Special thanks to Jennifer for sharing her story in this guest post. I am truly humbled that her family has generously offered to contribute half of her Usborne commissions to Tiggy’s House even while saving for her own adoption.

I was nineteen and I was looking at the doctor with complete belief. You see, I knew. I knew that night six weeks prior that I was pregnant. I also knew I was in trouble.

I was in the Army National Guard. I had a high school diploma from a school of dubious educational ability. I had a full-time job with the National Guard, but my taxable income was only around $23,000 per year. I lived in the barracks on post where kids weren’t allowed. I had no experience with infants, or really children, and didn’t even like them. These thoughts flashed through my head and I knew that I was the lucky one. I had a high school diploma. I had a full-time job. I had a boyfriend and I loved him.

But, I also knew it wasn’t enough. Soon enough I didn’t have a boyfriend (he later informed me that he never loved me; he disappeared as soon as he found out I was pregnant). Soon enough I didn’t have a full-time job or health insurance (I quit to go to college). Soon enough I had a baby.

I was twenty and I put myself through college so that I could get a decent job that paid more than $23k per year and had a future (mine didn’t). The first year and a half the Army helped me pay for tuition. After that, I had scholarships. I worked really hard at school and I worked really hard at my jobs. I accepted government assistance. I had trials and tribulations. I had some support from friends and family. It was a struggle and one that I don’t recommend for anyone.

Seven years later, I have a bachelor degree, two associate degrees, I’m married with two kids, we own our house, and we take a camping vacation every year. My son, my baby, is in soccer, baseball, dance, piano, and anything else his heart desires. My daughter, his little sister, is as well. I’m not bragging, but I am saying that for someone who came from my childhood (a world riddled with child abuse, near-poverty, mental diseases, and more) to make it to where I am now… Well, it makes me a success story.

I’m not a millionaire. I’m not always a paragon of the mentally stable. I’m very far from perfect. I’m not always the best mom. I didn’t come from the worst childhood nor the best. I have many flaws. However, I’ve learned from my experiences, and now I’m in the business of hopefully making success stories come true for others. My husband and I decided two years ago to become foster parents. A year and a half ago we received our license. Our segment of foster care? Teenage parents. We want to give. We want to give a lifetime of family holidays, calls on birthdays, support, hope, and love.

We believe that everyone can be a success story if they want it and we believe that everyone needs support. We provide that support with our home, our family, our love, our rules and boundaries, our helping hands, our time, our listening, our parenting advice, and with everything else that we can. That everything else includes money. Yes, the state pays a stipend to foster parents, but if you want to do more than the bare minimum, you’ll end up chipping in as well.

My husband and I do chip in with our income, but we also sell Usborne Books and use the profits to support our foster care and adoption efforts. Our goal is to eventually add to our family via adoption. This will start with my husband adopting my son. You see, I worry that if something happens to me, my son will be left without an immediate legal guardian. And as we know, death is one of the few constants in life.

So how does this relate to you? I know what it is like to have devastating life-changing events. Mine ended as one of joy while Dana’s is one of sorrow. How could I not want to give of myself and help to build Tiggy’s House to help her have a little sweet in this bitter sorrow? As such, we are donating 50% of all profits earned between now and September 7th to Tiggy’s House. The other 50% will continue to get deposited in our adoption/foster care bank account to be used solely for those expenses.

We are in the business of helping make success stories.

Part II coming soon with information about Usborne Books & More.

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Jennifer Rothmeyer, aka Jen R./Emerald, writes about living life fully and simply in small-town Iowa over at Emerald Sunshine.