This has been the toughest year of our life! We have never asked for assistance but it will be the only way our 3 kids will have any type of Christmas. This year we have had to deal with lots of legal fees due to an identity theft case where someone stole our 14yr old daughter's identity. Two weeks after the lawyer was paid my husband was pulled out of work for emergency surgery, he had 2 discs slipped that were putting direct pressure on his spine and cutting the nerve to his right arm. They said if his spine was punctured he would be paralyzed and it the nerve to his arm was cut he would loose all use of it. They have since told him that he will never be able to return to work as a mechanic (his profession of almost 17yrs) and that he also has some permanant nerve damage to that arm. They still have not cleared him to be able to try and gain any type of employment. Our 16yr old son stayed home almost 2weeks to take care of his father and the school system had his learners permit suspended for absences and also denied him any class credits! Our 9yr old son is on a breathing machine a few times a day due to severe asthma and has also been diagnosed ADHD. This has been a struggle to keep up with his medication and doctors appointments. Then, they came into my work just yesterday (Friday Dec. 12th) at 5:00pm, changed the locks and told us as of the close of business we are shutting down. I have been the only source of income for a family of 5 which has been super tough and now to find out this close to christmas that I have no job is the biggest slap in the face I have ever had. The older kids have been so good understanding that the bills are behind and I have not even had money to purchase the first gift that they made the comment, "don't worry about getting us anything for christmas, just worry about the little one". This comment was told to me by both of them on separate occasions and all I could do was cry and tell them that I can't do that because I have always been fair and what I do for one I do for the others. I am just hoping that I can get some type of help to finish the year out on a better note and be able to show my children that they are loved and none of this is their fault. When they wake up on Christmas morning I just want them to be able to say that they got something instead of all their friends teling what they have received and they have to tell them nothing.
