I have uploaded photos of the bookstore and coffee shop she created at her church. I would help her with the vision over phone conversations.
God almighty extended peace to us yesterday. Our family loved Monica, her friends loved Monica, her coworkers loved Monica. She built personal relationships with everyone she touched. Thank You Lord for giving us Monica for 43 years.
The Lord gave us good travel to and from Michigan. To my knowledge our entire family has made it by to Cleveland safely. Thank You Lord !
I never ever imaged going to Michigan to attend Monica's Home Going. Every time I have gone to Michigan it has been to spend with Monica, Allen and Doris, hanging out, shopping, talking and having fun. This trip I asked the Lord to give me strength and peace. The Lord has never failed he gave me peace.
The service was amazing, her home going celebrated her life. People discussed the personal and professional impact she had on them. I knew her personally as a family member, I knew she was a hard worker for the State of Michigan, but I did not know the life changing these she accomplished, working with the Social Security Administration to provide benefits for thousands of homeless individuals. But I should have known, sometimes I would call her after 6 and she would still be at work, writing grants and taking care of work business. She was smart where it counted, helping others. She was pushy when it counted, helping others. She was a gentle fighter, when it counted helping others. She got things done.
Personally she was super amazing, her smile, her gentle diva(ness) shined all the time. She loved to make the world bling. Her mother put special attention to detail to make it a Monica event. Monica could decorate for events and interior design like a real professional. She took such pride in her jewelry, I remember when she did the Essence show and displayed her jewelry, she was so proud to be able to showcase her jewelry in such a manner. Her jewelry company name was "Everything Pretty".
She did so much for so many people, her family and friends will remember her always. I will treasure every moment we had together, the phone calls, the texts, email. I could never get her to sign up for facebook LOL She was a constant in my life. She enhanced my life like no other, she introduced me to the world of Makeup two of her girlfriends mentioned it and I could identify. She was the first person to call me DIVA. She spoke words of encouragement to me and other women and wanted us to feel good about ourselves. She was eighteeen years old when she did my makeup for my wedding. WOW. I remember her last visit here on mother's day she asked me to do her makeup and I did. I said to her you do makeup and she looked at me and said I like the way YOU do it. I took that as a compliment because she was particular about her appearance and I knew that meant I was doing a great job with makeup application.
I remember when we would celebrate Christ together. She was so glad when I surrendered my life to Christ and had formed a relationship with God. We hung out before that but after that we got closer, because we could celebrate Christ. One day she was singing "He Saved Me, I already been to the water, I already been baptised" but you see she was singing a new version so me being old school told her Oh that a remix to a old school gospel. She didn't realize it so I sang it to her, we laughed and laughed. Then we taught each other the version we knew. From that day on we sang that song in our celebration to God.
Her purity helped to keep me focused. A young woman keeping herself pure was something new to me. We would have conversations about her purity and she did not want to "mess it up" staying pure was important to her, she wanted to be obedient to God. She knew I understood so we could talk about it and encourage one another. Sometimes she would sort of test me to challenge my genuiness, and I knew it, she would ask me questions about my purity and I could stand by God's word. In this area she wanted genuine feedback. In this area she trusted me. Praise God and it encouraged her walk of purity. She would smile as we discussed it as if to say this is ok, I am not the only one ! She understood keeping boundaries with men, I learned this from her, someone 10 years my junior.
Ok OK OK, as you can tell I LOVED Monica Denise Bellamy, my monibel, my babygirl, my Monicas, my cuz, she wore many titles to me. My favorite was My Monica, because it made her smile.
Continue to pray for her mother Doris, brother, Allen, Father Al and niece Alundra.
RIP
