2004 was a very good year for our family. It started off a bit rocky when we learned that our oldest son was struggling with ADHD, some Autism symptoms, and was diagnosed being developmentally delayed. We had planned to move to Nashville, TN to be closer to family and to take in my ailing mother. The movers were scheduled and we had a date for the big haul to go across the country. Then we had a meeting with the school district about Brennan. The school district recommended that we would make this our last move for Brennan’s sake. He needed stability and a good school district who would be open and flexible to his needs. We walked out of the meeting in tears. I has this incredible feeling that we were risking Brennan’s well being by instilling this huge change into his schedule. I immediately went to work, tearfully called my mother and told her we couldn’t move back east. Alan and I had decided to keep Brennan in the Northshore School District here in Woodinville, WA. She completely understood and agreed to make the move to the west coast. Then we found our house. Our first house! It was a little more than we wanted to pay for but it was in Northshore School District. Brennan was now in the right school environment for his needs and we were happily watching our house grow from the ground up.
We moved in September 30th, 2004. By mid-December I found out I was pregnant with Erin. It was a bit scary. Now we had my mother living with us and a nice fat mortgage to deal with. Holy cow…How were we going to make this work? Mom wasn’t well enough to take care of an infant. There was no financial room for daycare. All we could do was to take things one day at a time and cross that bridge when we get there.
August 15th, 2005…Our little girl was born with malformed big toes, a heart disorder, malformed hands, AND the hospital pediatrician wasn’t sure she was even a girl. I cried for hours. I had given birth none but four hours earlier from hearing the news. Two of those hours Erin was in the NICU for observations because she stopped breathing after we heard her first little squeal. Thank goodness we had our mothers there along with a friend for support. Luckily 18 hours later we officially learned that Erin is a girl. Two weeks later we learned her ”heart disorder” is actually a common pulmonary stenosis (aka heart murmur). We still didn’t have a reason why for her hands and toes.
During my maternity leave I knew I couldn’t return to my stressful job. I went out on maternity leave a month early because I was getting support calls multiple times during the night. Definitely not good for being eight months pregnant. I personally felt that the company I worked for was not a family-friendly company. We knew Erin would need monthly trips to our local children’s hospital for evaluations. So I decided to stay home and open an in-home daycare to help supplement the family income. Now I am making a fraction of what I was bringing in working in Information Systems. However, I am home with my children and I am enjoying taking care of kiddos. Not only does it benefit Erin but it provides a stable home routine for all of our children.
Fast forward June 2008…medical bills are piling up. Children’s Hospital is good to work with us on a payment plan. We have accumulated co-pays for Kindering Center (Erin’s therapy sessions). The boys see a private therapist for their ADD/ADHD so the co-pays were adding up there. Our mortgage payments were faltering. Finally we heard the term Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP). Life couldn’t get more difficult…until the mail lady dropped off 13 copies of preforeclosure packets sent from our mortgage lender. Alan and I had reached our breaking point. I jumped on the phone with the mortgage company. We were two days late on paying our mortgage so they put us in preforeclosure status AND sent back our certified check for the previous month’s mortgage payment. Within thirty minutes we were on a repayment plan but our stress level was the highest it had ever been. Our mortgage payment had ballooned to a figure I don’t want to say. Knowing that my father may read this, I know he would have chest pains if he knew how much we pay a month in our mortgage. Let’s just say when people find out how much we’re paying, they ask if we’re living in a million dollar home.
Fast forward to yesterday, February 23rd, 2008…We’re seven months into our repayment plan and we’re hanging on. I called in our payment yesterday and ready to ask to have our repayment plan re-evaluated. Lo and behold our mortgage company will be honoring President Obama’s foreclosure recovery plan he proposed last week. After looking at the qualifications online, holy cow…we just may qualify to have our mortgage restructured! Last night was the best night sleep Alan and I have had in a very long time. Both of us woke up happy and hopeful. I cannot wait…everyone can get eye exams (our insurance policy last year did not cover vision) and we can then plan on braces for both boys. Like I said earlier, Alan and I woke up this morning with a newfound sense of hope. Just when I thought I couldn’t be happier, one of my daycare parents brought me a Starbuck’s Chai tea this morning. I have the best daycare parents! 2009 will be our year!!
