MacKenzie Baldwin, a normal teenager in Plano, TX, fell prey to a charming man on the internet who wooed her into a dangerous relationship where he almost convinced her to leave everything behind and flee to Kosovo to marry him. Her parents caught wind of her plans and in 25 days were thankfully able to stop her. While the internet isn’t itself bad, there are definitely dangers we need to be aware of. In today’s culture, we’re all addicted to our phones, TV’s, iPads, and computers. Sadly, we’re raising a new generation of screen-addicts.
Did you know research says the use of screens actually rewires our kid’s brains? Dr. Josh and Christi Straub are licensed counselors that are passionate about working with families to understand the over exposure to screens and how to create healthy boundaries in the home.
I get the opportunity to have a lot of
conversations here and sometimes those
conversations are just fun they’re just
plain old flat-out fun then other times
they’re really moving and meaningful and
maybe even move us to emotion but other
times those programs and those
conversations are just informative like
necessary we need to know what we’re
talking about and today we’re having one
of those conversations you’re gonna need
to pull up a chair you your spouse if
you have a teenager make your teenager
pull up the chair because this
conversation really could save their
life and yours stay tuned
[Music]
[Music]
I see the title of this book that I’m
holding in my hands almost gone is the
name of this book almost gone the name
of it makes a chill run up and down my
spine because I’m looking at a teenage
daughter a beautiful teenage daughter
and her parents they love her they have
high hopes for her she has dreams and
aspirations for herself but in a moment
everything begins to unravel and in the
weeks and months that follow things
begin to change to where this beautiful
young lady is almost gone and the reason
why it makes a chill run down my spine
is because I have teenage sons now and
I’m thinking about the fact that they
could be your kid could be in a
predicament much like you’re about to
hear today I’m so glad that she’s not
gone that she’s here to tell us her
story because it really could save lives
the lives that matter most to you
so would you please help me to welcome
Mackenzie and her mother to the program
today I am glad you guys are here thank
you you’ve got a story to tell young
lady you do but this is you on the cover
you got your cap and gown on you look
proud your parents look proud but
there’s a story behind all of this and
you getting into this stage in your life
so tell us just tell us what happened
okay well it was my senior year of high
school this was 2013 and I was just
talking with somebody on an online chat
site with me my best friend and we just
started talking very innocently with
this guy and we added each other on
Facebook after a couple of weeks we
started talking a little bit more and a
little bit more and after a couple
months I started having some feelings
for him and then slowly over these
months he would begin to manipulate me
and pull me away from my friends and my
family ultimately I even converted
religions in order to be with him okay
now I’m gonna stop you for just one
second so you can back up and slow down
slow down this story and this experience
for us okay so when you say he was
pulling you away from your friends and
pulling you away from your family
someone you’ve not seen yes in person so
you this is just an
internet relationship what does that
look like for him to pull you away from
your friends and your family well one
thing that is important to note is that
we did like Skype so I did see him and
we I mean we would talk after a while we
would talk hours a day and so for
example he would tell me he really
started a rhodium on my foundation he
would tell me my friends weren’t maybe
good for me maybe maybe they really
weren’t people I should have in my life
and these were my best friends that I
had forever but a lot of these a lot of
my friends were guys and so he was
telling me maybe you shouldn’t be
hanging around with all these guy
friends and whatnot and I started
believing him over time and and he’d
start telling me that my family wasn’t
good for me and maybe they don’t
understand you and I I didn’t believe
him at first of course same with my
friends and once we would have a
disagreement my family and I I would
tell him about it later and it could be
months later but I would tell him and he
would use that as a sort of you yeah I
told you your family didn’t and how old
are you when this is happening I was 17
and I turned 18 okay so 17 18 years old
when you’re looking for validation
you’re looking you’re wanting a little
independence and freedom those hours
that she’s spending were you aware at
all that she’s having a conversation
with someone online no and that’s what
you know looking back I look back over
this many many times and try to figure
out how that went on in some ways right
under our nose years ago was this 3 and
1/2 so this is fairly recent ok so three
and a half years ago go ahead yeah
because you know we had all those
controls in the house of the computer
stay downstairs in the common area can’t
take them up to your bedroom
we had the parental controls on the
computers we looked at history we looked
at texting every now and then you know
that kind of thing so we really thought
we’ve got that locked down and didn’t
ever think beyond that yeah we had also
told all that we have three kids when he
told all of them you know be careful who
you talk to we made them McKenzie in
particular I think three different times
go through her Facebook friends and
delete people that she didn’t who
couldn’t tell us who they were so we you
know we thought we had a good control
around that the problem was much of this
was done on her phone which we now you
know we didn’t
controls around that you know that we
were thinking about the laptops at home
and when what went on away from the
house so she would go to work and get
off work and then sit in the parking lot
and talk with him on her phone before
she came home so we had we had no idea
any of that was going on
okay so Mackenzie you’re spending hours
talking to this guy he’s filling your
head with what he wants to fill your
head with and and how does this progress
well so like I said I had eventually
even converted religions and this was
over 14 months and so it did not start
you know so aggressively you know and if
it had started with him telling me what
to do or whatnot I would have just said
you know we’re not I don’t want to talk
to you anymore but it was this slow it
just started as a friendship you know
and then over like I mean six months
later I started you know kind of having
these feelings started really getting
attached to him so so over this time I
started attending a mosque and so you
women you’re attending a mosque like
around your hometown yeah yeah so it was
not too far from our hometown but it
would be the same thing I’d tell my mom
I’m gonna go see my friends and I and I
wouldn’t you know I would go there and
it was for him because he told me you
know we can’t be together unless you are
Muslim and so and I said oh I don’t want
to be Muslim you know and he said okay
we’ll just go to a mosque and just just
see it you know just like ask him about
it or whatnot so I went because I felt
like I loved him and so I wanted to I
knew that was a big part of his life and
so I told him okay I’ll just go to learn
more about you and I kind of equate it
to stepping into a river that is way
deeper and way faster than I thought I
thought I could handle the situation
your legs it’s just right and and now by
attending a mosque or or or just more
having real people now that knew about
me and knew about him it was no longer
just virtual I couldn’t just turn off
the computer anymore
now I had people in real life that knew
about us and how do you mean the people
at the mosque how did they know about
the two of you I told them so
they were wondering why I was interested
and so I told them about him and I felt
like these people were distance like
they were far enough away they would
never talk to my family you know and so
it’s kind of nice to have some thought
Evo you celebrate this relationship yeah
and so over this time he originally
started back when we first started
talking within like a month he said do
you think we could ever meet in Dallas
and I said that’s where my hometown and
I said I mean I guess if you ever come
to Dallas if you make the whole trip
from Kosovo which is where he’s from
okay
where is Kosovo it’s like the Balkan
region of Europe so not like a great
area but how old is this guy he is 22 so
I was 18 he was 22 okay
very handsome very handsome and and he
looked like you charming yeah he just
looked at European and just like a
friend you know and so I said you know
he said next summer so a year from now
if I can come to Dallas would you meet
me and I say if you make the trip all
the way there all the way to here then
sure like I guess I can meet you for
coffee and but I really didn’t even
believe we’d be talking a year from now
like that you know I knew that I really
shouldn’t be talking to somebody who
don’t know online like I knew that was
kind of weird
my parents had told you that before you
like all at times like you know and I
knew it you know and and so I told him
whatever if you ever get here sure like
I guess we can meet for coffee in like
Plano texts who’s like my own little
town and friends none of your
girlfriend’s at school or your guy
friends at school nobody in here nobody
knew other than the folks at the moss
that you’re talking to this guy and
getting into a serious relationship well
I was with my friend Madison who was
there with me when we met on the
computer so she knew I was talking to
him and my friend group about nine
people they kind of knew after like a
couple months that I was still talking
to this guy and they you know they kind
of like well that’s kind of weird like
why are you still talking him and I was
like we’re just friends whatever but I
had three friends Jordan Madison and
Sarah who knew more but I would say
Madison knew like the most because we
were best friends like we did everything
together but through this year I would
start trying to distance you know myself
from them and what
but so I told them we could meet in
Dallas and then a couple months later I
started getting attached to that EDI I
thought you know I really wanted to meet
him started thinking maybe it would
happen and then he told me hey I don’t
have enough money to meet in Dallas do
you think you could meet me in New York
and I was gonna graduate was gonna be
senior and I thought I was gonna be in
college and so I started thinking you
know maybe it’s kind of be fun to get
some friends like our last trip together
we could go to New York I’d be kind of
fun we could meet there
so I started getting attached to that
idea and over this time this was months
apart and I started really falling for
him and really kind of wanting to
actually trusting him yeah and so once I
got really attached to that idea he told
me hey I don’t have enough money to go
to New York I can only meet you in
Switzerland and that’s a really big jump
from New York obviously but a little
backstory I was planning on going to
Switzerland anyways my parents knew
about it my aunt had a foreign exchange
student that lived with her and we were
friends and she lived in Switzerland
okay so we were gonna be connection yeah
so and so I felt like and I was gonna go
there for a month for like a big
graduation trip for myself and so I
thought you know Switzerland’s safe I’ve
heard you know and and maybe if I’m with
her family it won’t be that bad to meet
him there and by this point I thought I
loved him and then up to the point where
we had been talking for a year and I was
about to leave in like two months and he
said hey I don’t have enough money for
Switzerland I’m sorry I if we’re gonna
be together you have to come to cost the
bill and at first I said no you know I
was like there’s no way I know like I’m
not I’m not gonna do that but after a
while I kind of looked around I had
changed religions I had pushed away my
family I didn’t have my friends anymore
I felt like I had done so much to be
with him I couldn’t just back out
anymore you know hearts all entangled
right yeah and and so I kind of looked
around and I was just like I have
nothing here I he’s my whole life so I
have to go and and are you seeing before
you finish this story and keep going cuz
I know you’ve got a lot more to tell us
but looking back on this phase of it
where
you seeing the distance and what did it
read to you what were you thinking was
going on with her absolutely we you know
we early on that summer after her junior
years when all of this started and we
immediately began to see a change in
Mackenzie I mean it a kid that was
always coming in with you know nine kids
in tow in and out of the house everybody
kept laughing and cutting up and playing
xbox and things like that suddenly all
those kids were gone and Mackenzie who
had always been she don’t even want to
push the envelope you know we were
always growing up always pulling her
back a little bit you’re not quite old
enough to do that sound like me girls
yeah don’t you need weight I always want
more independence than she should have
things like that but for the most part
pretty typical things and but all of a
sudden you know she and I used to spend
a lot of time together and she just
didn’t want to anymore and and then of
course the religion thing became a huge
debate in our home so you didn’t know
that after a while she was now talking
about this new religion she first came
home one day and out of the blue just
asked if she could buy a Quran and that
kind of blew us away I mean we were a
devout Christian family go to church
every she’d been in church since she was
six weeks old you know and but we
thought well she’s met some friends she
has an interest in and she said she
wanted to kind of compare the two
religions and my husband I talked about
we really thought this was kind of the
beginning of a journey right a lot of
times kids that age kind of have to
figure out why they believe what they
believe so we thought okay if we help
guide her through this and my husband
had a lot of commentaries and things we
gave to her and he said you know come to
me with questions but but it very
quickly went from discussions to kind of
debates to really all out if arguments
yeah discussions about theology and and
then the pulling away from us the
pulling away from the even our extended
family friends were no longer in it I
describe it as often it was as if
someone almost overnight came in and
just took my fun-loving daughter away
who was always want to experience
anything new and put someone in her
place that we didn’t even recognize so
you’re two months out from this trip
mm-hmm okay yeah and I was I mean I was
ready to go basically I had a passport I
had everything I needed
and and I mean really the story kind of
turns over to you because all of a
sudden I had I was actually three days
away all this time I’ve been prepping
and prepping and I was three days away
from leaving and I finished my last
final exam of my senior year and I was
ready to go and I and I was I was very
conflicted you know in the book we talk
about that all the time or I talk about
it a lot I lay at night and then
sometimes I think like what am i doing
you know like is this really what I want
yeah and then it kind of goes back to
the well you’ve done this you’ve done
all this you’ve torn your family apart
you can’t just walk down the stairs and
say never mind
you know like I’m sorry for everything I
did you know it doesn’t work that that’s
what’s so scary about this sort of thing
is that you’ve got a rational logical
smart bright teenager with lots of
dreams dreams loosely let’s like know
your size it’s so cryptic it’s so sneaky
it’s so easy to become entangled in
something so that’s what’s not that
takes you away interesting about that’s
what manipulation is you don’t even
realize you’ve been manipulated you
don’t realize your mind has changed it’s
you rationalize that in your mind to
where this is now the truth to me yeah
yeah and it’s you know I saved me if I
had told McKenzie you are being a victim
she was said no I’m not she didn’t feel
like a victim there was she left and in
her world it felt like of it yeah well
and it kind of picks up too because I
was told that I had finished my senior
year walked out to my car and my mom was
there at my car and which has never
happened ever and I said what are you
doing and she said well McKenzie like
there’s what was it for FBI agents at
our house right now and they want to
talk to you and she’s like what did you
do and I say and I remember thinking I
didn’t know why like I knew that I was
doing something kind of bizarre it it
didn’t connect to my yes there was no
radicalization anything like that and I
did not understand why the FBI would be
at my house yeah and and the only thing
I could maybe
think of that was illegal what it’s
actually a felony well okay and I had I
had gotten a replacement passport I we
had had a regular passport and it was in
our in our family like drawer and I
checked it every night to see if it was
there and well we’ll come back to it
later actually but my mom had moved it
and I had gone to the drawer that night
and I looked and and it was gone and
that was the only and I remember
thinking to myself if there’s no
passport there’s no Adam which was that
guy and so help you to ask why you
couldn’t tell her why couldn’t you tell
her that you knew yeah that’s a whole
story unto itself
okay so we’re gonna have to get through
that because I also want to know how you
found out okay so go ahead Mackenzie and
then we’ll get and so I researched
really quickly and I realized that I cuz
I only had a couple what weeks now and I
didn’t know if I could get a whole new
passport in that timeframe before I was
supposed to leave so I researched it and
I could get a replacement passport
expedited I’m really quickly so I ended
up getting that and you can figure well
and the reason that she put on her
application was that it was lost and it
really wasn’t so technically that’s a
felony which later down the road was
what the FBI was able to use to come yes
so that’s like why they were able to
insert themselves into the situation it
wasn’t because there was technically
like a law broken yeah so the FBI is
there at your house have you come home
mm-hm and um so I walk in the door and
there’s four agents sitting there and
agent Sheridan is the one that actually
ended up working with my parents this
whole time and he is a very large man
and the FBI is like exactly how you
would think they are they’re all
pictured do the FBI written about badges
obviously and they all pulled up in for
individual I don’t they couldn’t carpool
for some reason but like they pulled up
in their black vans you know and agent
Sheridan if criminal minds I don’t know
if you know that show but he looks like
Hotch you know like the main guy and but
that is exactly how they are and
and so I mean I have always felt pretty
confident and myself even through this
time I wouldn’t really allow myself to
feel like small but when agent Sheridan
was there and all these FBI agents I
felt very tiny and yeah
and they basically told me well I didn’t
know that my parents knew at this time
and they said McKenzie you know we are
here because we know what you’re doing
and we’re gonna ask you a bunch of
questions and a lot of which we already
know the answers to so don’t lie to us
yeah and I said okay and he said and if
you do lie to us and he pulled out a
piece of paper and he said these are
your Miranda rights and if you know we
can use this to take you out in
handcuffs if we chose so don’t lie and I
said okay and and so they proceeded to
ask me questions about it they really
just drew what what I was doing out of
me because I didn’t want to tell anybody
and I didn’t think my parents knew at
this time and so they said okay McKenzie
like what are you what are you planning
on doing and I said well I’m gonna leave
the country and and just question after
question after question to finally they
said what are you were you meeting what
are you planning on doing when you get
there and I said I’m planning on
marrying this guy I’m engaged you could
say and Mom and Dad you don’t know this
guy you you know nothing about this but
I’m so sorry and they told me okay
do not talk to this guy anymore we have
been to that part of the world it is not
a good place for you to be and we fully
believe this is not a good situation if
you went over there so they left and I
ran upstairs right after that and I
called him and I said what are you doing
you know like what did you do the FBI is
at my house and of course he said I
don’t know like what are you talking
about and whatnot but it kind of goes
back to the manipulation thing I had FBI
agents telling me this man would
probably hurt you if you go over there
this is not a good situation for you and
never talk to him again and of course I
ran upstairs and I called him
immediately did the FBI agents tell you
what they suspected there were two
things I think that they suspected
had plans right well Kosovo is number
two in the world for human sex
trafficking and so that was a very
likely scenario and the way things were
kind of going it may have been that it
also could have been citizenship scam
because we had planned to go there get
married and come back to the u.s. so
tell us mom how did you find out well we
were still struggling with what we
thought was rebellion right and the the
change in personality and all that kind
of thing and then probably I think one
of God’s blessings was to have my
husband on the East Coast in a on a
business trip and I was home with the
kids and he gets a phone call from
Mackenzie’s best one of her best
friend’s dads who says my daughter who’s
friends with McKenzie has come to me and
told told me this and I think you need
to know and he shares with John that
Mackenzie’s in an online relationship
with someone from overseas and it’s
planning to leave the country at that
time in as little as two weeks is what
he thought so again you know God’s
blessing of John being thousands of
miles away he calls me that night and
normally like I said normally we would
have marched in there and said what are
you doing you know when you and kind of
tried to block all this down but in that
24 hours or so it took for John to get
home I did hide the the passports which
was the first thing to do but then in
that 24 hours we had enough time to kind
of think and this girl that had come
forward and two others all within 48
hours that went to their parents and
their parents made phone calls to us all
of her friends just trying to go ahead
three and three different friends yes
went to their parents they also said
that McKenzie had indicated to them that
if she found out we knew she was
prepared to leave immediately okay and
so we knew then she would bolt
I had the passport so for a while we
thought well she might could leave but
she’d have to stay within the country
and then it’s another story but I
figured out she had ordered a second
passport so then I knew the window that
we thought we had could be gone could
you can you explain your mindset your
frame of reference your perspective on
you know
are you questioning yourself as a mother
a good mother a parent
did we not do the right thing what’s
happening to you yes all of those things
at once you know the the positive was at
least all the pieces begin to fall into
place why she’s behaving this yes and
that was what we had been treating as a
rebellion we suddenly realized you know
what she’s a victim and she doesn’t know
she’s a victim she’s being manipulated
she’s in severe danger
so our tactic then changed a little bit
whereas before we were just kind of
butting heads with her constantly as you
do with teenagers and so we then
realized from a from a victim standpoint
we had to approach this very differently
and number we had to two things really
number one we had to stop her from
leaving and if that meant grabbing her
at that moment and just holding her back
that’s what we would have to do but the
bigger issue was really stopping her
wanting to go because we stopped her
physically right once twice you know who
knows how but eventually whatever net we
could put over her she would eventually
work her way through and by this time
she had turned 18 yeah so legally you
know we had limited things that we could
do we did all the things that any good
loving parent would do put a GPS on her
car you know all this to track her how
did the FBI find out about all this did
you yes well what we did and again you
know God God played such a hand in this
from the very beginning and that real
quickly 20 years ago we met a couple
that we had been lifelong friends with
ever since fast-forward 20 years here we
sit with this going on it said within
the four walls of our house scared to
tell anyone because if anybody finds out
and gets back to her she’s gone and we
decided we would confide in this
friend’s name of Steve because Steve in
God’s wisdom worked in security at DFW
Airport and we said if there’s anybody
that can help us it’ll be Steve so we we
spend our 29th wedding anniversary and
Steve see Steve’s house students are
kind of crying through this with him
telling him what’s going on
he said you know I don’t know exactly
what we can do but I will stop by and
talk to the chief of police at DFW
Airport so he didn’t know him personally
but he was willing as God works through
people right and he was willing to go
and take that step just to open his door
knock you know said can I have a minute
of your time
shared the story with him and that the
Chief of Police said you know I don’t
know what’s going on but it does sound
like she could be in pretty severe
danger so let me connect y’all with the
FBI at DFW Airport Wow so they called
and we went out there and set met with
them and I’m gonna count it by trade so
I had my files in order right everything
was hole punched and you know people
clicked together and I laid out all the
evidence so to speak that we had and
they were concerned enough to say you
know what we’ll help you yeah because
this is really the face of human
trafficking the face of kidnapping in
this day and age is via the Internet yes
and it’s happening not only to our
daughters it’s happening to our sons
what things do you think is there
something you could have done you think
yeah – two questions I have for you one
of them is there something looking back
that you feel like you could have done
because you said this was on her phone
mostly so it’s so hard because we live
in a day and age where it’s a
technological age we’re trying to
navigate how do we keep our children
safe with the reality that it is the
century that we live in the day and age
that we live in they’re gonna have a
phone at some point right so is there
anything you could have navigated
differently you think I think in looking
back from a technology standpoint we did
I think all we could do yeah you know
and then I did go you know as she got 18
you can’t yeah I mean how many thousands
of texture they do a day to me to go
through those would have taken hours
yeah but the one thing I think not from
a technology standpoint and I try to say
this where it makes sense but to educate
her in a different way okay we’ve always
told our kids don’t talk to strangers
don’t accept friends and you know
requests from people that you don’t
really know but that doesn’t really sink
in because kids day think if I’m talking
to somebody they’re online they’re my
friend and I’d be able to tell if he was
a creepy guy or if he had bad intentions
so I think for example when they can to
tell us her story now we often have
almost every time she speaks she has
girls come up that are in the same
situation guys guys are doing something
similar because they see it
and they’re educated in a different way
they see and hear the manipulative
techniques that he uses they hear and
see that she’s kind of a normal girl and
got wrapped up in this yeah not like
she’s a Wallflower she was dating
someone at the time it’s not like she
had never dated and no one had ever told
her earlier it ended when it first
started so so as girls hear the story
and learn from that standpoint they see
it differently right and so my younger
boys who lived this they have a whole
different respect for talking to a
stranger online did Mackenzie ever did
can you tell me how you worked on her
heart for the parent that’s saying you
know what like you said I can’t read
every text message and I can’t make them
not want to or I can only put the net in
place for so long before if their hearts
not tenderized right they’re gonna break
right through that boundary and so how
are you able to mean this is three and a
half years you’ve got a young woman
sitting here that is completely
different than the young lady y’all are
describing from just three and a half
years ago so how is Mackenzie’s heart
softened just I think two things first
of all we told her throughout the whole
time even we were struggling and didn’t
know what was going on we constantly
told her we love you too much to sit
back and not do anything yeah so even
though we got rolled eyes and we got you
know and as she says when he said I love
you that meant more to her than what we
said but you still say it yeah
constantly say but probably more
importantly was the way we say it is we
never and it was intentional we never
burned the bridge between us and her
we never threw our hands up and said
fine you know if you’re gonna do this
then blah or we can’t have you in the
house if you’re gonna be like you know
he never took that stand of an ultimatum
or anything like that that would make
her not want to come back and our idea
was somewhere down the road if she ever
has the veil lifted and she ever
realizes what she’s in and she wants to
turn back and come back home that that
she wouldn’t have to come crawling back
she learned a lot there were open arms
there yeah the prodigal son is that you
know my husband even shared that story
with her
the midst of all this before we knew
what was really going on that you know
she was going somewhere she was away
from the family she was doing her thing
and we would always welcome her back and
I think that made a difference when it
came time for her to really say I need
help I need out of this and I need but
what did you need to do in those first
weeks those first months where her heart
was hardened and she was still wanting
to get stay connected with that guy talk
to him after the FBI but yes it was
connect yes we had Nikoli what did that
look like okay so in in so it sounds
kind of like dumb but I had a cat and I
loved this cat like so much and she was
like basically like my best friend that
I kept had like any any any thing that I
couldn’t tell my friends I’d tell my cat
and and just like long story short she
was looking really sick this was after
the FBI come to my house just couple
days after or probably at what two weeks
or so she was looking kind of sick and
and I went to my mom and I said hey you
know like something’s wrong with her and
we took her to the vet and was angel by
the which is angel we took her to the
vet they said nothing’s wrong well that
night Shane it up dying and and it was
crushing to me but that was kind of the
first moment that I actually leaned on
my mom and my dad for the first time in
a year and then we actually had a
meeting with agent Sheridan in just a
couple hours and we went to that meeting
and he said okay McKenzie you know if
you tell him this was like the last
meeting there wasn’t there’s really
nothing else they could tell me and he
said but I will tell you that if you
text him Adam and you say there’s
nothing I can do for you there’s no way
I can bring in here on any sort of visa
or anything you’re gonna have to figure
this out on your own
he will come back and tell you well then
you come to Kosovo we’ll get married and
come back to the US so on the way home I
actually did text him that so there’s
nothing I can do and he texted me back
verbatim what the FBI agent told me he
would say and that was kind of my first
realize the eyes are open that that this
may not be what I think it is and later
that night I was actually talking to my
mom and
and I kind of had this moment of clarity
and I kind of think of it you know if
you watch like a war movie and then
after the battles over and there’s just
like smoke and debris everywhere and
just like destruction I kind of looked
around and that was my life you know I
didn’t have my friends my family my
faith my whole life was just in shambles
and and I realized that’s not what love
is you know love should not do this to
me or any or any person that I love
and that night I told him I’m tired you
know I was so tired of lying and trying
to constantly cover my tracks and
fighting with my parents and I told them
this is not something I can do anymore
and that was it and the next day I mean
I still had to work through his shirt
because your hearts tangled up you’ve
got to work yeah and and it was another
year and a half really of me trying to
find my purpose of why this happened and
where am I going with this and do you
realize the danger that you would have
been in I mean now looking at it do you
you know how sometimes you can go
through a season of your life where it’s
not until you’re out of it looking at
yourself in it that you go what was I
thinking oh yeah
now of course and even even even every
few months I kind of have another
realization of something that he had
said or had done that that kind of ties
in with a bigger picture how I was
manipulated and stuff like that so it’s
it’s still a learning process but I
found my purpose you know we speak to
high schools into churches and stuff
like that and and I am able to somebody
asked me what is the best thing that
came out of this you know something so
awful and it’s so that I can look at
young youth and in say you know this is
what I did you don’t do this and
hopefully save some lives in the process
yes absolutely you will and your book
will to every people need to get their
hands on this and you know parents we
listen I was saying earlier at the
beginning of this program you know my
boys are in those teenage years now this
is the major sort of wrestling match
with me and my husband and the boys
because we’re just trying to navigate
the age that we live in with wanting to
keep them safe it is so hard this is so
complicated every time
we put another boundary in place there’s
there’s just another little caveat right
over here we didn’t even know existed
and the kids are ahead of us there so
head of us martyred right one of the
very first times we spoke a young man
who’s 18 was a senior in high school he
came up and he said mr. Baldwin I have
to tell you something he said you know I
certainly haven’t been through something
like Mackenzie went through he said but
I’m a gamer and I’ve probably got 30 or
35 friends that I call friends that I
game for several years and he said if
one of them had said hey let’s all drive
down south to Waco or something and
let’s meet up he said I wouldn’t thought
twice about it until now and now I
realize I don’t really know them mm-hmm
I said that’s what we’re doing this for
yeah you know that’s what this is about
and McKenzie phrases it very well we’re
not telling people not to game you can
even call them your friends but the
friendship ends when the console goes
off it doesn’t go beyond yeah yeah and
you can talk to them all you want online
but don’t let it cross that line yeah we
appreciate you guys so much we’re gonna
spend some more time with you guys in
part two we’re gonna continue to talk to
them but we’re gonna add a beautiful
couple to our conversation they have
made it their business their ministry to
sort of help parents be equipped help
teenagers all of us really be equipped
to sort of have our mindsets on right
when we’re looking at the internet at
social media at how to protect ourselves
and make sure that we get the benefits
of it while keeping ourselves safe at
the same time but for now but you guys
please help me to thank them so much for
joining us oh we’re so glad you’re safe
[Applause]
[Music]
you