I am a single Mother of 3 great good kids. My husband passed away 7 years ago and I have managed to keep everything going, paying all the bills, hydro, Mortgage, feeding kids, car insurance etc. My youngest daughter was 6 when my husband passed, and took it very hard. She was traumatized after his death. She was barely 6 when he passed and I was working evenings at my job, so she always had her suppers with her father. After he passed, she slowly stopped eating as this was her trigger of sadness. Ultimately she ended up in hospital 1.5 hrs out of our community in the big city and I was given the choice quit my job and come stay with her in hospital or I would have to sign her rights over to the state as she was so young.
Today she is 12 and has been working very hard to maintain all the weight she gained so that she could join the gymnastic's club in our community. The doctors and nutritionists and psychologists have all worked with her every week, driving her back and forth to the city for the doctor appointments so that she could get stronger and maintain while doing a sport. She has never been able to play any sports as a younger girl because she did not have the weight and the doctors would not let her. So now that she is 12 and has worked hard to keep the weight on, she was given the permission to join gymnastics. She has been in the club for 1 entire year now and has flourished, she has won medals and glows with enthusiasm and has that spark any child would have doing something they love so much.
Today I received an email from the club stating, that the fee's for this coming year will be increasing to compensate for the increase in our new minimum wage they pay the coaches. Now this really puts me in a bad position because I can no longer afford to keep her in this sport she loves so much and has worked so hard to do. She has made so many friends and is what I would like to think normal again.
As most of you know I am a homesteader and avid gardener. I do this for the sake of my children. I can afford to feed them by homesteading. I am a mother, who does not get my nails done, and I only get my haircut once a year. I am selfless and buy everything I own second hand, just so that I can provide for my family. My two older children 18 and 20 are in University, and worked hard to get scholarships to attend school because I just could not afford for them to go. I started writing on STEEMIT so that I could continue to afford for her to join gymnastics again this year. It is mostly because of STEEMIT that she was able to do gymnastics last year.
So my plea to you all is to try and raise through my posts the $600 CAD more that I need to pay her fee for this year's gymnastics. She has sold all her things that she no longer feels she needs, and helps me on the homestead everyday to make a small allowance or wage as her contribution to her fees.
As many of you know me, this is not a typical or ordinary post for me, however I have to make the decision to let her join at the end of the month, or her position on the team will be given to another young lady, and I am really trying. I am going to continue to bring you the best content about homesteading that I can and I do love to write about all the fun we have here on my lil homestead. I thank you so very much for all your votes over the past year.
Happy trails