Frederick Quayle from Virginia's 13th District. Our proposal is now in the process of being written into a bill and once that happens we'll need to gain some support! But I am so happy that things are falling into place. Not only will the bill help with prevention, but it will help with recovery of children both abducted from and into the state of Virginia, while creating a better reporting system. More to come once things are set in stone!

10:50 departure, November 1st 2010

It is now 10:51pm and my daughters' flight was to take off at 10:50PM, I can't explain what I'm feeling at the moment... Helpless? I had to fight tooth and nail to get the itinerary from their father as he sent me this email:


date Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 8:28 PM
subject Fwd:
mailed-by aol.com

hide details Oct 29 (3 days ago)


>

> Brandy, I don't feel comfortable with you coming to the airport. You have been acting very erratically and hostile and in a neurotic way and I don't want you to make the kids nervous before taking off. Plus I asked you if I could see the girls for halloween and you selfishly said no. The girls begged last weekend to come and pick them up on halloween night. I allowed you to spend halloween with them but that day was allocated to me to leave for India, so I demand to see the kids for half an hour of halloween.
> You took the right to deprive me of their graduation and of lilys first day of school.
> In the same way I decided that I won't allow you to the airport with us.
> If you show up I will consider it harassment and call airport police.
> Plus I will pick up the girls on Monday after their school. Right before I leave for the airport with them I will stop by your house so you can say bye. If you don't like it, too bad.


This is who I am up against. He plays the victim often and paints a beautiful picture that makes the world think he's such a caring father who has the best interests of his children in mind.

The following is my response to the email my childrens' father sent on October 29th.

date Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 10:57 PM
subject Re:
mailed-by gmail.com

hide details Oct 30 (2 days ago)

I haven't won yet...

Today was my hearing for the appeal I had filed in response to a ruling in juvenile court. Even though I presented what I felt was a strong argument, the judge ruled in my daughters' father's favor and my daughters are to be issued passports and to leave for India on October 28th... The judge did state that he felt there was a slight risk of abduction, however, it was not significant enough to deny the trip or to even post a bond. Of course I object to this ruling and efforts will begin in do time to make arrangements to ensure my daughters safe return. In the meanwhile... I am going to take some much deserved downtime these next few days... recollect my thoughts, come to terms with today's events, and then get back to work. Also, I would like to kick my efforts to gain support for HR 3240 into high gear. I did receive a phone call from the office of congressman Forbe's in Virginia, and they would like to arrange a meeting so that we could discuss HR 3240 and international parental child abduction in general.

Happy Birthday Jazzy!

August 7th was my oldest daughter, Jasmine's, birthday... Since summer is her father's visitation time, I only got to spend 3 hours with her. But it was better than last year as I did not get to see them for their birthdays. My celebration began with a bouquet of balloons, a giant unicorn balloon with gold, pink, and purple balloons. After that I took her out to eat where the staff sang happy birthday to her and she got eat a special sundae. Lastly I took her on a little boat ride down our historic canal. Even though it wasn't much because of time reasons, she had a great time and I got to spend time with them.

This week I plan to take both of them to a baseball game to see fireworks and then Lily's birthday is the 13th where I plan to take her to get a pedi and manicure. Goodness I love my babies!