Battle of the Minds Part 2 - The Sword of St. Michael

In Part 1 of Battle of the Minds, we provide tips to help you make it through difficult times. The greatest advice we can give to you is to rely in your faith in God.  When your life has been destroyed by corrupt people who take delight in your suffering there is no greater ally in your fight for survival and justice than God. When things were the most difficult for us we found comfort in Christ.

Having faith in God still didn't take away the guilt that I felt in not being able to protect my family from Adrienne Driggers (Southwest District Director of the Texas DFPS Childcare Licensing Division) and her group of thugs. One day I was speaking with our son Marco about everything that we had been through. I apologized to him for being unable to protect him, his little brother, and his mom from those animals from Childcare Services (DFPS, Childcare Licensing). He responded by telling me not to feel bad because God had chosen us as we were the only ones strong enough to put an end to Adrienne Driggers and the rest of the evil people running the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and the Texas Attorney General's Office.

I thought of what he had said and I remembered how close we had come to complete destruction when we were in San Antonio. We were saved time and time again by minor miracles that allowed us to survive. One day, after a temporary job that I had in Corpus Christi had terminated (after Adrienne Driggers had closed our daycare), I stood at an HEB grocery store and debated buying some peaches for our boys. I was hesitant in purchasing them as we no longer had any money coming in. I thought to myself "God, you helped us survive the worst that Adrienne Driggers could do to us. You have delivered us from her evil before and I have all the faith in the world that you will do so again. If I am to defeat these evil people in your honor I need your help. I need a job immediately so that I can focus my attention on the preparation of the hearing instead of being worried about our family becoming homeless. I surrender to you and place our lives in your hands." The fear of not having employment disappeared. I felt a huge burden lift off of my shoulders. I paid for the peaches with all the confidence in the world that somehow God would deliver us. The next day I received a call telling me that I had been hired to manage a clinic.

These words from Psalm 23 resonated within me. They comforted our souls.

¹The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

A prayer commissioned by General George S. Patton, written by Third Army head chaplain James O'Neill, during World War II as Patton and his Third Army prepared to battle the Nazis read:

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have to contend. Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously harken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.

When you change the words "immoderate rains" to "financial difficulties" the prayer fit perfectly with our goal of defeating Adrienne Driggers and the Department of Family and Protective Services.

That miracle of being hired so quickly after my plea to God inspired me and strengthened my resolve. Who were these evil people compared to the power of God? I truly felt that God was assisting us in this battle. I was very well aware that our efforts against Adrienne Driggers and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services would affect the lives of the tens of thousands of children. It was a burden that I proudly placed on my shoulders. I was going to do everything in my power to protect the children of Texas.

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

I was asked recently by a minister if I ever faulted or cursed God for the incredible suffering that our family was forced to endure.  The answer was a resounding "No". I explained to him that despite the incredible hardships, I felt that God had chosen our family because of our will to overcome. Throughout my life I have heard people say that God presents us with challenges to test our faith. I did not see it this way. I felt that we were faced with hardships to make us stronger and better prepared for his ultimate purpose. The Lord does not give you more than you can handle and as Friedrich Nietzsche stated "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." We were mentally prepared for the showdown with Adrienne Driggers and the Texas Attorney General's Office but we had other goals in mind beyond saving our daycare and getting Marla off of the DFPS Central Registry. Our goal was to destroy the demon and the environment that not only created her but allowed her the freedom to wreak havoc on innocent people.

We lived with a sense of purpose. We had answered the Lord's call. We were walking with God and were being guided by the sword of Michael.

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL
THE ARCHANGEL
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen..

As the days grew closer to the hearing, Marla tried to convince me to hire an attorney. She was worried that while my theory of the State's weakness made sense (Attorney's from the Texas Attorney General's Office lack of knowledge in the State of Texas Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers), she was worried that it wouldn't work. While I couldn't blame her for feeling this way as it would be just me against the State of Texas, I looked at her, shook my head, and said to her as I pointed my thumb at my chest "Uh Uh, They're Mine." There was a purpose for us. We were selected by God to destroy and expose these corrupt people and save countless children and families. We could not fail.

Marla and I wore these rosary rings of the Archangel Michael at the hearing. They had been  blessed by the Catholic Church specifically for this hearing. Though we were surrounded by absolute evil we vowed to destroy our oppressors.

Things to Come

This will very likely be the shortest post that I will make on this blog. I just want to let you know that in our hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings we were able to prove without a doubt that:

• Childcare Licensing representatives deliberately falsified information and deficiencies to close our daycare
• Adrienne Driggers, the Southwest District Director for Childcare Licensing, and Childcare Licensing added deficiencies after closing the daycare for childcare licensing inspections that did not occur.
• Adrienne Driggers and the Department of Family and Protective Services deliberately ignored the Texas Administrative Code as it relates to:
• The scheduling of Administrative Reviews as mandated by the Texas Administrative Code
• Closing the daycare without allowing us to challenge the deficiencies that the closing was supposedly partially based on
• Adrienne Driggers had a pattern of abusing her power to deny us our Constitutional Rights in our pursuit of happiness
• Adrienne Driggers violated the law by deliberately bypassing the Texas Legislature to create her own rules and regulations specifically to deny Marla her right to operate a children's daycare.
• The Texas Attorney General's Office could not identify any justification for closing the daycare.
• The Corpus Christi Childcare Licensing Office had not only cleared Marla and the daycare of any wrongdoing but commended her for being a competent director that ensured the safety and well-being of the children.
• The Corpus Christi Childcare Licensing Office also acknowledged that Marla's daycare did not pose a threat to the safety and well-being of the children.
• Marla trained her staff at least 5 times the amount required by the State.

I will be posting very soon the details of what occurred at the hearing as well as the closing statement that positioned the presiding judge, Melissa Ricard, into either violating the Constitution and lying about the evidence and testimony that was presented in her court or abide by the Texas Administrative Code and the US Constitution ( not to mention the overwhelming evidence!), and rule in our favor . I will also be providing you with the documentation that we used to prove our case as well as Ms. Ricard's ruling and the basis of her ruling.

You will see that everything that I have posted in this blog is not only true but much worse than you may have thought.