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Hi family and friends, it really pains me to ask for help, but Darin and I have reached the end of our financial rope. After Darin had a good 18 months working for CB&I/McDermott as a Rigger in Lake Charles, LA, he was laid off in March of this year and hired back by McDermott in April at a neighboring plant. 
The second job with McDermott lasted until July... although they certainly wouldn't state it as the reason, we feel Darin was let go due to the unfortunate circumstance of him spraining his ankle on the job. Darin decided to let his ankle heal after the layoff and spent a few weeks in WI getting his Crane Operator NCCCO Certification. This would allow him to get off his feet, stop climbing as a Rigger, and reduce his chance of being injured. 
By September he was hired on for a short turnaround with Maxim as a Rigger that lasted until mid-October. This job was an IUOE local 450 job, and he was laid off just a few workdays shy of qualifying us for medical benefits through the Union. Since July, we have been paying $2158/mo to COBRA our medical coverage from McDermott and were only able to afford it due to a generous $10K inheritance gift from my parents. The week of Thanksgiving, Darin was called to take a Crane Operator position with Thompson Construction in Fairfield, AL starting on December 2nd. The job was slated to last for 8-10 months and we would qualify for benefits on Jan. 1, 2020. We were elated, as we had reached the point where we were only 6-8 weeks away from being unable to pay our bills. It was an answer to our prayers! Darin borrowed his mother's camper to live in, and when he arrived at the campground in Alabama, he was able to talk to neighboring campers and find out that Thompson had "cleaned house" and laid off many in the weeks preceding Darin's arrival. This made me nervous, but Darin reassured me that the job was going well and everything seemed to be legit. Yesterday (12/18) he called me utterly devastated, letting me know that they had laid him off after only 2 1/2 weeks of work! We are both still admittedly reeling from this news. With his last paycheck from Thompson, we may have enough to pay essential bills through January. Medically we met our $10K maximum out of pocket deductible this year, and I have spent the entire year chipping away at those payments and will be carrying some of that medical debt into 2020. Sam underwent two 48 hour VEEGs, an MRI under anesthesia, and costly genetic testing to obtain his Dyspraxia and Sensory Processing Disorder diagnosis this year, as well as having braces and a tongue crib installed to fix his tongue thrust. He also started Occupational Therapy to help with his Dyspraxia, but we could no longer afford the co-payments by September. 
I broke my right dominant wrist on April 2nd of this year, and underwent surgery to install a distal plate, after two weeks in a cast showed that it was not healing correctly. I spent the entire month of May working hard in Physical Therapy to regain the use of my right hand. 
Patrick joined Sam at the Orthodontist to have his Class III anterior crossbite looked at. We were told that if we started Pat on headgear now, the crossbite was severe enough that it would most likely go back as he grew, and require surgery to permanently correct it in his 20s. So we did not move forth with headgear for him. His crossbite has always affected his speech, and he has struggled in school since Kindergarten. 
Pat and Sam are both undergoing Full Independent Evaluations this year to see if they qualify for Special Education services. Since the boys have been attending this elementary school, it has been a constant struggle to get Sam properly accommodated through the 504 process, and we were unable to get Pat qualified through a Dyslexia evaluation requested at the end of Kindergarten. The school predictably goes into a flurry of activity when I call a 504 meeting to address concerns, and provides Sam with all the accommodations that initiated my complaint, in the few weeks leading up to the meeting. Then they spend the entire 504 meeting gaslighting me, stating that Sam has always had what he needs and I am somehow crazy for thinking otherwise. It's a sickening process. It's very apparent to Darin and I that the boys are being pushed along, and it is beginning to affect both of them emotionally. Just this week I took Sam to the police station to file an incident report on another student, after this student assaulted him for no apparent reason en route home from school on Friday.
I would love to be in a position to homeschool them or put them in a private school, but for now we are stuck, and trying to make the best of it. I have spent the past 3 years since my Hess layoff trying to find another job in my field of Land Administration, with little success. The oil & gas industry hasn't truly recovered and the wind industry isn't doing much better. If I do get call backs, the job is so far away, that I couldn't manage the hours and commute, with available daycare options for the boys, or the prospective employer isn't in a rush to hire, since they have the position backfilled with a temp. I held on to our pet sitting business through February of this year. I could no longer sustain the 365 day per year schedule, keep clients happy, and manage the boys alone, with Darin working out of state. I have spent an incredible amount of time this year gearing my resume towards transferring my skills to other industries. My only success is the possibility of an interview with our church for a Minister of Communications and Community Engagement position, that has evolved due to the departure of our associate Pastor over the summer. As I have searched for a job this year, I have spent my spare time volunteering to keep our church website current and intend to upgrade it for them once we can schedule meetings with those that have a say in the redesign. This effort will certainly be a part of the new position, so I sent my skills based resume in, and got an immediate response from our Pastor. I am prayerful that the interview will occur soon, and that they will see me as a good fit for this position. Darin truly enjoys working as a Rigger/Crane Operator, but does miss us greatly since the nature of work usually takes him away from home and finding a job with benefits is hit or miss in this industry. He would be open to transferring his 20 years of Airline Ops experience to another industry that might allow him to stay home for work, but has so far had no success with the hundreds of resumes he has sent out. Either way, with everything that has occurred this year, God has seen us through, just in the nick of time, so I am keeping the faith, but it is admittedly getting difficult. They say if God brings you to it, He'll get you through it, but I often find myself questioning how much we must lose and survive to finally reach a period of sustained success. We need any help you can provide, whether it be financial to assist with making ends meet in the coming months or networking to assist us with our job searches. I am calling our mortgage company and auto finance to see if we qualify for any relief or forbearance in the coming months, as we have depleted all savings, retirement accounts, etc., trying to survive the past few years. We are selling everything of value that is non-essential; furniture, jewelry, electronics, etc. I have managed to get the boys a few things they want for Christmas, buying secondhand, but I am kicking myself for spending the money, being so positive that Darin's job with Thompson would last. My biggest fear is going into 2020 with no medical coverage. We most likely won't qualify for Medicaid/CHiP with Darin's earnings this year. Our prior experience on a Marketplace plan shows it's exceedingly difficult to find a doctor or hospital that accepts it in Texas, so you are essentially paying for useless coverage. Sam's medication costs us $350-400/month with coverage, and it's looking like we will be spending $1000/month without coverage. I am stockpiling and trying to get prescriptions filled before the end of the year, but I was unable to get their January appts moved up to this month, so we will have that out of pocket cost next month. Sam has 9 weeks of meds stockpiled at this point, if we only give it on school days. We have spent the last half of 2019 considering selling and downsizing to an apartment or townhome, but we are in a modest home now that is over 50% paid off. We'd only be looking at a savings of a few hundred dollars a month if we downsized. If things don't turn around for us soon, we will most likely have no choice but to sell. If you can help us, please know we will be so grateful and will do everything we can to return your generosity in the future.
All our Love and Many Thanks-
Jenn, Darin, Sam, & Pat Scott
The second job with McDermott lasted until July... although they certainly wouldn't state it as the reason, we feel Darin was let go due to the unfortunate circumstance of him spraining his ankle on the job. Darin decided to let his ankle heal after the layoff and spent a few weeks in WI getting his Crane Operator NCCCO Certification. This would allow him to get off his feet, stop climbing as a Rigger, and reduce his chance of being injured. By September he was hired on for a short turnaround with Maxim as a Rigger that lasted until mid-October. This job was an IUOE local 450 job, and he was laid off just a few workdays shy of qualifying us for medical benefits through the Union. Since July, we have been paying $2158/mo to COBRA our medical coverage from McDermott and were only able to afford it due to a generous $10K inheritance gift from my parents. The week of Thanksgiving, Darin was called to take a Crane Operator position with Thompson Construction in Fairfield, AL starting on December 2nd. The job was slated to last for 8-10 months and we would qualify for benefits on Jan. 1, 2020. We were elated, as we had reached the point where we were only 6-8 weeks away from being unable to pay our bills. It was an answer to our prayers! Darin borrowed his mother's camper to live in, and when he arrived at the campground in Alabama, he was able to talk to neighboring campers and find out that Thompson had "cleaned house" and laid off many in the weeks preceding Darin's arrival. This made me nervous, but Darin reassured me that the job was going well and everything seemed to be legit. Yesterday (12/18) he called me utterly devastated, letting me know that they had laid him off after only 2 1/2 weeks of work! We are both still admittedly reeling from this news. With his last paycheck from Thompson, we may have enough to pay essential bills through January. Medically we met our $10K maximum out of pocket deductible this year, and I have spent the entire year chipping away at those payments and will be carrying some of that medical debt into 2020. Sam underwent two 48 hour VEEGs, an MRI under anesthesia, and costly genetic testing to obtain his Dyspraxia and Sensory Processing Disorder diagnosis this year, as well as having braces and a tongue crib installed to fix his tongue thrust. He also started Occupational Therapy to help with his Dyspraxia, but we could no longer afford the co-payments by September. I broke my right dominant wrist on April 2nd of this year, and underwent surgery to install a distal plate, after two weeks in a cast showed that it was not healing correctly. I spent the entire month of May working hard in Physical Therapy to regain the use of my right hand. Patrick joined Sam at the Orthodontist to have his Class III anterior crossbite looked at. We were told that if we started Pat on headgear now, the crossbite was severe enough that it would most likely go back as he grew, and require surgery to permanently correct it in his 20s. So we did not move forth with headgear for him. His crossbite has always affected his speech, and he has struggled in school since Kindergarten. Pat and Sam are both undergoing Full Independent Evaluations this year to see if they qualify for Special Education services. Since the boys have been attending this elementary school, it has been a constant struggle to get Sam properly accommodated through the 504 process, and we were unable to get Pat qualified through a Dyslexia evaluation requested at the end of Kindergarten. The school predictably goes into a flurry of activity when I call a 504 meeting to address concerns, and provides Sam with all the accommodations that initiated my complaint, in the few weeks leading up to the meeting. Then they spend the entire 504 meeting gaslighting me, stating that Sam has always had what he needs and I am somehow crazy for thinking otherwise. It's a sickening process. It's very apparent to Darin and I that the boys are being pushed along, and it is beginning to affect both of them emotionally. Just this week I took Sam to the police station to file an incident report on another student, after this student assaulted him for no apparent reason en route home from school on Friday. I would love to be in a position to homeschool them or put them in a private school, but for now we are stuck, and trying to make the best of it. I have spent the past 3 years since my Hess layoff trying to find another job in my field of Land Administration, with little success. The oil & gas industry hasn't truly recovered and the wind industry isn't doing much better. If I do get call backs, the job is so far away, that I couldn't manage the hours and commute, with available daycare options for the boys, or the prospective employer isn't in a rush to hire, since they have the position backfilled with a temp. I held on to our pet sitting business through February of this year. I could no longer sustain the 365 day per year schedule, keep clients happy, and manage the boys alone, with Darin working out of state. I have spent an incredible amount of time this year gearing my resume towards transferring my skills to other industries. My only success is the possibility of an interview with our church for a Minister of Communications and Community Engagement position, that has evolved due to the departure of our associate Pastor over the summer. As I have searched for a job this year, I have spent my spare time volunteering to keep our church website current and intend to upgrade it for them once we can schedule meetings with those that have a say in the redesign. This effort will certainly be a part of the new position, so I sent my skills based resume in, and got an immediate response from our Pastor. I am prayerful that the interview will occur soon, and that they will see me as a good fit for this position. Darin truly enjoys working as a Rigger/Crane Operator, but does miss us greatly since the nature of work usually takes him away from home and finding a job with benefits is hit or miss in this industry. He would be open to transferring his 20 years of Airline Ops experience to another industry that might allow him to stay home for work, but has so far had no success with the hundreds of resumes he has sent out. Either way, with everything that has occurred this year, God has seen us through, just in the nick of time, so I am keeping the faith, but it is admittedly getting difficult. They say if God brings you to it, He'll get you through it, but I often find myself questioning how much we must lose and survive to finally reach a period of sustained success. We need any help you can provide, whether it be financial to assist with making ends meet in the coming months or networking to assist us with our job searches. I am calling our mortgage company and auto finance to see if we qualify for any relief or forbearance in the coming months, as we have depleted all savings, retirement accounts, etc., trying to survive the past few years. We are selling everything of value that is non-essential; furniture, jewelry, electronics, etc. I have managed to get the boys a few things they want for Christmas, buying secondhand, but I am kicking myself for spending the money, being so positive that Darin's job with Thompson would last. My biggest fear is going into 2020 with no medical coverage. We most likely won't qualify for Medicaid/CHiP with Darin's earnings this year. Our prior experience on a Marketplace plan shows it's exceedingly difficult to find a doctor or hospital that accepts it in Texas, so you are essentially paying for useless coverage. Sam's medication costs us $350-400/month with coverage, and it's looking like we will be spending $1000/month without coverage. I am stockpiling and trying to get prescriptions filled before the end of the year, but I was unable to get their January appts moved up to this month, so we will have that out of pocket cost next month. Sam has 9 weeks of meds stockpiled at this point, if we only give it on school days. We have spent the last half of 2019 considering selling and downsizing to an apartment or townhome, but we are in a modest home now that is over 50% paid off. We'd only be looking at a savings of a few hundred dollars a month if we downsized. If things don't turn around for us soon, we will most likely have no choice but to sell. If you can help us, please know we will be so grateful and will do everything we can to return your generosity in the future. All our Love and Many Thanks-
Jenn, Darin, Sam, & Pat Scott