Today is Thankful Thursday

What is Thankful Thursday?

Well today I am thanking God for all my many blessings. If it was not for Him I would be lost. I have been on a rocky journey in my life. Not my whole life, just the past few years.

Here is my story.

It all began when I was living in Maryland and my husband lost his job. Shortly after that we lost the home we were renting. We had to give our dog away because we were moving in with my mother. Now when we moved in with my mother she already had a house full. There was my baby sister and her daughter, my cousin and my mother. That was four people and there was five in my family. Yep you counted it right nine people under one roof. Living with my mother was not the best, I know we argued every week. 

My husband still had not found a job and I was working at the Elementary School that my kids attended. It was stressful for him to be there in someone else's home not being able to take care of his family. But after a few months he got offered a job in PHILADELPHIA. What were we supposed to do. It was the middle of the school year and we didn't have a place to live or enough money saved up to rent anything. So we decided to wait until the summer time so we could save money and the kids wold not have a break in the school year. 

It was great for a while, my husband would ride the bus to Maryland and stay the weekend. My kids would cry every time we had to take him back to the bus station. We sometimes would leave on a Friday night and drive there to spend the weekend with him. The kids still cried. 


Then his Aunt offered her house. I thought it would be perfect. It was a three bedroom, one bathroom row house with a back yard. It was even close to a park, we could walk there. We would occupy two of the rooms, which would still be cramped but we wold be together.

DUM DUM DUM.......
We rented a Uhaul truck and packed up. Gave out hugs and kisses to my mother, brother and sister. 

Upon arriving I was devastated because it was on a one way street and I could not parallel park...lol. 
When we got inside we discovered there were holes in the ceiling from a leak in the roof. It was creepy. The shower head was broken, (easy fix) but there was no hot water. There was no stove, not even a hot plate. The kitchen sink had something wrong with the pipes so we could not use that. (Gross is the word) 
We cleaned the house and had it in a livable condition until we were told to not do it again. Things went downhill from there. It was so bad I was calling around trying to get put into a shelter so my kids would be safe. Well that did not work out because one organization I reached out to call CPS on me. They wanted to come and view the home and take my children away. I called my mother crying like a baby (big baby) and she said bring my grand babies to me tonight. (Ain't God good) 

We did that and they were in Maryland for about a month. My mother had to go back to work and my kids had to start school. I did not want to bring them back, but I had no other choice. 
Why did my mother let us go through this, I know you are wondering..... My mother is a praying woman and she knew I wold be fine and know how to survive. 

My kids came home and were were excited. They got enrolled in school and were happy. So you are saying how did they eat and wash up. Well, I registered at the YMCA and we went there about 4-5 days a week to shower and wash hair. For food we went to a local food shelter that gave out hot meals for dinner. On days when we didn't go there we would go to the Giant that was down the street. They had a lounge where you could purchase food or heat up food. We would purchase whole cooked chickens and just but the steam bags for the veggies. Or the kids would get a t.v dinner. 
I made it work.

We dreaded going back to the house at night because we would hear noises. It was infested with mice. Every night my husband would put traps around the house upstairs in our room. In the morning there would be at least three of four of them squealing and squirming around. I about died. Sometimes we would wait for my husband to get off work (midnight) we would it in the parking lot of his job and listen to music and sleep. We would then go back to that place and sometimes sleep outside in the car. We would get up early in the morning before the sun came up and go in the house so the kids could change and get school clothes on. 

Every other weekend we would go back to Maryland and stay at my mothers or mother in laws. Just for a nice hot bath and a good meal. We hated leaving. Would wait until Monday morning and go back, sometimes the kids would miss days of school because of this.

Then over Thanksgiving I received a call from an insurance company saying that they owed me $1200. It was from a accident that happened in October of 2011 and it was now 2012. This was nothing but God. Thanksgiving was on the 22nd of November my checks were in the mail that Saturday. I went to the bank and deposited them.

We came home back to Willow Grove (outside of Philly) and began our search for a place. My checks did not clear until the 26th of November. I found a place on the 26th, seen and applied on the 27th, got approved on the 28th. And got my keys on the 29th. That was nothing but God.

Through all this I continued to Fast and Pray like my mother told me to do. I would call her and cry, all she would say is Fast and Pray. I would go to church and just cry because it seemed like she knew all my problems. 

It was not until recently my brother was posting church videos that I realized I was not the only one. My favorite one is 
Bishop T.D Jakes---Help is on the Way