PLEASE HELP US SAVE OUR HOME

Dear Friends,

Over the course of the past year, Deinell and I have been overwhelmed by a series of unforeseen and, for us, disastrous bills. First it was massive home repairs, then medical bills --- then more medical bills. I'm a private person by nature (apart from being loudly opinionated, of course), so am not necessarily comfortable discussing all the specifics of "what's the matter" in public --- and I also owe long-time friends one-on-one conversations before making things public knowledge.  Suffice to say I'm working two jobs in addition to picking up what freelance gigs I can, Deinell is  clocking longer hours than she ever has in her life, and we're still coming up short of what we need, despite making significant progress in chipping away at the mountain. We've parted with many possessions on eBay, including my prized turntable and vinyl LP collection and a whole lot of comics, we've taken on as much debt as we can realistically deal with --- and now I'm afraid it's come to this, our drop-dead date to have things brought current on our home of the past 20 years is December 31st.

I wouldn't ask if there was any other solution, but there's not at this point. Our home is modest, as is our lifestyle, but that's the way we both like it. We would love to be able to stay here, especially since we've been here so long.  Unfortunately, more borrowing and re-financing isn't feasible for us, and shuffling bills around (pay this one this month, that one the next) has finally run its course --- and while what we need to stay here may not seem like "a lot" to some, for us right now it's insurmountable without some assistance. The next few years are going to be tough ones for us, but if we still have our house, it will make all the difference in the world. I know this is probably the worst time of year to be doing this, everyone has their own families to take care of during the holidays, but if you can possibly spare anything at all, you will have our deepest and most profound thanks and gratitude. Feel free to contact me by private message on facebook or twitter, or email, if there's anything more you'd like to know. Thank you so much for your consideration, they say that there's no shame in needing help, only in not asking for it, but this is the toughest thing I've ever had to do in a public setting.

---Ryan