I was married for 6 years and had 2 small children. I was married to my high school sweetheart. After the birth of our 2nd son, he began to become more controlling than ever.

One evening with both my children in the room, my husband beat me. He abused me over and over beating me from my face to my back. All I could do was lay over my son praying for it to stop and not hurt my children. The next day came and went, he was apologetic and we were back to the “happy” family. It didn’t take long to start the feeling of “egg shells” in my home and the cycle began to repeat itself again.

Summer of 2002 my cousin talked me into going to WEAVE. It was the best choice I ever made for my family. Hearing my own words and seeing this cycle repeat made me really open my eyes that this would never stop. My life for the next 16-18 years until my children were 18 would be lived being, scared, afraid and controlled. That was not my plan in life. I married someone who was my best friend, my lover and the father to my children. I felt like a failure, isolated from friends and family. I knew this wasn’t the life I signed up for. I deserved to be happy, and most importantly my children deserved to have a normal healthy life. I knew if I stayed what would happen. This learned behavior would be passed along to my children. I had a chance to break the cycle. WEAVE gave me the resources, but most importantly WEAVE gave me the confidence and the knowledge. 5 years later I can now talk about this and I thank WEAVE for the opportunities it gave to me and my children.