Update: Hi I'm J'ovail or Ms Jo aka Crochet Mom. It was hard writing this post asking for help. Yes this story is true and only a fraction of my journey post brain injury. I wanted to stay anonymous to protect those I birthed and I'm embarrassed. I've been told I dont serve an anonymous God. So anonymity is not my portion to hold. We are still homeless and traveling back and forth unsteadily. Created2createmom is my Instagram page. Im moving forward while still asking for help. On the otherside of my embarrassment is my future. So here I am. We need you to share this story often and donate If you are led. Our first donation of crochet items, would be to a DMV area library where we be allowed. DC is where I was born and raised. Thank You for reading and participating!

Original: Hello, would you like to Crochet A House with me? I'm Crochet Mom and had an idea that I would aim to Crochet my way into a house. I have decided to reach out to the world around me, in hopes of fundraising a dream into reality. A safe, functional, productive house for myself and family.

Please support our Crochet A House fundraiser. We need to purchase and remodel if need be, a house within my purchase power. We are looking for sufficient space and a healthy environment. I have tried to do this on my own with many hurdles. Yet I pray and continue to believe God has better for us out here. I would like the chance to buy a safe sustainable house, to get back to serving and helping others. I would like to get into the thriving mode of life again and out of survival mode.

Everytime I have tried to get back to physically working a full time job or new career shift since a 2012 car accident, I keep having setbacks. The car accident was deemed not my fault and there was no monetary recovery for me. I learned to read, write, speak without stammering again. I believe setbacks can be a part of life. I continue growing, healing, learning new ways to cope and I believe this is not the end. Each time that I wake up is a chance for new, it is a chance for better.

In 2023 while crocheting Daughters birthday outfit and planning a sleepover there was a long term leak discovered in our rental. Leak not fixed, party delayed... Then the next month Daughters father tried to snatch her from me without proper cause, days before her rescheduled party. I had simply asked him for his signature on paperwork we had previously verbally agreed on, in writing, clarifying that Daughter primarily lives with me. Which she had exclusively done for eleven months prior to this incident. Daughter changed her primary residence because she noticed, and then tired, of the emotional and mental abuse she was experiencing. The next month I was in the process of moving up the street and approved to start my CDL training. I then fell down the warped, water damaged stairs of the two story apartment. The water damage and mold were serious. The landlord and maintenance did not cut off the pipe that was causing the leak until months after my fall. There was a burglary of the rental while we were away during this time.

I lost my memory as a result of the fall and had to restart life all over again. The difference this time versus 2012, is I had learned to share my life and had a few honest people in my life to navigate the changes of starting again. Verbally I had people in my corner. Physically I live in a city with no family. The family that did move here around 2021, did not help me. I excommunicated myself from them prior to the fall. Well, I let them back in my life because I didn't remember the excommunicated status. They insisted we live with them and leave the hazardous rental, so we did. Recently they tried to remove me from the living world, resulting in us fleeing for our safety. Now homeless again.

Daughter and I have been crocheting little things while both managing illness, while in hiding, but hadn't made enough items or gathered the confidence to start the business and start doing markets. I prefer to stay out of the limelight. I then tried to purchase a home through the local city government's home buyers program that was within my purchase power. The only house they have for sale is literally right around the corner from my stalker ex husband. I am terrified of moving that close to him and retriggering those nightmarish events into starting up again. There are still hurdles going through this process. The house, while yes it's a house, doesn't have many of the things we feel are essential to a home for us. It has no basement, no yard, it has a sloping roof that cuts into the bedrooms, it's on a busy street, the greenery grows right up against the back of the house, no natural gas hookup, and I love to cook on a gas stove.

Cooking is one of my gifts I share with people along with crochet. I have volunteered for years cooking for churches, school programs, my neighbors, family, and friends. However, returning to a kitchen as fulltime employment to cook or to manage has not been a reality for me since my injuries of previous years took place. This particular house doesn't have natural gas for cooking. Yes I still cook pretty well on electric, but prefer natural gas. I even considered a house seven hours away from anyone we know, just so we could move into a mostly finished house, where natural gas is not even available. It's at the highest point of my purchase approval, though I would spend even more getting to a store for basic needs. This house needing "tlc" on top of being at the highest point of my purchase approval doesn't sound doable. The houses within and under the budget need major repair which would require a different type of loan and more cost. Repair estimates for those houses put them back beyond my purchasing power.

I would like metal roofing so as to attach solar panels to aid in efficiency for the house. I prefer basement foundations as the utilities are easier to access, maintain, and replace. First floor living is what my family and doctor recommends for me. They are all worried about me falling down the stairs and hitting my head, and losing my memory again. This is now the second time a TBI (traumatic brain injury) has caused memory loss for me. All my memories have not returned yet. From either time. Aspects of my personality seem to be different each time. As a child I was pushed down the stairs and hit my head at a daycare. I have been leery of stairs since then. Though I hear those who live in houses with stairs have better health.

I like the version of me now, and so do supportive friends and family. I'm not a pushover, nor am I easily combative. I am learning emotions and boundaries, and really healing mentally and physically. Having a house and land would mean building community equity wherever we live. Having a craft studio in the house would be beneficial. It is currently my teen daughter and I who love so many crafts and hobbies, dancing, decorating the outside of the house each month with different themes. We don't like HOA's that sometimes stifle creativity for home owners. My daughter has dreams of being an entrepreneur herself. Her primary desires for business are around slime and crochet. Daughter is very creative and academically smart. Son mostly enjoys gaming. Very logical and academically smart as well.

Daughter has had her own setbacks recently which affected her not being able to graduate high-school on time, due to a rare illness which they have not found or pinpointed a cause for. The illness is called nephrotic syndrome and it affects her kidneys, blood pressure, swelling in her body, fluid in her lungs, severe fatigue and more. Before her diagnosis she had managed her weight and eating habits. She took herself off of pre-diabetic medicines and was maintaining a healthy and active teen life. Mysteriously she kept getting sick in the autumn and winter of 2022 and 2023. Daughter also kept getting bigger instead of smaller no matter what she did. It took for us to go into her doctor's office in July of 2023, and to decide not to leave without an answer, for her to be referred to the right specialist who listened, observed, and diagnosed her. Then at three hundred fifteen pounds they were afraid she was so swollen her skin would break open because it was stretched that much. She has to sleep at an incline to keep the fluid from accumulating in her lungs. The biggest things to manage her condition are her food choices and her allergies.

Even though we are currently homeless I have been fortunate enough to be able to cook her meals in a three section crock pot and an air fryer. I still have a fifteen year old vitamix that I blend her juice and smoothies myself. But this shelter ends in little over a week. So that's why a house with plenty of room for a garden is essential. A decent size kitchen with enough room for a full size upright freezer, as I cook from scratch 85% of the food we eat, under optimal conditions. We meal plan and freeze what I cook in smaller portions as it's easier to maintain schedules for us that way. We both have worked at different community gardens since we were kids and enjoy gardening. Even though her appendages swell and ache, crocheting and making slime brings her so much joy.

I have been ghosted by several realtors one they find out my approval for a traditional loan is $75,000 and conventional loan $100,000. I know those amounts are not large by today's standards but that's my purchase power with my income.

I know that every little bit helps to knock down the cost of repairs. I have some experience with interior remodeling. Although I no longer have all of my tools. These listed prices are contractor prices. Contractors would have to do the work under the loan terms up to what I'm approved for.

The financial goal of our Crochet A House fundraiser is to cover the cost of repairs for the house to be livable. I don't believe in owing anyone anything and lived off of a cash system for so long. Something in me shifted about 6 years ago. And I started the journey to building my credit. I have fought to maintain my credit and educate my family to build theirs. I have had one out of four siblings follow suit and start fixing their credit. So to help just one person is enough for me.

I like to help people. In the past when we cooked for toy drive volunteers, some days we might have an ungrateful person. I would always say to myself, if what we do helps at least one person truly, then we have done what we set out to do. I'd say I generally live my life positively. Though if you ask me, I will tell you I'm not a nice person. I have had to fight through some very dark things. Even then, the people I meet everyday don't need to know that or experience any of that darkness from my hands to theirs. That's my approach to life and that is what has me finally reaching out to other kind people. People who just want to help at least one person.

If you want to help just one person today, know that if that one person today were me, I would be grateful and pay it forward. Helping one person lightens their load and fills their light bucket. Then they in turn spill that light into another person. Well, that light bucket view is my hope when I help. I'm hoping to receive that type of help by doing this Crochet A House fundraiser for my family.

I want to help the little girl I'm raising realize that home ownership matters. Maintaining her health so she can spread her light and gifts with others is very important to us. I want my beautiful realist little boy to see that when you reach out, others will reach back positively. Community and connection with others matter. If it is allowed, we would like to crochet an item and gift them somewhere random, for each person who donates. The amount donated depicts the size gift we are able to crochet, to donate. Daughters crochet are mostly small plushies and wearables. I crochet larger items and grand blankets and wearables. I consider myself a fiber artist as I have sewn her costumes previously and now sew and crochet customized clothing, plushies, blankets, and pattern making. You name it I have probably made it or it's in our craft idea jar.

We currently have two jars. One jar is craft ideas, the other jar is positive nuggets. These continue to help us through all of these transitions. I'm hopeful that this transition will be a transformative one. From Homeless to Homeowner! Please, we welcome you to join in donating to our Crochet A House Fundraiser. Proverbs 24:27 NIV says "Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that build your house." I feel as though I have finally set my work in order. Homemaker, crafter, helper, service heart and hands. I would like to have the chance to have a field and house of my own. I hope that you will donate to help this dream become reality. A donation as little as $25 helps bring up the amount raised and helps us spill light into another's bucket.