I am soon to be 42 years old on September 24th of this year. I am divorced for 4 years now.  I have two children ages 21 and 18.  I was married for 17 years. My history is as brief as I can make it without too much unwanted detail.  I was molested at age 5 and at age 11. I was raped at 17 which was also my first experience "going all the way". The first boyfriend I had after that was physically abusive to me. I moved away after that to Pennsyvania where I live now. My first boyfriend here (also my ex-husband and father of my two children) was emotionally and mentally abusive to me.  I was financially dependent on him and being a child of divorce myself did not want my children to suffer the same as I did so I stayed in the marriage. It was not until one day when my daughter (at that time she was 16years old) told me that "she was not going to be like me when she grew up because her husband will never treat me like dad treats you!" that I realized staying in the marriage was actually hurting my children and causing them to lose respect for me rather than helping them in any way. In a nutshell my life has not been terrific.  My goals are to one day be financially, emotionally and mentally dependent upon myself.  I didn't even file for child support or monetary support for myself after the divorce because throughout our entire marriage all he ever seeemed to truly care about was money. I vowed that I would not take a dime from him and that if he loved it so much then he could just have it all. I was not in any emotional state to care about myself at the time.  All I wanted was to finally be free of his contstant control and criticism. To this day whenever he calls me my entire body just freezes and my blood pressure skyrockets so badly I don't even want to answer the phone.  So as you can imagine I have had a very rough time trying to carve out a new life for myself.  I don't dwell on the past consiously and I try to stay positive, but some where along this road I have been on I developed depression and bi-polar disorder along with several general health problems associated with stress and aging. Carving out a new life once seemed exciting but now its getting harder to see at all.  I have a new man in my life with his own set of problems but he is my best friend and we try to get each other over whatever bridges we encounter.  I hate to ask for help from anyone and just lately I had to ask my father to help me get a car so at least I could go back and forth to my doctors. In the meantime my Bob works every day of the week just to get us by.  We don't have credit card debt, we don't do drugs or drink alcohol and we don't cheat and steal.  We just have a high mortgage due to a refinancing scam that has taken us for virtually every dime we have and our lawyer can't seem to do anything about it.  We have faced getting turned down by other banks and mortgage companies because of this horrible company tacking on bogus charges upon bogus charges. We have tried Chapter 13 Banctruptcy but that does not help much because the house is all that we have and thats all we were trying to do is save our home.  We have 3 kids between us, two of which are going to college soon and my son who suffers from epilepsy and at 18 cannot even drive a car yet. Not only do I have to help myself get better but I have to find ways to get him to work and to his doctors appointments.  We have one large dog that you can't just take anywhere you go.  We can barely feed ourselves because the mortgage is so high. This is a 100 year old farmhouse and it needs so much work that I am afraid it won't even sell to get us out from under this madness.  So much for trying to start a new life, right? Anyhow, I just came upon this sight and decided to let it all out. I hope I haven't offended anyone here. Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.  All I have to go on right now is my faith in god.  I'll keep praying, but I can't stop the crying. If you got this far in my letter then I thank you for allowing me to vent and I would be grateful even for your prayers.  Thank you, Lisa Simmons

My name is bill my wifes name is cindy we have been dedicated foster parents for the last 8 years we have had over 158 children come into our home over the last 8 years,we have adopted 3 beautiful children as my wife was unable to conceieve children so she said if i cant have my own children i will take care of someone elses,and boy she did,my wife is an amazing women.she has put so much work into the foster care program and has never been recognized for her hard work,well we have fell on hard times just like everyone else we are 2 months behind on our mortage payment ,1 car payment behind,we are behind 1 year on our home taxes and other small bills,we work so hard to keep up on our bills but i have been out of work due to an injury i tore my rotator cuff and have bulging discs in my neck and deteroiating discs in my back i am not asking for a handout we just need some financial help so we dont lose everything we have worked so hard for over the years,it seems everything we have bought & saved over the years is going to be taken away from us just like that.this is a very honest story as it can all be checked out.we just want to get back on our feet and i feel once we are caught up on our bills we will be able to maintain them,it really bothers both of us everyday knowing our home can be taken away from under us within 2 months,we have foster children and our adopted children to care for and we dont want to lose any of them.if you only knew both of us you would think we are the most fantastic people.especially my wife she is just getting drained as i havent been able to help her much with my injury.if someone contacts us we will be more than happy to tell you more of our story.this is no gimmick as we are just very down to earth mom & dad and we take great care of our children as they come before anything in this world.they have no idea what kind of financial situation we are in,so they just dont understand.we are in about $5,000 debt,that would get us back on our feet,so if there is someone out there that can help us it would be greatly appreciated and i dont want a hand out we are committed to paying this debt back with our income tax return. if anyone can be a help my paypal address is wjewtraw@tampabay.rr.com sincerely

bill cindy

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February 2008

Aloha,  

My name is Michelle Higgins-Mahe. I am writing this letter out of desperation.  

I am married and have five children, three biological and two Hanai. We have 16 pets and have applied to be a foster home. 

Due to a series of events beyond my control, my family and I will soon be homeless. We are losing our home because I have been unable to work and unable to pay the bills. I have recently had spinal surgery and now face an unpredictable future. My family and I are in great need of help, either advice as to what to do or monetary. We would be grateful for any help at all. 

The following are some of the circumstances that have lead to my family's humble situation.

In February 2004, I was involved in an accident on the H1. A truck tire hit me. The garbage company denied the accident. My mother was in the car and despite this witness, the company refused to acknowledge the accident. I missed several months of work and sustained injuries. 

In September of 2004 I was hit from behind. I sustained new injuries and exacerbated previous injuries sustained in the February accident. Again I was out of work for an extend period of time and finances were tight. We were falling behind on bills and my credit was taking a beating.

For the past several years we have been trying to improve our credit rating and get our finances back on track. We were expecting to settle with the insurance companies later this year for the two car accidents in 2004. Our future looked promising until April 28, 2007.  

On this day I was involved in a hit and run. The injuries I received resulted in surgery. I had a two level cervical spinal fusion on August 22, 2007.  I was unable to work from the date of the accident and will be off for at least 4-6 months post surgery.  

Since April 28, 2007, I have been collecting Workman’s Comp as this accident happened while I was working. WC has been paying me $2400.00/month. My pay prior to this accident was $4800.00/month from my first job and $2000.00/month from my second job.  

My husband has taken up two jobs since the time that I could no longer work. His income is $1800.00/month. Our Home Mortgage is $5600.00/month.  

Due to the extreme decrease in income we have fallen behind on our mortgage payments. We have made multiple attempts to get a hold of CountryWide (our mortgage company) to discuss our options. They are not willing to work with us. 

The result of these unforeseen events has now put my family in a position where we are losing our home. CountryWide has recently decided to foreclose. My lawyer sent them a letter of hardship (as they requested) on August 3, 2007. CountryWide was supposed to get back to us in five days. More than two weeks later, we found out that CountryWide had finally responded to our letter by phone on the same day I had spinal fusion surgery. In spite of the fact that my lawyer included the date of my surgery in the letter of hardship, CountryWide decided to call us two weeks late when there was a large chance that no one would be home. 

I have spent my life caring for and at the service of others. Prior to my accident I worked as a Registered Nurse for Queens Hospital and held a second job as an ER nurse through a temp agency. With my two jobs I was able to bring in 6-7 thousand dollars a month. 

My home is also a rescue for animals. We have rescued cats, birds, and a dog from a life on the streets and possible death. In addition, we are a registered foster home and would have taken in two foster children earlier this year if I hadn't been the victim of a "hit and run." 

I want nothing but to continue to provide a home for my children, Hanai and foster, as well as the animals that have become a part of our o'hana.

My family and I are asking for any of the following: 

1) If anyone was a witness to my April 28, 2007 accident, which occurred at 9:30 am on the corner of Hunikai St. and Waialae Ave. near Kahala Mall, please step forward and give any information you can about the man who backed into me and drove off. He was driving a dark blue, full size pickup truck. 

2) Any monetary donations would be greatly appreciated. I would be more than happy to reimburse the donations when I receive the settlements for the several car accidents I have had. The money would go to simply paying off my mortgage and ensuring that CountryWide will not follow through on the foreclosure of our house. The donation payback schedule can be set up by my lawyer to ensure that everyone feels safe about the arrangements. 

And finally,

3) I am appealing to any banks that would be willing to grant me a low-interest loan, with reasonable monthly payments. 

My family and I would like to extend our gratitude in advance to those who find it in their hearts to help us. 

Love and Aloha, 

Michelle Higgins-Mahe 

7739 Waikapu Lp

Honolulu, HI

96825

je_suis@hawaiiantel.net

808 396-9501 

P.S. Please contact us at your earliest convenience with any advice or monetary help. Our foreclosure date is 4/4/08. Many Mahalo's