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Let God's Justice Prevail with Rachel Bruno · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

• 0:02
  Hi listeners. Welcome to the.
• 0:04
  She speaks live podcast a weekly encouragement where we share our
• 0:09
  God's stories. I'm your host.
• 0:12
  Jamie Elizabeth and I am so glad you are spending time with us
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  today to listen. Hi and welcome back to she
• 0:22
  speaks life. I'm with Rachel.
• 0:25
  Bruno, Rachel has a remarkable story about being falsely.
• 0:31
  Accused criminally and how she relied on God to reveal truth
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  and Justice in her life. Hi, Rachel, welcome.
• 0:41
  So glad you're here. I Jamie.
• 0:43
  Thank you for having me. Yeah, oh my gosh.
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  So congratulations. You just released your book.
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  Old fractured. Hope a mother's fight for
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  justice. That really just takes you
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  through this horrific journey. I can't even imagine.
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  But before we dive into your book and your story, I would
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  love it. If you could, just share a
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  little bit about yourself, so we can get to know you.
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  Absolutely, as I said, my name is Rachel.
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  I am married to my husband of 19 years.
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  I have two little boys, David and Luke has.
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  They are Now, six and eight, I am originally from Brazil.
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  No, my mother and I came from Brazil to the United States when
• 1:27
  I was two years old, when my father passed away in a drunk
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  driving accident in Brazil, and he was a pastor, he was a
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  medical doctor, the missionaries here, found out that he passed
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  away and they asked my mom if she wanted to come here to go to
• 1:41
  Bible School. And they sponsored us.
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  They found a home for us and just really took us under their
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  wing. So, you know, my story starts at
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  a very young age about how God has always provided for me, a
• 1:55
  little background on myself I have seizures epilepsy and one
• 1:59
  of the main triggers to my episodes are sleep deprivation
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  or interrupted sleep. So all you knew Mama's out
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  there, you know that if you have a newborn baby, you ain't sleep.
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  Yeah. Oh my gosh, that is like, that
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  was the hardest. Okay, like I could have a
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  million babies if they could just all sleep through the
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  night, but not broken sleep kills me because this girl, I
• 2:22
  love my sleep. It's like at least eight to nine
• 2:25
  hours, solid Albert's every night, Exactly.
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  My doctor told me, you know, you have to get these eight hours.
• 2:38
  You should get somebody to at least cover the night shift.
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  So, with my first born son, my mom and my mother-in-law did it
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  right? They rotated.
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  They did everything. When my second son came along,
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  they're like, we're too old for this.
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  Yeah. My son.
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  Yeah, right. Yeah.
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  They pooled their money together and they said here, go get
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  yourself a nanny and I'm like, oh my gosh, you guys are the
• 3:00
  best moms ever. So my husband and I went about,
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  Interviewing several people, we found one know, she volunteered
• 3:08
  at a church. She had children herself.
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  Her husband was a marine. Everything seemed good
• 3:14
  background checks, clear. She was in college, you know?
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  She did everything right and we hired her to start watching my
• 3:20
  son when he was seven days old. When he was seven weeks old, I
• 3:24
  woke up to him screaming at about 4:00 in the morning, I
• 3:28
  looked at my clock, I'm like, okay, diaper bottle, you know,
• 3:31
  something to that extent and he screamed and then he stopped few
• 3:35
  minutes went by. He started screaming again, then
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  he'd stop. And he'd start again, then.
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  He'd stop. So, I finally know I'm not going
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  to. I always say, I'm not going to
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  go to sleep. So I got up, I went into the
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  bedroom, she had him swaddled inside, the crib, had her chest,
• 3:49
  like on top of him, and was trying to rock him back and
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  forth. And he was not having it and he
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  was screaming, he looked very uncomfortable, she picked him
• 3:57
  up, put him on her shoulder, like Anna Burt position and he
• 4:00
  stopped screaming. You know, she was just bouncing
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  around with him on her shoulder. Then I walked in like anything
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  happened, and she showed me the empty bottle and she said I just
• 4:10
  fed him, he's really gassy. I said okay no fair enough
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  babies get gassy this point he's seven weeks old no still very
• 4:17
  new baby and my husband was out of town on a business trip.
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  I had my 20 month old son sleeping directly across the
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  hallway. And I had the screening a baby
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  and I told her you know, he's obviously not going to settle
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  down. Why don't you go home early and
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  I'll take it from here. So she left.
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  I undressed him. No, looking for rashes fever,
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  fluid dripping, out of the nose, out of the Year.
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  Anything I could think of no physical signs of anything.
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  So I just And so, I told him I gave him skin-to-skin and he
• 4:44
  fell asleep on me. I said, okay, you just wanted
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  your mom? Yeah, few hours go by.
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  I must have dozed off myself next thing.
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  I know he's screaming. Again, I wake up at 7:00 in the
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  morning, like, okay, you're hungry.
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  Try to nurse him. No, no luck.
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  No, he would not latch, and he just kept like, throwing his
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  head back. He just looked miserable and I
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  was just jaded, you know, nursing strike colic.
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  Gasps maybe he doesn't want the milk because it gave him gas.
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  Yes. So I'm just here scrambling with
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  the baby by myself. My 20 month old wakes up.
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  I go get him out of bed. Six hours later.
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  Non stop crying. I could not put him down for a
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  nap, he would not eat. I'm like what is wrong with this
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  kid? You know, dr.
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  Google like all of the above basically, right.
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  It could be anything, right. I like all my mom and my mom,
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  please come over here so I can take this one to the
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  pediatrician. She comes over, I hand him to
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  her, I go to all the pediatrician and the
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  receptionist said he wouldn't have any of you.
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  Ability until 3:00 that afternoon and I said, no, he's
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  been screaming since 4:00 in the morning.
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  I need to see somebody. So she said okay and take him to
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  the emergency room. So off we go all four of us hop
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  in the car, driving to the emergency room and, you know,
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  babies, love to sleep in the car.
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  And that's what he did. The whole way no more crying,
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  no, more screaming, no more, nothing my great, no overreacted
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  mom. Going to the emergency room, but
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  I get there. Tell them thus symptoms.
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  Measured all his Vital Signs. Everything seemed.
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  Okay, he was asleep by the by. Now, you know, I thought, okay,
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  he's asleep. Doctor asked me, what happened
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  tells me to lay him down on the bed.
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  Lay him down and he walks away. And I'm like, great nothing to
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  tell me to give him Benadryl and go home.
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  But he stops right at the doorway about 10 feet away and
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  he just stands there with his arms crossed and he is just like
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  a laser focused on my son staring at that bed.
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  There's about five other people and they're all just quiet.
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  Like this is weird know what's going on and then he starts
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  walking towards the bed and he goes straight to my son's head
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  right behind his left ear. And he asked me, did you feel
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  this? So now he grabs my fingers, you
• 6:55
  put my finger there like do you feel that?
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  Yeah, feel the Bulge like yeah, that's fluid that's leaking from
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  his head like, okay, what does that mean?
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  Like it could be spinal cerebral fluid, or it can be blood.
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  We need to go do a CT scan right now, see what's going on?
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  And when he says that about 10 people rush into that room,
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  start putting probes on him, you know, raise up the rails and
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  start running down the hallway to the CT room.
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  And as we're going his right arm starts, twitching.
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  And when his right arm starts twitching those nurses bolt, and
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  they start running and I look up at the nurse and like is this
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  normal? She says no and me having
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  seizures like oh my gosh left side of the brain, right arm
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  twitching, he's having a seizure.
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  First thing that comes to my mind is I gave it to him.
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  How my is hereditary. And I say a little prayer right
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  there, my Lord, please spare my son from having to live with
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  this. Like I did, Just in time to get
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  there. Go to the waiting room.
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  My mom is in shock. You know, everybody.
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  I'm like, what the heck happened?
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  I went from gassy baby to now. My son is having some
• 7:57
  life-threatening, you know, something going on in his head
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  texting, my husband was out of town on a business trip.
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  No idea. What's going on doctors come
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  back, Miss Brenna take me to the back room where they have all
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  the monitors set up. He said it's very serious.
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  Okay. Your son has a cranial fracture
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  An intracerebral blood Hemorrhage.
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  So the fluid that's leaking is blood.
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  The brain hates Blood. We need to go do surgery right
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  now. Hmm.
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  Okay and giving me all the liabilities are you against
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  blood. Transfusions arguments that seem
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  like I don't care what you have to do, to save my son, save my
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  son. So I'll say go willing off my 7
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  week old baby into the operating room, and my mom is in the
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  waiting room with my 20 month, old son, David bouncing off of
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  the walls, and we just start texting our families and Brazil
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  here in the states. My husband out of out of town
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  and we're just like, everybody just pray.
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  I don't know what's going on, but Lucas is now in brain
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  surgery. Wow.
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  So four hours go by the doctor comes back and no paperwork in
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  hand. He says Everything went well
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  clinically as far as we're concerned, we were able to drain
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  the blood. We were able to fix the
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  fracture, like, okay, is he going to be brain damaged as you
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  going to be okay? And the doctor says, we really
• 9:17
  don't know, I due to his young age.
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  We don't even know whether he's going to survive the next 48
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  hours. He's in a medically-induced coma
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  right now because he was having about 15 seizures a minute.
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  After the surgery, probably due to the irritation of the blood
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  coming into contact with his brain.
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  So but he's stable, we will be closely monitoring him for the
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  next 48 hours. I could take you upstairs to the
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  picu So I go upstairs and I just see, you know, seemingly
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  lifeless baby laying there. His head wrapped in gauze got
• 9:47
  tubes coming out of every orifice.
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  You can imagine the beeping of the machines, you know, if
• 9:53
  you've ever been in a hospital room, you know that sound.
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  Yeah, it's cold. Everything is glass.
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  And I just touched my baby and I say God, I don't care if I have
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  to dedicate the rest of my life to taking care of my son.
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  I will just don't take him away from me.
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  And at that point, Holy Spirit came to me and said, he's mine.
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  I gave him to you. Nobody's going to take them away
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  from you. Took a breath.
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  I said, you're right. God, he is yours.
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  And he's in your hands there's no better place for him to be
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  than in your hands. Yes, and I had to surrender my
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  son's life at that moment. But once I did it with the
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  peace, that surpasses all understanding of my heart filled
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  calmed my soul, hugged, my mom. You know, we cried, but we
• 10:46
  prayed and then Logistics mode, right?
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  I'm obviously not going to leave the hospital.
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  My husband is out of state. I need to find some place for my
• 10:54
  other son to be with. Call my friend, take my mom
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  home, take my son home. And once all that was taken care
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  of, I hear a knock on the door and it's a man in a uniform and
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  a lady with the clipboard, they Slide the door.
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  Open this Bruno. Can we speak to you?
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  Sure. Like what happened to your son
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  was worse than getting struck in the head by a bullet?
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  Like okay, we want to help you, will you help us?
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  Figure out how this happened to your son thinking?
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  Of course. Yes, come in, sit down.
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  Tell them the whole Saga from 4:00 in the morning.
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  All the information I have about the nanny, which is what I
• 11:34
  figured they were going to go interview next, right?
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  After they talk to me, The social worker asked me if I had
• 11:41
  any other children that I did, he was with my mom.
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  I can we go see him again at this point.
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  I'm cooperating, I have nothing to hide said, sure.
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  I mean he's probably asleep by now and she said we're not going
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  to wake him. We're just going to make sure
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  he's okay. So, call my mom, social worker
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  leaves at that. Point officer asked me if I will
• 12:01
  wait for the detectives and it's close to 10 p.m. right now.
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  All right, I was awake at 4:00. It's now 10:00 at night.
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  My husband comes straight from the airport to the hospital, and
• 12:13
  as soon as he gets there, the police officer takes him to
• 12:15
  another room tells me to wait in the other room for the
• 12:17
  detectives. The detective show up at
• 12:20
  midnight, And they interview me until about 2 a.m. which I then
• 12:26
  tell them, you know, I really need to go to sleep.
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  I've been up for basically 24 hours, I will gladly continue
• 12:31
  this later, but I really need to sleep right now.
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  So they gave me their business cards.
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  We let me go to sleep at this point.
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  Something had already happened, but my husband protected me, you
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  know, knowing the stress that I had been under all day.
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  He told me to go to sleep. I wake up at about 10:00 and my
• 12:47
  husband is just staring at me. It's Blank Stare on his face.
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  And I look at the baby. That's my first instinct is to
• 12:53
  look at the baby. He's there.
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  He's alive. What happened said?
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  They took David. David is my 20 month old son,
• 13:01
  who was at my mom's house. Like putting me, they took David
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  who, where, how right Social Services showed up at your mom's
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  house, at 2:00 in the morning, with three police officers,
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  three police cars and they took David But they lied to me, they
• 13:17
  told me he was there were going to see if he was, okay, they
• 13:20
  weren't even going to wake him up.
• 13:22
  Well, that's not what happened before we proceed.
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  Did you have the thought of, how did the the cranial get
• 13:29
  fractured? How did the skull get fractured
• 13:32
  those thoughts? Come like, well, how did that
• 13:34
  happen? It really didn't like when the,
• 13:37
  ER, doctor told me it was a cranial fracture.
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  I didn't. Put the dots together that a
• 13:43
  fracture is like the bone was actually broken, okay.
• 13:47
  Right. I thought was he's a 7 week old
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  baby. I know the cranium isn't
• 13:51
  completely formed yet. Okay.
• 13:53
  Do you have those flaps like those four different flabs?
• 13:56
  Right? Eventually come together, right?
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  I figured one of those flaps pop open, was the blood caused by an
• 14:03
  aneurysm, you know, something like that was what I was
• 14:06
  imagining. I never really connected the
• 14:09
  dots, right? Yeah.
• 14:10
  Until yeah. You know, I've been when he said
• 14:12
  a bullet to the head I'm like, okay, are you accusing this
• 14:16
  woman of having tried to kill my son?
• 14:19
  Yeah. Yeah.
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  That's what I was thinking, right?
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  Right. And I could not in good faith or
• 14:25
  Consciousness accuse somebody of doing something like that and
• 14:27
  when I didn't know I wasn't there.
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  I don't know what happened. Right.
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  Right. So next thing I know I called my
• 14:35
  mom they take they showed up at 2:00 in the morning.
• 14:39
  They walked through the house. See if there was food, you know,
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  told me told my mom to turn on the light, woke up my son and
• 14:47
  told her we're taking him. And I'm always like no, you're
• 14:50
  not like if you don't give him to us, we're going to arrest
• 14:53
  you. And the cops are all standing
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  there. They don't say anything.
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  And my mom is like, okay, if I go to jail, do I take him with
• 15:00
  me? And she says, no, he's going to
• 15:04
  go to foster care and you're not going to be able to care for him
• 15:06
  because you're gonna have a criminal record.
• 15:09
  So my mom felt like she had no choice but to give my son to the
• 15:12
  social worker at that point, and they strapped him into the car
• 15:16
  seat and drove off in the middle of the night.
• 15:18
  It's now, you know, the next morning and we still don't know
• 15:21
  where he was, Social Services wasn't answering their phone.
• 15:25
  I start calling lawyers and I had to call about 10 different
• 15:28
  lawyers. Before I found one that would
• 15:29
  speak with me, I go to his office and like, okay, where's
• 15:33
  my son? And where do I go get him?
• 15:35
  He tells me. Sit down.
• 15:37
  You have no idea what you're in for.
• 15:40
  Like what are you talking about? They can't just come in and take
• 15:42
  my kid said. Yeah, they can.
• 15:46
  Like what happened to our constitution?
• 15:48
  What happened to innocent until proven guilty.
• 15:50
  What about the nanny? Said this is Family Court.
• 15:53
  They don't follow constitutional law.
• 15:56
  Wow. Are you think they would leave
• 15:58
  your baby with your mom? You know?
• 16:00
  Like if it's you being accused, right?
• 16:03
  All right. Unbelievable and said they don't
• 16:06
  follow constitutional law and I'm like, what other law is
• 16:09
  there. And he says, they can do
• 16:12
  whatever they deem is in the best interest of the child said,
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  what happened to your infant son is Criminal.
• 16:18
  You are facing 15 years in jail. And a hundred thousand dollar
• 16:22
  bail if they decide to charge you, they're not going to give
• 16:24
  your kids back to you. Like, I didn't do this, he's
• 16:28
  like, I believe you doesn't matter, like if I go into that
• 16:31
  courtroom and I asked the judge to give the kids back to you,
• 16:34
  Social Services is going to pull up this criminal investigation
• 16:37
  and it's going to show the judge and it's going to tell the
• 16:40
  judge, he's putting the kids at risk by placing them back with
• 16:43
  you. Your Saving Grace.
• 16:46
  Is that your husband was out of town when this happened so
• 16:49
  legally speaking. He wasn't even at the crime
• 16:51
  scene. So we're going to ask the judge
• 16:53
  to give sole custody to your husband that way, they don't
• 16:56
  even. Risk going into foster care,
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  because if they go to foster care, they can be legally
• 17:00
  adopted by the Foster family. If the case lasts longer than
• 17:03
  six months and they will make it last longer than six months, and
• 17:08
  they never question the nanny. They never brought the other
• 17:14
  after they had already seized my children.
• 17:18
  So he tells me, so if the judge grants this, your husband will
• 17:23
  get the kids, but they are going to kick you out of the house.
• 17:27
  So what choice did I have really right?
• 17:30
  You know, we go three days later where they have the emergency
• 17:33
  hearing and we're still praying. You know, we're still trusting
• 17:37
  God and it's going to be different for us, right?
• 17:40
  Like this is not going to happen.
• 17:41
  God, this is not going to happen.
• 17:43
  You are going to open those judges eyes, you are going to
• 17:45
  open those caseworkers eyes. It's not going to happen.
• 17:48
  So we go into that courtroom and I'm thinking it's going to be at
• 17:51
  least like Judge Judy, right? Talk to one side, talk to the
• 17:55
  other side. Yeah.
• 17:57
  When I get there, the nanny is not their social workers, aren't
• 18:00
  there, the detectives aren't there, the police aren't there.
• 18:03
  The only person on trial is me. And they start speaking in
• 18:09
  legalese know the children's lawyers are there who are
• 18:12
  court-appointed? I don't even know who they are.
• 18:14
  The social workers. Lawyers are there.
• 18:16
  I have my counsel over here and next thing I hear my name.
• 18:19
  Any objections mr. Bruno I said what any objections
• 18:23
  to the children? Going to their father said, no
• 18:26
  any objections mr. Runa.
• 18:28
  No. You went around the room, no
• 18:30
  objections said, okay? Children will be placed with her
• 18:33
  father, mr. Bruno, you have 24 hours to
• 18:36
  vacate your home. You are court ordered to take
• 18:38
  child abuse classes. Parenting classes individual
• 18:40
  counseling. And a caseworker will be
• 18:43
  contacting you regarding visitation court is adjourned.
• 18:48
  So within 10 minutes no everything was pulled out from
• 18:52
  under me, my children, my home, my husband And I'm there outside
• 18:59
  the hallway bawling with my mom and with my husband and my
• 19:01
  lawyer is like I told you this was going to happen, I know
• 19:05
  still can't believe. This is what happened.
• 19:07
  Hey and I'm like where am I supposed to go now?
• 19:10
  Like, well, as long as your son is in the hospital, you could
• 19:13
  stay there. They can't kick you out.
• 19:16
  So I went back to my house, I cleared out everything that I
• 19:19
  had in my house, I went to the hospital and two days later.
• 19:24
  My pastor's wife shows up to the hospital and she sees my son,
• 19:29
  and at this point, he was still all tubed up still in the
• 19:33
  induced. Coma.
• 19:34
  They're trying to figure out the right cocktail to control the
• 19:36
  seizures. You know, she hugs me, she prays
• 19:39
  for him and then she looks at me said, I've been praying and God
• 19:42
  told me you're coming home with me.
• 19:46
  So, at this point, you know, I knew them had been at this
• 19:48
  church for about six years. But, you know, High by
• 19:51
  relationship, when we see each other on Sundays, she basically
• 19:53
  invited a stranger into her house.
• 19:56
  And God just kept sending me these little pearls, these
• 20:00
  little glimpses of hope and of light throughout the story, and
• 20:05
  I couldn't have asked for a better friend.
• 20:07
  At that point. She prayed with me, she left
• 20:09
  with me. She cried with me.
• 20:12
  And in that child abuse class, no, I was thinking I was going
• 20:16
  to be in there with a bunch of drug addicts, alcoholics,
• 20:19
  tattooed tear stuff people. Yeah, and when I get there,
• 20:24
  everybody was in the same boat that I was.
• 20:27
  Wow, really? Yes, falsely accused bathtub
• 20:32
  accidents, park, playground accidents, Fifteen-year-old
• 20:38
  posting naked pictures of herself on Instagram.
• 20:41
  A father takes action, he gets arrested.
• 20:44
  All the other four kids get taken and I'm like, what why
• 20:49
  what is going on in here? Like why and you know a little
• 20:53
  Google search. Nothing new Under the Sun,
• 20:56
  follow the money. Mmm.
• 20:58
  Yeah. And when they took my son, that
• 21:01
  I didn't know where he was, right?
• 21:02
  They actually took him to the County Children's Shelter.
• 21:06
  And they wouldn't release him to me or to my husband because the
• 21:08
  case was open, they released them to my mom because she was a
• 21:11
  public school teacher, fingerprinted, mandated
• 21:13
  reporter. And before I even had a hearing,
• 21:16
  they asked my mom if she would adopt my kids.
• 21:19
  And my moms like no give them back to her mom, who may be long
• 21:25
  - also worker. Well, we don't know what the
• 21:27
  judge is going to order. If he orders the removal of the
• 21:30
  children, will you? Adopt them and on what happens
• 21:33
  if I don't, I feel go to foster care.
• 21:36
  One sec. Okay, so she signs the
• 21:38
  paperwork, and she offers my mom to checks.
• 21:42
  I go get six hundred and eighty dollars a month per child.
• 21:45
  They will qualify for Medicaid. They will get food stamps.
• 21:48
  They will get and all the social welfare stuff that we have.
• 21:51
  My mom's like, I don't want your money.
• 21:54
  Social worker says, well, this is how we help the families.
• 21:57
  My mom's like, okay, can I save it for the lawyers but you know,
• 22:03
  that's what I found case. After case, after case, know
• 22:06
  these children were getting adopted, parental rights were
• 22:09
  getting terminated, they would be moved around from home to
• 22:12
  home until they found a foster family, that would adopt the
• 22:16
  children. My mom was over six hundred and
• 22:19
  eighty dollars a month. The state is getting anywhere
• 22:21
  from 2,000 to eight thousand dollars a month.
• 22:24
  For every child is placed in foster care.
• 22:27
  They get more money for foster care for adoptions, and they do
• 22:30
  for reunification. So it's a very Twisted system
• 22:35
  right? And in one of my prayers you
• 22:38
  know one night somebody called me and said, Rachel I've been
• 22:41
  praying and one word keeps coming to my mind and it's
• 22:44
  repent. I'm like, okay, feeling a little
• 22:48
  bit like, Joe, but that moment, I'm like, okay, but I took it to
• 22:54
  God and those midnight hours when I was alone, I say, Okay.
• 22:58
  God, who sent me was it? My husband and the spirit again,
• 23:04
  spoke to me, said, nobody, my daughter.
• 23:06
  Nobody said this is just the broken world.
• 23:08
  We live in and what you're witnessing right now is about
• 23:12
  the destruction of the family. Which is what the devil has been
• 23:16
  trying to do, since the moment I created it.
• 23:19
  Yeah, that's right. Your story will not be in vain.
• 23:22
  I will use you to help other families.
• 23:27
  You're not, I have them in my hands.
• 23:30
  This will go by quickly but trust me and from that point on
• 23:36
  my perspective completely shifted from, you know, why me
• 23:40
  to, why not me. And look at all these families
• 23:43
  who are in here with me. We don't have who don't know,
• 23:47
  Jesus, who don't have the hope, I do, who don't have the
• 23:50
  financial resources? I do who don't have the family.
• 23:52
  I do doesn't have the church support, I do, right?
• 23:56
  And I shifted from me to praying for all these families, right to
• 24:01
  prank for these children and just begging interceding on
• 24:04
  their behalf. You know, God have mercy on
• 24:07
  these families, right? And another thing that always
• 24:11
  played on Way to the hospital when I was going to see my son,
• 24:14
  Lucas, a song was always playing in the car and I'm like is this
• 24:18
  thing broken? Right on repeat and it wasn't
• 24:21
  like okay you know I'll just listen.
• 24:24
  Yeah, it's called all. I once held Dear Son, by Joseph,
• 24:27
  Garlington the words are all. I once held, dear built, my life
• 24:32
  upon all this world Revere's and Wars to own all.
• 24:35
  I once thought gain, I now count as loss compared to this knowing
• 24:40
  you, Jesus, knowing you There is no greater thing.
• 24:44
  You're my all, you're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness.
• 24:47
  And I love you, Lord. And I just started bawling in
• 24:51
  the Carmichael. My God.
• 24:52
  This is it. No, this is why it's to know
• 24:57
  Jesus. No, the purpose not only in the
• 25:00
  story, you know, in our trials and our tribulations, but just
• 25:04
  life in general, you know, everything here will come to
• 25:06
  pass but knowing Jesus is is the only thing that keeps us Knowing
• 25:12
  that keeps us alive. That gives us hope.
• 25:14
  My eternal hope is in Jesus. Yeah, so you know, was Epiphany
• 25:19
  moment for me right there and growing up in the church, having
• 25:23
  my father be a pastor, my grandpa's a pastor, you always
• 25:25
  hear things, you know, God's grace is enough, he won't give
• 25:28
  you more than you can handle no more than you're tempted and you
• 25:31
  hear all these stories, your whole life but I could, is it
• 25:34
  really? And here I was they had taken
• 25:37
  everything away from me. Like all I had was Jesus, right?
• 25:43
  And I'm like, Lord, you know, I don't know why.
• 25:46
  I don't understand. If I do go to jail, if there's
• 25:50
  somebody in there that needs to hear about you, then here I am.
• 25:55
  Right? And my children are your
• 25:57
  children are with their father. I know he loves them and they
• 26:00
  will be taken care of, but here I am.
• 26:06
  But in the end, you know, I think God knows our heart.
• 26:09
  Of course, he knows our hearts. Hmm.
• 26:12
  And he knows I was broken. He knows.
• 26:15
  That I was repented, like, just for the world in general, like,
• 26:19
  for everything, right. The evil, that's in this world,
• 26:22
  right? And for me at a certain point
• 26:24
  resenting motherhood, you know, because we're told by Society,
• 26:28
  career, career career, you don't need a man, go get a job, go.
• 26:31
  Become some big time, you know, independent strong powerful
• 26:34
  woman, right, right? And if somehow you fail, you
• 26:38
  don't meet those standards. You have failed at being a
• 26:41
  woman. Hmm.
• 26:43
  And I got my MBA, I started Business, with my husband, I did
• 26:46
  everything right and then decided to start a family and
• 26:50
  then I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm here, sucking snot, and wiping
• 26:53
  butts all day. Like really, this is what the
• 26:57
  grand plan is and then it all got taken away from me.
• 27:03
  And at that moment I could care less about my career.
• 27:05
  I could care less about my titles, I could care less about
• 27:08
  Executive offices, I just wanted to be a mom.
• 27:11
  Yeah. And to be with my children and
• 27:14
  God showed me what a Calling it is to be a mom like that is the
• 27:18
  most important job you'll ever have in your life, is to be a
• 27:21
  mom. And I know we often feel ignored
• 27:24
  and not seen. But God sees us.
• 27:26
  He definitely sees us. And our children need us more
• 27:30
  than ever in this crazy world. Hmm, no.
• 27:34
  My the role I play. I mean, I'll never take that for
• 27:36
  granted ever again. Yeah, so just to finish up what
• 27:41
  happened? You know after they kicked me
• 27:43
  out of the house, I finish the services, it was 40 days and 40
• 27:47
  nights that they kicked me out of the house and oh, mighty good
• 27:51
  at school today. I had a hearing and my attorney
• 27:58
  said don't even bother coming today.
• 27:59
  Nothing has changed. And I told my husband's like, I
• 28:02
  don't care what he says, we're gone.
• 28:04
  We go to the courthouse, three hours later.
• 28:05
  He shows up comes in and Telling me to initial stuff sign this
• 28:09
  initial Design. This I have no idea what I'm
• 28:11
  doing, I'm just trusting God at that point comes back out with
• 28:15
  700 Pages, he's like okay, if you're willing to sign the
• 28:18
  document the way it's written today, there's nothing in here,
• 28:21
  admitting guilt. There's nothing in here saying
• 28:22
  that you did this. They will let you go home today.
• 28:27
  And at that point, if they told me to cut off my leg, I would
• 28:29
  have done it. Right?
• 28:32
  So I find those documents and he told me I've been doing this for
• 28:35
  23 years. I have never seen them.
• 28:37
  Let anybody go home before trial.
• 28:40
  You definitely have a higher power working for you at amen.
• 28:45
  Yes, I do. And I love how you went into
• 28:49
  that surrender and that Heavenly perspective before you even saw
• 28:54
  the results in the natural and I know God just Delights and
• 28:58
  blesses that, right? And it's just like, oh my
• 29:02
  daughter, trusts me and I will show up for her with the outcome
• 29:09
  that she wants and desires. And this will be all over with.
• 29:14
  Wow, Amazing Story. Yeah, so I was went home.
• 29:20
  No case was still open for about six months.
• 29:23
  The criminal investigation went open for about a year.
• 29:26
  But it was all closed, everything was done, we sued
• 29:29
  them. And we want we settled in
• 29:32
  December of 2018 for 1.49 million dollars.
• 29:37
  Now, was that scary like suing them like, you know, how you're
• 29:42
  like, oh let's not open up a can of worms, you know like let's
• 29:46
  let the dog lay you know, but so did you kind of get nervous
• 29:52
  doing that or I really didn't like that pushed for I mean, I
• 29:56
  had a fire. Look at that, okay?
• 29:59
  All right, and when God told me that what I went through was not
• 30:02
  in vain mmm, that he was going to use our story to help other
• 30:06
  families. I had total conviction of what I
• 30:08
  had to do. Hmm.
• 30:10
  Now, my husband on the other hand, my husband was very
• 30:13
  scared. Yeah, and very paranoid, you
• 30:16
  know, I had to go to the dumpster downstairs to call the
• 30:20
  lawyer so that my husband wouldn't hear him trying to call
• 30:22
  the lawyer. I think it just shows the
• 30:28
  personalities by me. It was you that went through it.
• 30:32
  So of course you're just mad at this point, but yeah and then
• 30:37
  he's probably in the protective mode like let's just dumb move
• 30:41
  on with life and they are and destruct them into, still beat
• 30:46
  them. Yeah.
• 30:49
  But I got a hold of this attorney and that's all he does.
• 30:51
  Is Sue Child Protective Services.
• 30:53
  Wow I have 28 hours. The depositions.
• 30:57
  Yeah, also workers of the detectives.
• 30:59
  I have their text messages where they made up their mind before
• 31:02
  they even got to the hospital. Well, good for your leaving, all
• 31:05
  that. Oh yeah.
• 31:07
  And it's all in the book, you know, people, there is a lot of
• 31:09
  details in this book. True crime in real life if you
• 31:13
  wanna right through it. Yeah.
• 31:16
  Yeah. Oh my gosh, it just shows how
• 31:19
  corrupt our system is and different agencies that are just
• 31:25
  not Not regulated like it, just do what they want and that's not
• 31:30
  the only program. The child protective agencies
• 31:34
  there's other ones too that just are, you know, walking around
• 31:40
  just taking advantage of power. And yeah, and it's all money
• 31:44
  driven, all money driven. And that's the thing, I think
• 31:47
  most Americans don't understand that there is no due process in
• 31:51
  family court, right? Growing up in church.
• 31:53
  I always heard about foster care.
• 31:56
  As if it were the Make-A-Wish Foundation, right?
• 31:59
  And let's help these families. Let's help these children.
• 32:01
  But the one question that's never really asked it.
• 32:03
  Should these children have been removed to begin with?
• 32:06
  Like, what did they actually prove their case, you know, and
• 32:09
  I keep thinking about my case, what would a social worker?
• 32:11
  Tell a potential Foster Family about me and about the injuries
• 32:16
  and about what happened to my son.
• 32:18
  No, they would say, would you please help this baby and his
• 32:22
  little brother who suffered and cranial fracture in the care of
• 32:25
  his mother? Hmm, right.
• 32:27
  The Foster family has no way of getting that right, right?
• 32:31
  And Social Services can write whatever the heck they want.
• 32:33
  There's no oversight. There's nothing over them and
• 32:38
  you go to the courtroom. There is no child.
• 32:40
  There is no due process. There is no questioning, there's
• 32:43
  nothing mean you're just there. Like I said, I was the only
• 32:45
  person there, right? Right.
• 32:48
  And the judge never even asked me, what happened?
• 32:49
  I never got to defend myself. Hmm.
• 32:52
  So I always tell people now, you know, I know you want to help
• 32:56
  me. Well, I know you want to help
• 32:57
  children and of course, there are children out there who do
• 32:59
  need the help, right? We're not ignoring that, of
• 33:03
  course, but we should have a better system and just look at
• 33:08
  the numbers. Even the government's own
• 33:10
  numbers. 87 percent of the cases are unfounded are later found to
• 33:15
  be unfounded or like 60. Something percent are based on
• 33:18
  neglect like what's neglect. Like that depends on who shows
• 33:23
  up at your front door, right? So if you see a kid that looks
• 33:27
  unkempt, if you see a single mother, who's struggling, you
• 33:31
  know, to keep the house clean to keep food on the table, don't
• 33:34
  call social services, offer her your your time right?
• 33:38
  Your help. That's what it means to love
• 33:39
  one. Another right, give her a home
• 33:42
  cooked meal offered to pick up the kids at school offered to
• 33:44
  babysit at certain times, you know, or use your churches, use
• 33:48
  your Community Resources because once we get Government agencies
• 33:52
  involved. Then you lose complete control
• 33:55
  of the situation and chances are that child is never going to see
• 33:59
  their parents again, right? Well, I love your faith in this.
• 34:05
  You know, your relationship with the Lord as sounds was so close.
• 34:10
  Like, you were hearing from the Holy Spirit and you're giving
• 34:14
  over your child and surrender to him.
• 34:16
  And I just love how we're being in that righteousness and
• 34:23
  obedience to him and how he, he hears our cries and he wants to
• 34:29
  come at our Aid and rescue us. And I just see God just coming
• 34:36
  down and rescuing you from this broken World from this dark
• 34:41
  system and I bet you were just rejoicing when it was all over.
• 34:47
  I'm sure. Thank God every day.
• 34:51
  Day and I could just imagine. So as we wrap up, if you can
• 34:57
  give us a take away and just leave our friend here, something
• 35:03
  to ponder on and encourage them with no matter what, it looks
• 35:08
  like in our natural, how awful our circumstances to the point
• 35:14
  where you've got nothing, you know?
• 35:17
  No home, no husband, no children and you're just putting your
• 35:20
  hope. Hope in Jesus, and it's just
• 35:23
  such an amazing story to see God just come through, no matter how
• 35:29
  dark it looks. And I love this story so much.
• 35:34
  It's so inspiring so encouraging, because we can take
• 35:37
  your story and apply it to anything that we are going
• 35:40
  through in life, because life can be dark, scary and
• 35:44
  difficult. And we need to know that we have
• 35:48
  the hope of Jesus and God is Still working today Miracles
• 35:53
  when we can't see a way out, I mean he makes a way out, you
• 35:58
  know, it's like the highway through the Red Sea, you know,
• 36:01
  with Moses. And and so I love your story and
• 36:07
  I know you probably have some wisdom here to shed light on.
• 36:12
  So we'd love to hear it. Yeah.
• 36:15
  Me and, you know, everything about my faith, I think the
• 36:18
  foundation kind of a pull to your book course, Says God's ID,
• 36:22
  my ID. Yeah.
• 36:24
  Now I was in one of those therapy session, the
• 36:26
  court-ordered therapy sessions and the psychiatrist asked me,
• 36:31
  you know how are you dealing with this?
• 36:34
  How is this affecting your identity?
• 36:37
  You're a mother, you're a wife and now they are calling you a
• 36:40
  criminal. How are you doing with that?
• 36:44
  And I thought about it for a minute.
• 36:47
  Like it really isn't affecting my identity.
• 36:51
  Mmm, like, yes, I am a mother. Yes, I'm a wife.
• 36:55
  But first and foremost, I am the daughter of the king and nobody
• 37:01
  can take that away from me. He knows my heart.
• 37:05
  He knows my character and I know he's with me.
• 37:09
  So yeah, they can try to pull whatever they want.
• 37:12
  They're not going to take that away from me and she just nodded
• 37:16
  taking those on her clipboard is like okay that's an interesting
• 37:19
  perspective. Yeah.
• 37:24
  So you know if you have your foundation in Christ, if you
• 37:29
  know that you are a child of God.
• 37:31
  He knows your heart, he knows you better than, you know,
• 37:33
  yourself, right? And the Bible tells us, I
• 37:37
  remember reading James draw near to me.
• 37:39
  I'll draw near to you. Hmm, and just ask him, just ask
• 37:43
  him come like I need you, and it's okay.
• 37:46
  If all you do is cry, you know, even that the Bible says the
• 37:49
  Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf to our groans, you
• 37:52
  believe me, there are nice to all I could do was Grom right,
• 37:56
  but you feel it, you feel the comfort, you feel that hug that
• 37:59
  spiritual hug, that he is with. Mm-hmm.
• 38:03
  And keep that Eternal hope, right?
• 38:05
  The big picture that our Eternal hope is in Jesus is in heaven.
• 38:10
  It's an eternity. Things of this world will pass
• 38:13
  away. But God's words and his promises
• 38:16
  remain forever. Mmm, beautiful.
• 38:20
  Thank you so much. Rachel for sharing your story
• 38:23
  and I love that it's happily ever after they are.
• 38:30
  Yes. So those of, you can see this on
• 38:35
  video on, if you're on Spotify or YouTube.
• 38:37
  So she's showing her book fractured hope.
• 38:40
  What a beautiful cover and it was just released Right.
• 38:45
  And get on Amazon, you can get it on Amazon.
• 38:49
  And if you go to my Instagram page, Rachel, Bruno speaks, or
• 38:53
  my Facebook page, at Rachel Bruno speaks.
• 38:56
  I have a giveaway going on right now so you can sign up and see
• 39:01
  if you are the lucky winner. Hmm that'd be so cool.
• 39:05
  Yes I love giveaways and I'm sure like especially this book
• 39:11
  it's probably just the page Turner, right?
• 39:14
  You You just can't stop turning the page.
• 39:17
  You want to know what's coming up next?
• 39:19
  And wow, what a? What a cool story of the Lord's
• 39:25
  restoration and his goodness. And so where can people connect
• 39:31
  with you? O go, w-w-w, dot Rachel.
• 39:34
  Bruno.com I also have Facebook at Rachel speaks Instagram at
• 39:38
  Rachel. Speaks I'm on Twitter at Rachel
• 39:40
  Bruno. And that's where we can connect
• 39:44
  awesome. All right.
• 39:46
  And you have that give away until April 4th 4th.
• 39:50
  Okay so we've got that. We'll have that in the show
• 39:53
  notes and we'll also have it over the social media post.
• 39:57
  So all right. Thanks Rachel.
• 39:59
  Thank you. Thank you so much for listening
• 40:04
  today. I trust that God has encouraged
• 40:07
  you through this message for more information on this
• 40:11
  ministry and to access free downloads.
• 40:14
  Please visit my website at Jamie Elizabeth.com and sign up.
• 40:21
  You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook at Jamie
• 40:26
  Elizabeth she speaks life. That's ja why ma E Elizabeth,
• 40:34
  she speaks life. Until next time, my friends.
• 40:38
  I pray God, reveals himself through your own life story.