A Loss for Words.........

This past week has been another emotional roller coaster. There was a brutal abduction, rape, and murder of a 10 year old little girl, Hailey Owens, in Springfield. The murderer was originally from Marshfield and was a middle school teacher and football coach.The family of the girl is a family that I know pretty well, whom are originally from Marshfield. This whole thing has been very difficult to process. The little girl is Erin Herman's niece, Stacey's daughter. I practically lived with the Herman's growing up, they were like a 2nd family to me. It is unbelievable what this man did to little Hailey, which I am not going to go into detail(even the news doesn't know or is saying) because it is too gruesome. Apparently he had journals of his plans, he had a camera and lights set up pointed at his bed.  He has a million dollar trust to be used as his get away money. He abducted her in broad daylight in front of a neighbors house. The neighbors tried to get her back, immediately turned in his license plate number. By the time the Amber alert was issued she was already murdered. The neighbors said they recognized his vehicle because he had apparently been casing the place for the past two weeks. I think why he chose her was because she would always meet her friend halfway to her house and this particular day, she was by herself. 

I hadn't seen Erin in awhile, since my wedding and I hadn't seen her family since I was in high school. They all came into my work and I helped them with their outfits for the funeral. When I hugged Stacey, I just broke down. I couldn't help it. It is hard to believe and understand why this would happen. Their strength and faith has been amazing and the community's support has been unbelievable. They had a candlelight vigil march and around 10,000 people showed up. They had a BACA event and around 5,000 motorcyclists rode in. It is amazing how this has united this community. Tonight is the visitation which my mom and I are planning to attend. It is going to be hard but at least the little girl isn't hurting anymore and she is in a better place. This past week it seems as if every time I would look at Andi I would tear up. It is just hard to believe the evilness some people have and how they can hurt and brutally murder a defenseless child. Of course his trial is being drug out when really he needs to put to death immediately but the fact is, if he does receive the death penalty, he will be in prison for years before anything is done. How has our government become so lax in justice when they used to hang and electrocute? Now they are wanting to pull the lethal injection because the side effects are too inhumane. What this person did to this girl was inhumane.

Now onto something more light-hearted. Andi is really talking these days. Bird and belly have been her words of the week. She is so cute, she can definitely put you in a better mood. The video below is of her showing what I taught her. I am trying to get a video of her saying her words but she goes silent when I am taping. Hopefully one day I can get it because it is just too cute!