Raising a family with special needs is never easy. In fact it can feel like and often be an impossible task. I find myself in that very position every single day. I know some of you out there are in a similar boat. Here is some insight into how I attempt to deal with this.

One of the biggest worries I have is funding to cover everything we have going on (including Lizze’s pending surgery). So I have been kicking around some ideas. Basically we survive (and I use that term loosely) right now on residual income form our contracting business I can no longer work and the computer repairs that come in from time to time. We always seem to manager but the stress surrounding this aspect of our lives is enormous for me. I do my best to shield Lizze from this but sometimes it just isn’t possible. There are just so many things I need to get done and right now I just can’t. We need pretty major renovations to our 100+ year old house, new plumbing, wiring and windows (not to mention all the modifications for safety that need to be done). I need to enclose our “open” stair case so we can reduce the amount of accidents that happen. We need to rebuild that same stair case because the treads have all been broken from years of use and Gavin throwing fits on them (yes he has actually broken stair treads). I needs to get handles installed in the shower and bathtub for Lizze so she doesn’t fall and figure out a way to secure the windows so Emmett can’t “run through” them again (we were VERY lucky the last time). Our “new” van just seems like it is giving up on life and has become a money trap. The engine problems are back (actually they never went away) that cause the van to stall out and now the rear driver side door is broken and by broken I mean won’t open. The door CAN NOT be unlocked. We also have a short somewhere because when I turn right, the radio shuts off and we lose the passenger side headlight. Weird, right? Oh and we need new brakes. The list goes on but you get the point. These are all things we as a special needs family face and struggle to accomplish, often times unsuccessfully.  All of this is on top of all the daily care the kids and my wife requires. It’s completely over-whelming and many time down right demoralizing.

So I have been trying to come up with ideas in order to improve our situation and give myself the ability to get the things Lizze and the kids need including pay for her surgery. The one that I am currently trying putting together is expanding my VHS to DVD archival service. I have been doing this for a few years in my local demographic. What I would like to be doing would be to offer the service via USPS. Basically, people will ship me the VHS tapes and I will convert them over an d ship them back. I will provide insured shipping both ways. The cost will be $10-$11 per hour of video (that’s pretty standard).. Someone contacts me with an order. I ship them the pre-paid packaging to ship the tapes back to me. I would then convert the tapes over to DVD and ship them back via USPS… Pretty simple.. All transactions would be done securely via Pay-Pal.  

This is why I have the  poll up at the top left of this blog, to gauge interest. This could help to bring in additional monies I desperately need in order to cover the various expenses associated with Lizze and the boys health issues. I want to be as self-reliant as possible and this is one way I can see to that. It’s something I can do this from home which is essential and it will increase our income.

Anyways when you have a family situation like mine (sick spouse and special needs children) you sometimes have to be creative in order to survive. I’m hoping I can get this together, it’s going to be difficult with everything going on but I got to at least try…….