Help Nate See His Children

(mine are the two blonde ones, the others are my mom, sister, and nephew)


Hello, my name is Nathaniel Hiott, and I am an assistant coach at the Art of Jiu JItsu Academy in Costa Mesa, Ca. I would not normally do something like this, but I have not seen my kids in over a year and miss them like crazy.
     In 2015, I got out of the Army in order to pursue a life with my family that I could be proud of and also one where i could be around more to see my kids grow up. I had to leave my daughter for a 9 month deployment when she was only 6 months old. My wife moved in with her parents in Florida (with the kids) while i spent the last few months of my Army career doing paperwork and moving our house full of stuff to California. We had decided to move to California because it had the opportunities that i needed to pursue a career in jiu jitsu.  We agreed that she would need to get a job for the time being in order to help pay some of the debt we had incurred, and also because our two kids were starting to get older and we needed a little more income. I used my G.I. Bill, so we were able to stay afloat for awhile.
     Eventually, the bills began to add up, and i ended up having to take out lines of credit to make ends meet.  My wife and kids had since moved in with me and my parents. I asked my wife to please apply to places, and that we could work on her interiewing skills since she had been a stay-at-home mom for almost 5 years. With the financial issues, came the marriage issues. It was having an effect on me, her, and the kids. 
     I brought up the idea of her moving back with her parents so that they could help her get a job at Disneyworld (they both worked for Disney at the time and I figured that was slam dunk). I knew her passion for all things Disney, and made sure that she would be able to transfer to Disneyland, which is very close to where I work. She assured me over and over that she could, and we agreed I would move in with my friends and focus on jiu jitsu while she got a job. We agreed that she would help out with the large amount of debt we had incurred over time. The plan was for them to come back around April.
  In November,I began asking about apartments and budgeting, and this was the first time I had suspected that maybe she didn't want to come back. Eventually, she just told me "We're not coming back". I was in shock. Then the divorce papers came. I could not hire a lawyer and I would not agree to her terms. I was told that if I wanted to be apart of their lives, I would have to leave my life here behind. For those that know me, they know what it means to me to be a coach at AOJ, and how hard I worked to get where I am.
   I have not seen my daughter or my son since Feb. 3, 2016, and the only way she will let me see them is if I fly to Florida. I do not have a large income, and only want enough to be able to spend a couple weeks with them. This would cover air travel, hotel costs, and food. Any help would be greatly appreciated and never forgotten.