VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — The family of a mother shot to death in her Vancouver home started a new Fourth of July weekend tradition Sunday in her honor.

Amanda Marjama died on June 28. The 28-year-old mother of 3 was allegedly killed by her husband, Todd Marjama, who is charged with first-degree murder.

Amanda’s aunt, Helen Lewis, spoke for more than 50 friends and family as they honored the young mother’s life and helped her children heal.

“I watched her come into this world and she tried really hard to please everybody,” Lewis said. “She didn’t deserve this… she loved being a mother and she loved being a family, and she loved her children more than that.”

Lewis said Amanda was focused on loving and caring for her 3 children. They were all home the night Todd allegedly shot their mom. Police caught him a few blocks away shortly after they first received reports of shots fired in the neighborhood.

“I think things just got way worse than anybody knew they were,” Lewis said. “At least we have my great nieces and my nephews to remember her by.”

The children’s grandmother will raise them with help from aunts, uncles and cousins who live right nextdoor. They also created a GoFundMe page for “Amanda’s Angels”.

While Sunday’s vigil was filled with sadness, Lewis said Amanda sent a message from above her mother’s garden where she planted a trumpet vine from Georgia 5 years ago. The trumpets hadn’t bloomed since then, Lewis said, until Sunday morning.

“They have that old saying, they blow their horn and welcome someone to heaven,” Lewis said. “We just kind of took it as a sign that she’s saying, ‘Hey, I’m OK.'”