The bounce house and party business took a hit this May when the County Attorneys office sent out a formal letter forbidding County schools to use inflatables at there end of year events in which the companies require a "Hold-Harmless" Clause. We lost nearly $2000 or more in school end-of-year events in May and June over that. (We were able to work it out with the County Attorney to all of our satisfaction just too late to remedy the situation for us)
Then my oldest son Tristan had brain surgery in June in which he was in the hospital for 11 days. My husband had to take a lot of time off of work (mostly unpaid) in order to help out with the other 6 kids including my 6 month old baby Dylana. Then in late July, Tristan had a severe allergic reaction to the intravenous antibiotics he was on at home from the brain surgery that landed him in the hospital again for another week. More unpaid leave for my husband.
Then my husbands truck had to have nearly $1000 worth of work done to it this year only for the transmission to fail in October. Leaving us with only one vehicle (a 12-passenger van that guzzles gas) for my husband to drive to and from his job in Clemmons (35 minutes away) and deliver bounce houses with in one of our most busy months of the year.
Needless to say, we are behind in all of our bills including our mortgage right now and we just couldn't afford to buy very many gifts for our children. But God heard our cries. I was out looking at fabric with this one "secret angel" who decided that they wanted to take me to this cool little store she found called Ollies. While there she tells me that she wanted to buy me $30 worth of presents for each of my kids and if I didn't help her pick them out she would shop without me. So that day I left the store with nearly $160 worth of toys for my 7 kids. She later bought my little kids a Little Tikes Kitchen for Christmas too.
So THEN I post about this awesome blessing on my FB page and another "secret angel" tells me that she put my kids on the Christmas Tree at her job and that her co-workers bought stuff for my kids too. She delivered 1-2 presents for each of my children a few days later.
Coupled with the little bit of money I had already spent on the kids myself, my kids had a Christmas they will never forget. We used it as an opportunity to share how God used these people to bless us. And my kids were so thankful for everything they got this year. I think not having money helped us prepare more special Christmas times with the kids that didn't cost much of anything like baking together and having candlelit dinners which they loved.
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