Shelley and Family

Shelley K, 4 children, 2 dogs, 2 cats.
Email: Semisweet_zero@yahoo.com

Location: - I am in Gulfport, MS. Stayed for the Hurricane and took in people who lost everything. Now I am losing my house and my electricity will be disconnected Wednesday 11/1. (see update below)

Number in Household: - 2 dogs and 2 cats, 1 cat and 1 dog acquired after the storm.
I have a pregnant 16 yo who has been having difficulties with her pregnancy and is on bedrest; a 13 yo boy who will be 14 in Nov., a 6 and 4 yo girls. Then there is me, a 36 yo that has been making it by hard work and detemination.

Situation: I have managed to do it on my own since the Hurricane. My husband left me in Jan. 2006 and took all our savings with him. I have managed by myself since then. Now I am trying to stop a foreclosure and keep my electricity on, but that doesn't seen to be happening. I had to give up a decent job, in order to be home with the kids at night. I have managed to get $348 from FEMA and finally got Food Stamps about 2 weeks ago (my husband helped with that when he turned me in, before I was not eligible because he would not pay child support), and my children have Medicaid. Other than that I have not recieved any assistance. I plan on having a daytime job soon, but not soon enough.
11/6 I have found a job working part time now, and I did manage to get the money through a friend and the St. Vincent de Paul society in Biloxi. Other than that everything is still the same way as it has been.

Current Living Arrangements: - I am living in my house, but they are going to start foreclosure on Nov 18.

Help: - I really need assistance just to pay my electric bill, before the Nov. 1, 3 month's bill is a little over $600

Stores you shop at:
Really the only stores around here are Winn Dixie, Wal-Mart, and KMart

12/22
Hello, sorry for not contacting you sooner. I have been so busy with work and trying to get everything taken care of for Christmas. But let me give you an update on everything.
All my children have been adopted. The last 2 got adopted today through a local relief organization, thank you Tami. The 3 little girls got adopted by a nice lady and her family, their adoption sort of snowballed to her office decided to pitch in and help. Receive a large box full of toys, clothing and even something for the older children.
Thank you Shellie and all who helped her, the Playstation 1 and all the games were great, they are all fighting over who is going to play first...No one until Christmas...LOL And of course I cannot forget to mention Janna, I am so excited to see my daughter's face when she gets the MK cosmetics, of course I can't wait to get mine either.
On to the other things, I have finally caught up on all my bills except the mortgage, but my wonderful boss has actually volunteered to front me the money and take it out of my paycheck a little at a time. He has also decided to keep me full time after the new year. When I first started it was full time just until New Years then to part time, but business has picked up and I have proven to him that I will work and not goof off.
That has made my life a lot easier, I was concerned that I would get everything caught up then end up falling back into a hole again.
Also, to let you know, that everything that has happened to me through this site and another site has helped me in more ways than one. My older children have realized that no matter what happens that there are people worse off than we are. So we have found a family that has fallen through the cracks and really needed help and we have adopted them (not for Christmas, as an ongoing effort). When I went to visit them a few weeks ago, they had mattresses on the floor, no dressers, no kitchen furniture or what not, and the couch they had had broken springs and holes.
We have been doing the freecycle thing and now they have bedroom furniture, living room furniture, and cookware, we have also gotten the children clothing and toys for Christmas (they did not put up a tree this year, because they could not afford to buy anything for the children). We are still working on a dining room set and a few other things for their kitchen. As I said thanks for letting me know about freecycle, I didn't need to pay for anything but gas to help this family.
Well, I guess this pretty much covers everything. And if you are the one that was talking to Tami, thank you.
I hope you and everyone around you has a very MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR.
I know I will, because I have made wonderful friends through this website and the ones on yahoo.
Thanks,Shelley