April already??

Wow! Have I really not posted since February? Sorry about that. Life has been a bit crazy and hectic. I have had non-stop meetings for work and more on-going training sessions. We have two new admins on our team so that is awesome. Work has been going swell! We were finally able to get our daughter back on her medications and possibly start more therapy. We will see at her next appointment in May. She is still having sleep issues, but she seems to be doing a lot better than she was over the holidays, which was heartbreaking to watch. A huge hurdle we had to cross was getting all our paperwork together so that we could file bankruptcy. It was not something we wanted to do, but something that had to happen or we are never going to get anywhere. So thankful the process has started and that we have a great attorney - same great guy that helped my husband win his Social Security Disability pay. In fact, he was the one that told us bankruptcy usually follows SSDI, and here we are.

I had always thought that by the time I reached the age of 50 (I celebrate the big 50 this September), we would be nice and settled in our own home that we would be paying on and family outings and vacations every year like my parents. Haha. 😂 Wishful thinking. We spent half of our marriage playing catch up with child support for two kids that my husband hadn't seen since they were age four and two. His ex-wife received every single tax refund, plus MY kids child tax credits because I didn't work, and we were never able to have a bank account because the state of Arizona constantly checks and tracks any assets, including any bank accounts, especially savings. I guess they think if you can afford to save anything, it needs to go towards child support. Even after paying any arrears and were current on his payments, they still continued to check for extras. BS!! I closed our accounts and we never had a bank account. When my husband suffered his traumatic brain injury in March of 2016, and then two years later faced the fact that he could no longer work because of memory issues and other injuries, the money that we had received from him almost dying was used to make a "deal" with his ex. A lump sum payment of $15,000 was offered to her to close his child support case, and she took it. So happy she did.

Fast forward to today, and yes I now have a job, which I am so blessed and thankful for, but we still cannot make ends meet. According to today's standards, a single person with no kids should be making at least $65,000 to live - and we as a family of four make under $50,000. 😔 To say that we struggle is an understatement. We have one vehicle, a special needs adult child that will probably never hold a job that will allow her to live, and an adult son at home. Could he be working? Probably. Is he? Nope. Why? Because it would be more of a problem for him to have to have transportation to and from a job. My husband already takes me to and from work, tries to do a little grocery shopping in between, as well as try to keep the house in order. He cannot play chauffeur for both. Add the fact that my son does not have a driver license, so even having a second vehicle would not matter. Heck, because of vision issues, we don't even know if he can pass the driving test. So no, my adult son who is getting ready to turn 23 this month is not working. If not for my mother-in-law, we would not even have a roof over our heads. She could have kicked us out a few years ago and gotten triple the rent we had agreed upon, which we have not been able to fulfill since my husband had to medically retire and file for disability. But I know God is watching and I will continue to work and keep praying that my family can somehow get ahead in this crazy thing called LIFE.

Now to update my blog. 😊