Brick walls!!!

I've been spending the entire week, including last weekend working on this project for the Justice for Heavenlee!!! Cause and I keep running into brick walls of ignorance and stupidity.

I'm asking for something fairly simple and everyone I speak to, be it the city of Terre Haute or other organizations, they only care for their stupid rules and procedures.

When I point out to them that this event will support awareness of child safety issues, they only care to quote why they can't and never why they can.

When I mention that they must not care about children, suddenly they become very defensive but refuse to budge from their positions.

God help them if something like this should ever happen to one of their own. They might find out what empathy means.

Oh well, I'm exploring an option that may solve my issue and serve our purpose very well.

Updates to follow later this week.

God bless everyone...

James & Amanda

Truth, Honor and Justice!

You may have noticed that we have not posted any updates for a month now. This was done on purpose to prove a point... And sadly, our point was proven all too well.

A month ago, we received communications from the mother stating that if we stopped posting on this blog, she would allow us to visit Heavenlee.

It was a bold statement and we decided to test her word of honor by refraining from posting for a month. That seemed to us to be a reasonable amount of time to us and so we waited...

No word from the mother... Not even a simple acknowledgment of our cessation of blog posts. And of course, no offer to allow us to visit our beloved granddaughter, Heavenlee Angel Johns.

So much for her integrity. Now we move on and move forward.

Over the next few weeks, we will be announcing a bold, very innovative public awareness campaign in support of child safety issues. Be sure to watch and wait for the announcement. When it comes, you will be amazed and pleased at our resourcefulness and unique method for making the public aware of our concerns and our efforts to update the legislation in order to protect our most innocent of victims.

Till then... Carpe Luna!!!

Costumes in the Closet!

Today was a particularly difficult day as we were cleaning out our closet and found some Halloween costumes we had purchased last summer in anticipation of taking the grandkids Trick-or-Treating.

Heavenlee was very fond of Trick-or-Treating and had become very good at it in 2008. I had found 2 different costumes, one being a Godzilla suit (nice and warm for her) and the other a Snow White outfit. I was going to let her choose and then the fun would have begun.

Like every year, I love to dress up as well and we have a standing rule in our house after the Trick-or-Treating is done: Grandpa gets all the Tootsie Rolls.

Sadly, we did not get Heavenlee last year (2009) for Halloween and although we had a great time with the boys, Jonathon and Dorian, we were disappointed that Heavenlee was not permitted to spend our favorite holiday with us.

I can't bring myself to throw them away but I also can't bring myself to look at them either.
The pain and grief is still too intense.

Fortunately, I am working on a new project to promote Child Safety Seat Awareness and Use, as well as our own cause, Justice for Heavenlee!!!

It looks to be a large public event with the potential for national exposure on CNN, MSNBC and the like. If all goes well, our cause will gain national attention and then we move forward towards our eventual goal of updating Indiana law to better reflect our belief in protecting our youngest of victims from neglect and abuse.

James & Amanda Wallace

Almost Home...

Today, after much rehabilitation and preparation, Heavenlee was to have been transferred to her mother's home and begin her new life away from the hospital.

At the last minute, plans were changed and her homecoming was postponed. As we understand it, her temperature was elevated and doctors wanted her to be a bit more stable before entering into a new environment. Of course, we understand but it is disappointing as we had hoped she would be able to see her father a bit more often.

For those who may not understand the situation, Heavenlee is currently staying at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. That is 75 miles away and with the cost of gasoline and Dane & Jamie making barely enough to support themselves and their two other sons, Dane was only able to make the 150 mile round trip once a week. There are some who take issue with Dane not visiting more often but they do not consider the costs involved. In addition, Jamie, Heavenlee's (step) mother is not permitted to visit Heavenlee, which we know is causing Heavenlee confusion because she does not understand pettiness and spite.

Once Heavenlee is back closer to home, we hope the mother will understand Heavenlee's need to be surrounded by as much Love as is possible and allow her (step) mother to visit and shower her with Love. Perhaps we, as her grandparents, may visit her as well but given the birth mothers' attitude, Heavenlee will be denied our Love and affection. This will only exacerbate her condition... but what can we do?

We press forward with our legislative plans and hope for the best. God will provide and we trust in His Will.

James & Amanda Wallace

The following interview was published today from a noteworthy source. Please take a moment to check it out and be sure to leave a comment.

Children and Car Safety: The Story of Heavenlee

As we expected, things are beginning to gain momentum as we strive to achieve our goal foo better laws to protect our most innocent victims.

Another project designed designed to promote public awareness of the need for child safety seats in in the works. If all goes according to plan, it will be a BIG event!

Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.

James & Amanda Wallace

All You Need Is Love!

I found myself in a situation yesterday that rarely ever occurs at my house.

I was home alone! For several hours in fact!


With 5 kids and 12 grandkids, it rarely happens that I find myself home alone and so I decided to spend my time in one of several ways.

Usually, I'll watch a movie on DVD or perhaps something on cable. Other times, I choose to listen to one of my many albums. Not CD's mind you, but real vinyl albums.

As I was looking through my DVD's for something to watch, I came across my favorite movie of all time: Yellow Submarine


I found myself looking at the cover and a memory returned to me from last summer.

My daughter had come by and dropped off Heavenlee for a few hours while she ran a few errands. She knew that I wanted to spend more time with Heavenlee and that day seemed like a fine day to accommodate my wishes.

Heavenlee and I spent some time in the kitchen making a batch of cookies (chocolate chip to be precise), then we sat down for a viewing of Yellow Submarine. She had not yet seen it and I was really looking forward to it. I always enjoy showing either my kids or now my grandkids this classic movie. The values of Love, peace, and tolerance reflect directly my own values of life.

Well, we sat there, drinking chocolate milk, eating chocolate chip cookies and having a wonderful time. Every time a song came up, we danced around like boneheads and sang along joyfully. When "All you need is Love" came up, Heavenlee ran around shouting "Love, Love, Love!"

All You Need Is Love!

It is my fondest memory of my time with her and seeing the movie case in front of me, I realized I hadn't watched it since last summer. I also realized that I wouldn't be able to watch it again until I could with Heavenlee.

There will come a day when her and I will sit there in front of the tv screen, singing and laughing about Love as we once did. I look forward to that time!

On a More Personal Note...

I was talking to a close friend yesterday and was relating to him the issues we are dealing with regarding Heavenlee, the law and what-not. He told me that he reads our blog but doesn't see much activity about our daily trials and tribulations; just an occasional posting about Heavenlee's condition.

It occurred to me that with this forum at our disposal and with all that we do on a daily basis, be it just a thought or something more substantial regarding working towards our legislative goals, we should be posting more about our personal daily activities.

As such, I an endeavoring to give all of you who follow our blog a more personal look inside the madness of our lives and what it takes to change a law.

There's more to it than you think.

However, for today, I thought I would share with you something that showed up yesterday in a drawer of photos and stuff.



It's a bit dark but it's a photo of myself with Dorian and Heavenlee last Spring. We took them with us on a Morel Mushroom hunt that day out at the Constipation Club (actually, it's the Conservation Club but my grandkids like it when I call it the Constipation Club).

Anyway, we didn't have much luck, only a few mushrooms were to be found but we had a great time and Heavenlee even found one herself. I cooked it up for her in butter on an old cast iron skillet. She didn't like it much but that didn't really matter to her. We spent a great day together and she had fun, as did we all.

Over the next few months, you can expect to see a more personal side of our lives, so we hope you bear with us and spread the word to anyone who'll listen.

We will not abandon our efforts until the law is changed and we achieve our Justice for Heavenlee!!!

James & Amanda Wallace