This isn't something I'm proud about having to do. I have always been the type to believe the only thing worth having is what you've worked for. However, now I find myself at a crossroads and my children need me to swallow my pride and ask for help. My youngest son is 7 and is level 3 autistic. He has 2 older brothers who have been incredibly supportive of him and what he needs. Their father decided in 2020 that he didn't want the responsibility of having a family any longer and left us in the middle of the night in August, without a single word as to why. 2020 was hard for everyone, not just our family. If you would've told me that I would wake up and find the person I had spent the previous 15 years with gone, I would have never believed it. We had faced our fair share of challenges but we never just gave up on anything. But here we were, wondering why he would just suddenly abandon us. The next few months we found ourselves in a fantasy novel of some sort. His actions were irrational and self-destructive. There would be moments when he seemed as if he wasn't in control of what he was saying or doing, most of which nobody that knew him could believe the reality of what he became. This continued until 2022! He would come back without warning. At first, we thought he just came to his senses. But he then left us again, in the same manner, a week before Christmas of 2020. This time he reappeared in the town that my family resides. He then attempted to ensure that anyone who helped or supported me would believe I was "Evil." Most of his claims were unbelievable and way outside the realm of reality. Meanwhile, my children and I are living in a house that we can't afford without his support. I did eventually manage to find a job as a way to keep us from going homeless. I managed to keep up the payments on our home until March of 2024.

The night before Father's Day in 2022 was the very last time we saw or spoke to him until October of last year, when we were informed that he had a type of lymphatic cancer and something on his brain. It was then 8 days until he passed away. I managed to get our boys there to see him for the last time, just hours before he died. Now I find myself in the position of going homeless again. I was already behind and struggling to make the $1200 a month payments. The mortgage company would not work with me because I was never on the loan, just on the land deed because we were married. When I was able to get the benefits from Social Security, they took more than half of the back pay for what they claim was an "overpayment" made to my husband. Since I couldn't come up with all the money I was behind in payments, they would only give me the option of a buy-out, something I was in no position to do. Now they're going to auction the house.

I have found another place for my family and I to live but it's going to be $3,000 to move in. That is all I have coming in a month. So I'm asking for help to raise it. I can spare half of what I get each month. I have always been the person who gave and did for others because I know how harsh life can be. Now I find myself on the other end of that and unsure of how to proceed. All I know is that my boys deserve to have a home and now I must do whatever it takes to get it.