Radharc Knives

This is the email from a dear friend of mine, describing an unfortunate situation that her nephew and his wife find themselves in:

Dear friends,

This is rather long and you may want to delete it without reading
it. It may not be appropriate to post this here but so many of you
feel like personal friends that I am taking the chance. If you are
offended by such an off topic post you have my sincere apology. I
mean no offense.

If you can do nothing else I beg you for your prayers.

Many of you have heard me speak of my nephew Marshall and his wife
Rosie. They have two beautiful children, Malachi and Star. Marshall
and Rosie started dating after Rosie separated from Malachi's
father. Rosie was pregnant with Malachi at the time. Marshall has
been daddy since Malachi was born. Star is their baby girl together,
she is a little over a year old. Malachi will be 4 in October. He
adores his daddy.

Neither parent has more than a GED. They are struggling to make a
life for their children. Marshall is a carpenter and it is a hard
way to make a living. Back in the spring Rosie decided to join the
US Army with an eye toward a career that would improve her family's
lot. She plans to train as a combat medic and will eventually have
training as an RN and have the opportunity to become an officer. She
was accepted into this program and went off to basic training. It
was unbelievably tough, especially being away from her family. At
one point she really wanted to quit but she stuck it out. Marshall
stayed home and kept working and took care of the two kids. He is a
good daddy who always got up to help with the two o'clock feedings
and diaper changing. He bathes and feeds the children. He has
managed this difficult time very well even while under the stress of
missing his wife. Well, Rosie succeeded. She also got a
sharpshooter medal while in basic.

Two days before Rosie was to graduate from her ten weeks of basic
training the unthinkable happened. Rosie's ex-husband got an ex
parte order and seized custody of Malachi. Since Marshall is a
stepfather he has no rights and they are charging that Rosie has
abandoned her child by joining the Army. The ex-husband claims that
Marshall does not feed, change, bathe or give Malachi his medicine
when he is ill. No one came to check out these allegations, (which
are -sooo- not true).

I went to Rosie's graduation. I cannot believe the positive changes
in this young woman. For the first time in her life, she has pride
and integrity. She has discipline. She has a dream for the future
of her family. Now these dreams are shattered. Last time I saw her
she said to me. "I joined the Army to make my family's lives
better. Look what I have done!" I thought JAG would clear this up
but they only are able to help soldiers that are themselves facing
criminal charges. They do, however, advise her and part of that
advice is to get a local attorney in Whitfield county.
Unfortunately, Rosie is still only a Private and is not making enough
money to come up with a retainer before their court date on August
4th. That is a week from Monday. They have found an attorney who
would represent them but they do not have the $1,500 retainer. It
has taken all of their spare cash plus help from family and friends
to get Rosie flown in from Texas for court next Monday.

In the meantime Marshall has struggled to keep working, keep taking
care of his very confused baby daughter and to spend every spare
waking moment looking for answers. He is calling and writing his
congress persons, studying the laws involved and doing everything he
can think of to reunite his family. As far as Marshall is concerned
Malachi is and always will be his son. He misses him fiercely.
Rosie chose to have her tubes tied after Star was born so there will
be no other children. No other child could replace Malachi anyway.

I know this has been long but please stay with me. My heart is
really breaking over this. Mary Margaret and I are the children's
godmothers. Mary Margaret baptized both of them.

I am unable at this time to offer them any financial support. I
simply don't have it. I am asking each and everyone of you, my
friends for a number of things. First and foremost, your prayers.
All of you have that to offer. Some of you are as financially
strapped as I am, so there isn't much you can do on that front. If
you have any legal advice or information you can offer please, please
offer it. If you know someone who can give them help or advice,
please introduce them. If you know of an attorney who could
represent them pro bono by Monday week, please let them know. The
thing that some of you could do that would ease their burden would be
to offer them financial help. When we were trying to get Rosie here
we really struggled to come up with an airline ticket. One person
had 40 dollars. That was a help. I had only twenty, it got Rosie a
cab back to post when she returned from her emergency leave. She is
back in town on another emergency leave to go to court.

If you can help them financially you are welcome to contact me but it
would probably be better to contact Marshall and Rosie directly.
Court is too soon to mail funds to them. If you are far away they
would have to be wired. If you are nearby Marshall and Rosie would
come and pick them up. These kids -have to- come up with $1,500 to
be represented by the attorney. If you put a gun to their heads they
couldn't think up a way to come up with it.

Marshall and Malachi

Private Boren

Star, Marshall, and Rosie

UPDATE! The knife raffle closed on 9/2/08. I held the drawing at work, and the winner of the knife was Dick Snow of Efland, NC. The winner of the cross was James Rivers of Peoria, AZ. Here is a photo of the 200 tickets for the knife raffle, ready to be drawn, and when you click on it, it'll open a video of the actual drawing. Thank you all for participating! We've received a couple pieces of jewelry from Terrie, the new raffle for those is posted below.

I recently received this email:

Dear Michael,

I am Marshall's mom, I just want to tell you how much it means to me what you have done for my kids and grandbabies. Unfortunately, my husband broke his leg about 3 months ago and was out of work meaning that every bill we had got behind, therefore I have not been able to help them as much as I would like to. Your kindness, thoughts, time and love can never be repaid but will always be remembered.

I will be buying a couple of your tickets via mail.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Marsha Wilson
Fennguard Stables

So, now, below, is the raffle for Terrie's jewelry. e-Raffle tickets are $5. Cash, check, MO, PayPal, all are fine. The window of opportunity is one month, from September 1 to October 1, 2008, when the raffle will close. I'll offer it here, print out that email, offer it on other websites, email it to friends, and offer it in person to whomever I can. I shall run the raffle for one month, and no matter how much money comes in, Rosie and Marshall get all of it. This world has given me some wonderful, amazing things, what the heck, give something back, ya know? Send us $20, send us $50, heck, send $100, and I'll write ya in for the appropriate number of shots at winning the raffle. I'll be doing this by hand, but will be fair and will abide by the above rules. No favorites, let's see what we can do to help this family, eh gang?

Or, if you prefer Snail Mail, send your $, name, and contact info (including email address) for raffle tickets to

Michael H Mara
310 Glenwood Avenue
Willow Springs, Il 60480

The outpouring of support has been tremendous, with tickets selling well, and other metal artists donating things for raffle, to help out any way they can. Here is a couple from a friend, Terrie Masters of CA, shown below, hand made creations in silver. Pretty, innit? Whew. The way we're going to run this is as a new raffle, with first prize being the piece on the left, and second prize the pendant on the right. Enter here:

Buy one ticket ($5)	Buy two tickets ($10)	Buy 4 tickets ($20)	Buy 10 tickets ($50)	Buy 20 tickets ($100)

Thanks and God Bless,

Michael

First Prize: a Sterling Silver pendant with chain

Second Prize: a smaller Sterling Silver pendant with chain

Update, 08/04/08:

Just got back from court in Dalton Georgia. Lots of details but the important thing is that the ex parte order has been overturned on a temporary basis and Malachi is back with his Mom. The ex's attorney didn't show so he asked for a continuance which the judge denied as a hardship on Rosie. After all was said and done, he gave temporary full custody back to Rosie. After she completes her AIT course in 4 months they will go back to court. They just got an attorney on Friday and he did a great job. All of your prayers, advice, and financial support have paid off for round one. The raffle money will be heaven sent for her attorney fees and airline tickets for round two. Marshall, Rosie, Malachi, and Star are on an all night car trip right now back to Rosie's duty station in San Antonio, Texas. She has to be back on post tomorrow. Thank you all again so much. It's not over but we are so very encouraged.

Leslie

Rosie, Malachi, and Marshall

Mom and Malachi, reunited