As many of you know, we do our very best to never ever have to ask for help. Unfortunately, over the last couple of months, we've had the perfect storm. Tony reached for the stars and took a job at a new trucking company that paid significantly better than he ever hoped for at his last job. Unfortunately, less than a week after starting, a young lady in a small car tried to whip around his truck because she didn't want to be stuck behind him in traffic and ended up under his trailer instead. Even though the officer that saw it happen and the young lady both said it was her fault, Tony lost his brand new job.

Now we have 2 special needs children at home.

Not wanting to be short on funds for medical supplies, he took the first job offered to him. This company ran him for 3 weeks, refused to pay him, and then terminated him after accusing him of having stolen one of their trucks! (We have video proving that was untrue.) Tony quickly grabbed another job and started to settle in. This company was amazing, treated him well, and we finally started to catch up a bit when my grandfather, the man who helped raise me, who I absolutely adored, passed away.

We started planning the trip to Connecticut for his funeral. We knew Mason, our special needs 3-year-old, couldn't fly and decompensates horribly if he gets overstimulated on long car rides, so we decided to try and do an RV with our tax return, which we did. The funds came in 16 hours before we had to leave, not giving us much time to get the RV checked, stocked, and ready to go. It was a big mistake. I can only blame it on desperation and guilt. The RV broke down on us several times, costing almost $3k more than we intended in traveling and repair costs (partly because I vastly underestimated its gas consumption). It wouldn't have been such a blow, however, if Tony hadn't gotten the news that his new company was unfortunately losing their main contract with Ryder and laying off all of their drivers!

As soon as we got home, Tony started the desperate search for a new job and has found one, but his pay would not come in before rent was due. So I made a deal with the landlady that I would fence out a huge chunk of the 49-acre property for her in exchange for a chunk of rent to keep from getting evicted. Well, in true luck's fashion, yesterday I decided that flying down a flight of stairs, carrying our special needs son's BiPAP and 2 large oxygen tanks, was a great idea! I didn't get to go to the ER until today because our PCA, in her rush to get to me, hit a deer (damages I get to help pay for because we also use the vehicle A LOT). My foot is unfortunately broken in 3 places with a hairline fracture and a potentially torn ligament (waiting on MRI results to see if surgery will be necessary). So unfortunately, I won't be fixing any pasture fences to help with rent, and Tony will be out on the road so he won't be able to do it either and let's face it...Jason is tech support and works full time...he's not to be trusted with tools.

We just need a little help until Tony's checks become stable and the rest of our tax return hits.