It takes a village

Valencia is gonna go to big kid school

Valencia is headed to kindergarten, big kid school! I'm excited and happy about this new milestone. She's gonna go to the same school as me, so it will be a lot easier in the mornings and I'm there should she need anything. It's gonna be so great!

One small, teeny, tiny issue. Our campus is large for a five year old, especially for a five year old that doesn't walk well for long distances. She can walk around a classroom just fine but to ask her to walk from the classroom to specials, (ie. PE, Art, Music) and to and from the cafeteria, is a difficult task to ask. She needs a wheelchair. Oh, my goodness. I have sooo many thoughts right now;

    

• How do we get her a wheelchair?
• Will it be made in time for her to begin school with?
• How much does this costs?
• How are we going to do this God?

I'd like to say that I'm a sane parent, I don't panic, I don't cry out in stress, I don't worry about things that I have no control over. Psst, who am I kidding? Yes I do!! and in this moment panic and pain were real not just some mythical greek creatures made up to tell the story of Hercules.

We got Valencia measured for her wheelchair and it has to be made specifically for her due to her body and her needs. Insurance can cover a large portion but our out of pocket quote had us in shock. Our out of pocket portion was gonna be $5,000.00. Now, many of you might not know this but we do not receive disability benefits for V. The government states that I make too much to be eligible to receive any kind of assistance for her. I won't bore you with my soap box on the disability drama for now (saved for a later post) but needless to say we weren't gonna be getting help there. We were on a time limit to pay the out of pocket amount because her wheelchair had to be made in time for school to start so we only had two months. Enter her village, someone suggested starting a go fund me. 

We are huge proponents of our daughter, so our responsibility. Asking for assistance was never one of our go to's so this option was messing with us mentally. Up until this point we've been able to provide everything Valencia has needed and wanted so realizing that we couldn't provide one of her major needs was difficult to admit. We ultimately had no choice, our time was running out and her wheelchair needed to be ordered ASAP. I did it, I created the go fund me and put it out to our social media platforms. When I say within 24 hours, literally 24 hours of us creating the go fund me, we had the money raised. 

God did it, he showed us to trust him as always and he would provide. Even now 7 years later as I type this I'm in tears thinking of how people who I hadn't spoken to since high school donated, people who I only knew through social media donated, people who I know didn't have much to give still donated what they could. I stay in amazement even still. 

Thank you again to her village, for providing when we couldn't, for helping when we needed it, for continuing to support V even though it means just reading and sharing her story. Thank you, truly. 

We payed our out of pocket, ordered her wheelchair, V inherited a new nickname and we inherited a new worry. Everyone say hello to Nascar! 

Her first day in her wheelchair