Hello everyone,

As of November 10th, 2021, my daughter Rilynn will have not been at her Nebraska home for an entire year as I have been going through an out of state child custody court process. Over this past year, we have only seen one another during supervised visitations and a few visits in August and September when she was able to meet her little brother for the first time. I am so grateful to announce she will be moving back before the end of the year!

While my family and I are all overjoyed and almost in disbelief that after such a traumatic year she is finally coming home, there are stipulations that must be fulfilled to ensure her arrival home and I do not want money to be the reason Rilynn is withheld from doing so (this is to the best of my knowledge and belief.) At this moment, the biggest hurdle is that I must pay back child support of 14 months to her father all within 60 days of the court ruling. From my calculations, that is December 29th, the same day that I pick her up and legally become her custodial parent again. I am hoping to achieve this $4,428 in donations as it will cover the back child-support payments.

I am a full-time assistant teacher at a non-profit Montessori farm school and still working a day a week at my previous restaurant job. I am a mother to two children, Rilynn who is 5 and Levee who is 5 months, as well as a provider to my partner’s son Zephyr who is 6. I have worked very hard to build this family with my partner, his son Zephyr, and Zephyr’s mother (who we co-parent with) along with my daughter and our son. We hope to have an amicable co-parenting relationship with Rilynn’s father and his family as well. We have a blended family that cares immensely for Rilynn. She will return to Nebraska from Arizona on December 29th, 2021, by court order.

I want everyone to understand that Rilynn has two homes. One with her mother (myself) and one with her father. I reside in Nebraska with Rilynn’s brother, and my family while Arizona is currently home for her father and Rilynn’s paternal family. We mutually agreed to raise Rilynn in Nebraska for various reasons since before she was born. Although our relationship ended, the matter of where she will be raised was never brought into question, and that is here in Nebraska as the state of Arizona has ruled. Moving forward, we will practice an out of state parenting plan where she and her father will enjoy time together during the summer, every other holiday, breaks etc.

In this past year I have had to learn how to ask for help, be more resilient than I ever dreamed to be, and remain hopeful and positive even in the darkest times. My partner and I have both made extreme sacrifices for the sake of keeping our family. I will say I am still working on forgiveness, but I will ALWAYS do what is best for Rilynn, as I have since she was born. I feel guilty asking for donations from the people I love and care about, let alone from strangers, but we are so close, and I can’t allow my own fear of asking for help get in the way of what matters more than anything to my family and me.

Anything helps and thank you to everyone for your support and love through this entire process!