Hello family and friends, I am posting this for a dear sister friend of mine who is currently going through a domestic violence crisis and being urged by the District Attorney and Crime Victims Compensation to relocate as this is a dangerous time for her awaiting her abuser to be arrested and served the order of protection.

You see, my dear sister friend has been a single mother of five for many years and raised 3 beautiful girls and 2 handsome boys alone, even juggling two jobs and being a full-time psychology student. Her oldest is already in her 20s and has left the nest a few years ago to move to Florida for school. Her younger four still reside with her. She has been in Texas for five years and thought she had met the love of her life, that was until she became pregnant with twins on birth control at 38 years of age. No one could understand why sister friend was so scared to tell her long-term boyfriend that she was pregnant. We were all overjoyed and believed it to be a miraculous blessing, as every child is. However, she knew he would not feel the same. Sure enough, when she broke the news to him, he became angry when he realized abortion would not be the route she chose. He tried forcing her to Juarez, Mexico to get an abortion pill and thank God the doctor they saw there refused because it was against his religion. Relieved, my sister friend kept thinking of ways to end the relationship since he started being cruel to her because she refused to go to New Mexico for an abortion next. Her now ex-boyfriend went as far as having his own mother contact her in hopes of swaying her to get an abortion. My sister friend refused and told them they don’t have to be a part of the pregnancy or the child’s lives. At this time, my dear sister friend did not know she was having twins. Sick from all the stress and unable to keep food or water down, my sister friend went to the ER where she was given an ultrasound and discovered she was pregnant with twins. Her now ex-boyfriend contacted her after a week of them not speaking and she told him the news. It was at this point she thought he had come around as he told her that was a miracle and was on board but he will name the babies. She didn’t agree but she appreciated any support she could get as she was going through severe morning sickness, taking care of her responsibilities as a single mother, and still working part-time. He wasn’t fully there for her but any support felt better than none.

Now her and her now ex-boyfriend hadn’t been living together once he bought his photography studio, which he forced her to help build staying long hours in the night. She was exhausted and told him she could no longer stay late like that because she needed her rest. He became resentful of her and the pregnancy, calling her ghetto and poverty mindset for wanting to keep the babies, stating she gave him no choice and that she trapped him. He basically punished her for not aborting the pregnancy. She was tired emotionally, physically, and spiritually. He was completely dimming her light and my sister friend has always been a light and just a positive force to everyone she’s come across. People just gravitate to her and she makes friends very easily because that’s just who she is as a person. Her light seemed to really irritate him and one morning he showed her just how much.

My sister friend went to visit her now ex-boyfriend at his studio as they normally had breakfast together and spent a bit of time before they both had to tend to their own busy lives. This morning was different. This morning he wanted a fight. He used a TikTok video that demeaned and degraded women, calling women out of their name. My sister friend felt disgusted by the stuff he was watching. She said to him that the guy in the video was not a man and needed healing. Her now ex-boyfriend immediately took offense and stated she didn’t know what the man in the video must have been through with women and that many women are evil and do bad things to men. My sister friend replied that she has much trauma from her past regarding violent, awful men from child abuse to domestic violence and she doesn’t spew hate and that the trauma her now ex-boyfriend has been through shouldn’t make him spew hate either and that it’s about healing and elevating and spreading positivity. He became angry and kicked her off the futon they were both on. He was laying down watching TikToks and my sister friend was sitting by his feet. He kicked her so hard that she was thrown off the futon, launching her phone mid-air and began yelling at her and shoving and pushing her into his desk and TV. My sister friend, in a panic, was trying to get to her belongings in the lobby area so she could leave but he continued shoving her and began throwing furniture over onto her and throwing photography equipment at her, taking her phone and refusing to give it to her so she couldn’t leave. Calling her degrading cuss words and telling her how badly he’d beat her and wished he could go back in time to see her abusive ex-husband beat her up. My sister friend kept trying to protect her belly which holds their twins and kept trying to diffuse the situation so she could escape safely. He continued yelling and throwing light stands at her and smashed her phone so bad fire popped out of it. My sister friend in that moment was able to run with her belongings and get into her car. My sister friend was covered in bruises and needed to get a new phone and seek police help. Due to the long history of emotional and financial abuse, my sister friend’s license (ID) had been expired for months and so she had to activate an old iPhone 11 that glitches poorly but it was something to reach family and friends and alert them on what events just transpired. A friend of my sister friend’s took her to the police department to press charges and file for an order of protection and took photos of her marks. She was covered head to toe in bruises and scrapes. She went to the ER next for her injuries and to make sure her babies were okay and thank God, the babies are doing amazing. He now has an issued warrant for his arrest but the way Texas law works is that the order of protection doesn’t activate until he is arrested and served, unlike Tennessee which is a no-tolerance state for domestic violence meaning she would have an active order of protection immediately.

At the current moment, the District Attorney and Crime Victims Compensation are urging my sister friend to relocate and my husband and I are working on getting them back to Tennessee with us by next weekend as this is a very dangerous time for her and her children. He keeps messaging her through social media and even contacting her daughter begging her to drop the charges. He has tried getting her to go on a road trip to Waffle House (there are no Waffle Houses in El Paso, TX so you have to drive 3 hours to the closest one in New Mexico; sister friend loves Waffle House but not enough to jeopardize her safety or her twins). He’s making threats and we’re worried for her safety. My sister friend has not responded to any of the messages and forwards all messages to the police and District Attorney. He’s becoming more desperate and it’s scary.

A move from Texas to Tennessee is a 22-hour drive and it is very pricey to move across the country. The cheapest U-Haul cross-country comes up to nearly $1700 not including gas and food stops and resting at a hotel. We are asking for help to get my pregnant sister friend and her children here by the holidays. As research shows, domestic violence escalates during the holidays and he is desperate to get a hold of her. Anything helps, if you have it in your heart to help this family get to safety and surrounded by family and friends' support we would truly appreciate it.