Meet Lynn Shiner & Nancy Chavez, Co-Authors

Two Mothers, One Shared Mission

Lynn Shiner and Nancy Chavez did not come to this work through theory.

They came as mothers whose lives were permanently changed by violence and loss. That matters, because the work of remembrance is different when the names are not abstract. It changes how you listen to another parent. It changes how you speak in public. It changes what you refuse to simplify.

Their shared mission through RJD Blessings is to honor children who are no longer here, support families living with grief, and keep attention on the needs of victims and survivors. This page introduces the two women behind that work and the book Stabbed in the Heart.

Lynn Shiner: From Personal Tragedy to Public Service

Lynn Shiner carries her story into public service with the care of someone who knows how quickly a family can be split into before and after.

Her work begins with memory. Not the polished kind that fits easily into a speech, but the daily kind: birthdays, quiet rooms, court dates, photographs, and the small details that keep a child close. Lynn has learned that remembrance is not separate from advocacy. It is often the reason advocacy survives.

In conversations with other grieving parents, she does not need to over-explain the ache. She understands the fatigue that can follow a criminal case, a news story, or a public anniversary. She also understands that families need more than sympathy. They need people who will stay present after the first wave of attention has moved on.

That steady presence shapes her role at RJD Blessings. Lynn helps keep the focus on dignity: the dignity of the child remembered, the dignity of the family grieving, and the dignity of survivors who deserve to be heard without being turned into symbols.

Nancy Chavez: Advocacy Forged Through Loss

Nancy Chavez approaches advocacy with a mother’s clarity and a survivor’s patience.

Loss taught her that systems can feel cold even when individual people inside them mean well. A family may be expected to learn legal language, manage appointments, answer questions, absorb public attention, and still function at home. Nancy’s advocacy grows from that ground-level reality.

She has seen how quickly people want grief to become inspiring. Sometimes it does. Sometimes a parent simply needs the truth spoken plainly: this is painful, this is unfair, and this child mattered. Nancy makes space for that truth before asking what action should come next.

Her contribution to this shared work is not only personal testimony. It is the discipline of staying close to people in pain without speaking over them.

How Stabbed in the Heart Came to Be

Stabbed in the Heart grew from the need to tell the truth about grief, violence, motherhood, and survival in words that did not soften the cost.

The title is direct because the experience is direct. When a child is taken, language often fails the family first. People reach for phrases that are meant to comfort but can land as distance: closure, moving on, finding peace. Lynn and Nancy chose a different route. They wrote from the place where the wound is still real and where love remains active.

The book is connected to the broader purpose of the book section of this site: to preserve testimony, make room for remembrance, and help readers understand what families carry long after headlines fade.

Writing about this kind of loss requires judgment. Too much detail can reopen harm. Too little can make violence seem vague. Lynn and Nancy work in that narrow space, where the child’s life matters more than the circumstances of death, and where the family’s voice belongs at the center.

Recognition and Advocacy Work

Recognition, when it comes, is not the point. It can still help.

Public attention can open doors for victim advocacy, speaking opportunities, remembrance events, and community conversations that might otherwise stay private. Lynn and Nancy use those moments carefully. Their work is not about becoming the story. It is about keeping children’s lives, families’ needs, and survivor voices from being pushed aside.

Through RJD Blessings, their advocacy connects with themes found across victim advocacy, remembrance, healing, and outreach. In practice, that may look like speaking with community members, supporting families in grief, or helping others understand the long aftermath of violence.

One lesson comes up again and again: people often want to help, but they do not know what to say. Lynn and Nancy model a better starting point. Say the child’s name when the family welcomes it. Listen longer than feels comfortable. Do not make promises you cannot keep. Return after the ceremony, the news coverage, or the first anniversary.

What We Offer — and What We Don’t

RJD Blessings offers lived-experience advocacy, remembrance, and compassionate outreach; it does not replace legal counsel, clinical care, or emergency support.

This distinction matters. Families affected by violence may need attorneys, licensed counselors, victim service professionals, law enforcement contacts, or crisis response. Lynn and Nancy do not pretend that one book, one conversation, or one event can meet every need.

What they can offer is honest companionship from mothers who understand the terrain. They can speak to the human cost of violence. They can help communities remember that victims are more than case files. They can encourage grieving families to seek support without shame.

If you want to learn more about their work or invite a conversation, visit Contact Us. The work remains personal, and that is its strength: two mothers carrying love into service, one careful step at a time.