Sunday at church I was overwhelmed with emotions and couldn’t control my tears as I heard the choir and sang along with them. I was hoping God would hear me because my husband, family, and I are in such a hopeless financial situation that there is nowhere to turn and we can’t live normal lives due to our debt. We struggle to buy grocer everyday and keep our children in school. We don’t even have enough for the fees for them to start on august 1st. All fees must be paid by July 27th or they won’t be able to attend. This is a public school. My husband has always had a full time job and many times he’s had two jobs. I work part time when I can and home school my smaller children. We only have one old van so I take everyone to school, work, etc. We have nine children. Two are on their own with families. Seven still live at home. Two of them have families. One son was laid off of his job last month and had to move back in with us. He has been desperately trying to find a job but nothing has come in yet. One our sons got into some trouble and we tried to help him but it’s escalated and he’s ended up in trouble with the law. My husband and I tried financially to help keep him afloat, including getting a car for him in our name. Our son lost his job because of all of the trouble and we were left paying his car until it was repossessed. Now we are paying for a car we don’t have. Paying lawyers, court fees, bonds, and so much more has drained us. We started getting loans on our wedding rings and many items in our home. We couldn’t keep up with the interest due every month and normal bills. We took out payday loans. What a mistake! Our banks became horribly overdrawn. We filed a Chapter 13 in hope of saving ourselves. We had filed before when we were younger and first married. We didn’t know any better and made huge mistakes. Our 13 now has us paying such a huge amount of $1,200 a month that we fell behind immediately because of the other debt. Our son’s troubles have kept us from paying our debt and just being able to live. Our son is innocent. That’s why we continue to stand by him, it breaks our heart to think of him going to jail for something he didn’t do. Our Chapter 13 is going to dismiss us if we can’s pay what we’re behind. It’s almost $5,000. Our Xcel bill is going to be turned off. We owe Xcel $4,000, and our water bill is $400 and ready to be turned off also. We will be behind $1,500 on our rent by this Friday. We’re being sued for almost a thousand dollars for a pizza check that was returned by our bank. We can’t buy groceries and gas for us to get to work. We’ve been getting small loans on our children’s items to help get small amounts of food. We’re so embarrassed. We don’t have any family who can help and we haven’t kept in touch with friends. We’re always busy with our family so we don’t have time to socialize. We feel so sorry for our children. They had to be embarrasses all of last year at school because we stilled owed fees and they couldn’t participate in school activities. They are trying to work jobs while attending school but we are so far behind that we just can’t catch up. People who know us think we have no problems, especially financially, but we are so depressed and sad. We can’t sleep or function in our everyday lives. It has affected our whole family and it is tearing us apart. We have lost the respect of our older children because we couldn’t keep our selves together financially. Please, if you’re reading my letter, if you can help in any way, or know someone who can help, please help us. We’re good people who work hard but are guilty of having big hearts. We’ve been married for 32 years. We don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, go out, or party in any way. We believe in God and hope our prayers and faith will get us through this. My family and I need help. We don’t know where to turn and the depression making us sick. Especially my husband. We’re going through the motions of living but were not. Please help us and our children so we can get our lives on track and start living and enjoying life. We will find a way to repay as much as possible as soon as we can. Sincerely, A person who is in need for her family.