Thursday, August 3, 2017

Another Josh Post

It has been quite some time since our last update and a lot has happened. Much of what has occurred we can’t share due to HIPPA, but we can give you a overview of how we’ve spent our time since our last update. 

Angie and I took the kids to IKEA to pick out their bedroom furniture. I have to preface the rest of this paragraph with the following disclaimer. I hate IKEA. I really, really, really, hate IKEA. There’s one way in and one way out. It’s always packed with more people than should reasonably want to be shopping. You have to go and actually get your stuff off of the shelf. Worst of all, you have to build it. I really hate IKEA. We gave the older two girls a budget and told them that they could pick out what they wanted so long as it fit in the budget. The younger two are simply too young to understand how to work within a budget so Angie and I helped them out. Despite the fact that I really hate IKEA I can think of few things that have brought me more joy than watching the kids pick out their furniture. This was all made possible due to your generous donations. 

Making the furniture turned out to be a great joy as we were able to do it with the kids. Angie, another of our friends, and I were able to build all of the furniture by Wednesday morning. We spent a lot of our time building furniture with the kids which lead to some pretty fun/funny memories.

After a lot of leads the lead to nothing but dead ends, Angie and I were able to find a van to purchase. Right now we own two cars that seat up to five which would mean that we’d have to drive two cars anytime we wanted to go anywhere together. Thankfully, the generous donations made the financial burden of purchasing another vehicle much less painful. We plan to sell our second car in the coming days to ease the remaining financial burden. 

Finally, I’d like to address some of the concerns that we saw on twitter and Jillian’s Facebook page. Many people were concerned that we are not financially able to take care of four kids because we’re asking for donations. Especially considering we’ve been so open about the fact that Boys Town has closed. These are all valid concerns and questions that I am sure that I would also be asking if I stumbled upon our GoFundMe. 

As most stories are, ours is very complicated. There are laws that prevent us from sharing detailed information about the kids situation and, frankly, if there weren’t laws we wouldn’t share any more information than we have on the internet. The internet can be a wonderful place as we’ve recently experienced, but it can also take a dark turn pretty quickly. This maxim also applies to Angie and I as well. We’ve shared what we we feel comfortable sharing. We can say this. We are naturally cautious people who would not take in these kids if we could not afford to do so once we figured out how to cover the initial start-up cost. Angie and I stick to a strict budget that includes an emergency fund. The thing is, our budget and emergency fund did not account for taking in four kids in less than 60 days. That’s not something that normal people budget for. So we asked for help. Initially, we asked for help via the GoFundMe from our family and friends after many asked how they could support us. We didn’t anticipate that Jillian would share our story which would lead to wide-spread support outside of our family and friends.

We are so very thankful to Jillian for sharing our story and to the people who don’t know us and donated. It is not hyperbole to say that we could not have made this work without all of the support that we’ve received. So to you kind internet strangers who stepped up in our time of need, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

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