Update

I'm absolutely blown away by the generosity of so many people out there. Between the progress in this campaign and another source, we were able to pay last Friday's rent yesterday! For everyone who has contributed so far, thank you so very much. I can't express how important this is to us and how important it is to be able to keep "lost our apartment" from being added to the list of really cruddy luck we've had this past year.

However, we still have the rest of the month to go. Please keep passing along this link to everyone you know! And for those new to reading this page or seeing this campaign, please contribute if you can and keep us in your thoughts and prayers! Each Friday's rent is $215, and that's what we're asking for help with until Mike's paychecks can start covering it. Thank you again for everything!

In other family news, we're still having issues with Medicaid and my medications. (Apparently, being Baker Acted does nothing to prove that I might actually need my meds.) I'll be speaking to them again later on today to see if we can make any further progress. In the past, we've been uncertain about pressing forward with a disability application, but my new psychiatrist not only brought it up, but encouraged it, once she'd interviewed us. I know it sounds like such a small thing, but to have it actually suggested by a medical professional seems to make it less of a "but I don't know how it will look/maybe I'm just not trying hard enough" and encourages me to pursue the possibility, so we'll be making that appointment as soon as we can.

Today is Mike's third day at his new job (this time with Goodyear), and he seems to be settling in. I can't tell you how nice it is for him to come home smelling like a shop again! It's incredibly comforting, and he seems so much happier to have actually put in a day of work. I think that part of the struggle this past year - when he didn't have a job to go to - was the hardest on him. Not because of the money (though we definitely, of course, need the money), but because he's the kind of man who needs to go put in a day of work every day to feel accomplished, to feel like he's taking care of his family, and to give him that sense that he's doing what he's meant to do. He loves working on cars, because it gives him that sense of being able to fix something and it helps people, and it always brings out the best in him. For a while, it felt like Firestone had stolen that from him, and now, I'm so glad he's got it back.

I'd like to say that returning to weekly updates will be a thing for me here at this blog, but I can't promise it, so I'm just going to aim for it. :)

Signing off, Lela