In June 2014, my 2 year old son Reiss began the journey of growing a relationship with his father whom had been absent a majority of the first two years of his life. It was a bumpy road and Reiss expressed a lot of discomfort. At the time I thought it was just due to the change and had hoped he would acclimate, attach and have a healthy loving relationship with his father and other siblings - but that didn't happen.
Late August 2014, Reiss came back from a 4 hour visit with his father smelling of alcohol. It was confirmed by the hospital that Reiss did in fact consume alcohol, as his scent and behavior clearly showed that he had been exposed. Since this horrific occurrence took place, there has been even more revealed this last year that Reiss encountered that I can't go into, but this incident is what has brought us into the court system. My efforts have been to work as hard as I can for the safety and protection of Reiss, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. As you can imagine, this has been one of the most heart breaking things I have experienced as a mother. The emotions from disbelief, to anger, to gratitude that Reiss is still with us with no bodily damage overflow me. Understandably though, the emotional wounds for the both of us are slowly healing. Despite the worst, one thing I am certain of is that God's presence has never left this story and it's hard to ignore how intricately and delicately He has woven his love, protection and wisdom into our lives. He has been placing people in our lives way before this piece of our story even began, and those seeds that He once planted are now walking through this with me and my children.
With that said, it brings me a great deal of discomfort to put these words in a public forum and even more discomfort to be in need of financial help from all of my friends and family, but I am asking for your help now. As tears are welling from me and my heart is racing within my chest I want to confess that I have taken such pride in providing for my two sons by the means of my own labor. This is why it is so difficult for me, but I am coming before all of you now, humbled and out of sheer necessity asking for more than love and prayers at this time. This obstacle is too big, too heavy and too fragile to try and handle all on my own. Amidst all of this, it is with great misfortune that just months after retaining legal counsel last year our attorney had a major stroke and is not longer able to work. Meaning, what savings I did have was spent to hire him and is now gone. Presently, we are in need of new representation and I have found wonderful counsel but I need a minimum of $5,000 for the retainer which is due by the end of August in order to prepare for our next court date.

Due to the sensitivity of the situation it is my desire to keep this within my circle of family and close friends. Although, if there is someone you trust and feel may be compelled to help, I give you my blessing to share this account with them through a private email. At a later date I may take the route of posting this on Facebook but for now I am not ready for that step.

I want to personally thank all of you for the time you have taken to read a snap shot of our story. Even more so, I want to thank each of you in advance for your efforts in helping support our situation, specifically my son Reiss.


With love,
Megan