Today a miracle or sorts occurred. My husband was officially recognized by the Social Security System as Disabled. We have been jumping through their paperwork hoops since September 2010 (this time around - we tried this once before).
His lawyer freaked us out a week ago. The laywer thought we should just drop the case because of lack of evidence. We lucked out and we had an awesome judge who listened and was thoughtful and their expert job placement person said definitely no work. Wow.
I feel like I now have "proof" of what I have been aware of for years. Something to show the doubters.
Today was hugely stressful. My husband has been having panic attacks for this past week. Horribly debilitating spasmic breathing attacks.
To help calm him, I told him that this decision would change nothing. We would still have the same life, the same goals, the same plans. The only difference was the amount of time it would take to reach those goals. I told him that God was in control and He had a plan. I told him that God placed the people in authority. I told him and kept repeating the same phrases to myself.
Then they told me I could not go into the courtroom. I almost broke down then. All that stress, all that prep time, and now I was shut out of the proceedings. It was the more nerve wracking hour in my recent past.
Then when they came out and my husband was smiling, and he gave me the thumbs up. Tears were brimming, as were my husbands, and I think even the lawyer would have joined us if we had given into them. Wow.
This will help our budget amazingly. We have been toiling away bit by bit, paying down the debt, scraping by, driving cars past their fix it dates, using make-shift animal shelters. This may be the year that we finally get things going the right way.
We are currently pondering priorities, but this is the basic idea we had discussed prior to today's decision:
1. 10% Give
2. $1000 emergency fund (I would like to increase this to a months worth of expenses if the amount is enough $3000)
3. Debt Payment
4. Fix Cars
5. Tractor
6. Debt Payment
The lawyer said it will take 1-3 months to begin receiving funds. They are paying back benefits to September 2010. Even after the lawyer fees, it should be a decent amount.
Help will come!
I splurged and brought home ice cream, chocolate, strawberries, and pineapple. It was a lovely treat at the end of this emotional day.
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Side note - no deaths today - yippee!
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