After much consideration

.. I have come to this conclusion.
I need to just tell you all what has been going on and how I feel about it, then leave it up to you to figure out how to help. I know I have smart and wonderfully caring people that read this blog whenever I manage to post something new.

My grandfather died one year ago, one year and a few days to be exact. I have tried to live my life since last year in a way that will make those that we lost really proud when I finally get to tell them all that has happened since they died. My grandfather taught us as a family the value of hard work and taking care of your family. I think that he would be sad to know that the plans that he thought he had made to help take care of his family after his death did not work out as well as they could've. That the family that he so loved has not pulled together to help each other out but pulled apart in a mad scramble to get as much as they could out of the estate and to try and not be held responsible for any of it.
It's not fair, it's not the way he would've wanted things but really there is nothing to be done.

My mom is the baby of her family, the youngest of 13, (yes that's right 13...grandma was kind of awesome right?), and she was one of only 2 daughters that grandma and grandpa had together after he married grandma and took care of her and her 11 children... (that's right he was an amazing kind of guy).
Grandpa wanted to see my mom and my sister taken care of, and by association my dad. My sister was his main caretaker, living at the house and she brought a lot of joy to his life, taking him to his first Dodgers' game at Dodger Stadium with his family, taking him for walks on the beach, etc.

For the past year my parents and baby sister have been getting ready to go to the International Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses in Mexico City, Mexico. Much planning and excitement has been going on. Then Grandpa died, and excitement was dampened, but the planning continued because he would've wanted them to go and see the area where he was born and to experience a taste of global brotherhood.

My parents are both regular pioneers, (that's what we call a full time volunteer door to door bible teacher, see my previous posts), my dad works very hard at RBC projects (he volunteers the majority of his weekends to helping in the purchasing department at the Kingdom Hall builds), they are avid gardeners, grillers, good friends and highly creative people. They love to laugh and just enjoy a sunny morning with a good cup of coffee.

Up until a few months ago they lived and worked on an estate in Tucson, Arizona. The same place that most of my best photographs come from. Then the estate changed hands, no longer belonging to the cancer support center but sold to another health group but it was now going to be profitable instead of a non profit group. (got that so far?)
They lost their jobs and their house all in one day, to make matters sadder they've had to put down both of their elderly pot bellied pigs for health reasons, and had to move to an even smaller place then the house they shared with offices on the estate.

They need help. They're trying really hard to get this new business off the ground. My mom is selling on Ebay. They continue to pioneer, and that gets expensive.
They're still going to Mexico for the convention but I would love to find a way for all of us to help them out a little and see if we can at least smooth the bumpy road that this past year has been.
Don't get me wrong, they're not destitute and fighting over the last can of tuna while they're wide eyed starving puppy looks on... just things are a bit stressful, and with the family drama of fighting over the will, probably more stressful then they have to be.

Let me say in no uncertain terms that I am disappointed and frankly, disgusted, by how my family has behaved towards my mother and sister. I never expected to be considered in any of this so my ire is not for myself, but I feel bereft of family, I feel exposed and shamed by their behavior, as if the happy memories that I grew up with were an act put on for my grandparents' benefit and now that they're gone why should they pretend to care for us!

Here's how we can help my parents, or what I've come up with so far...

You can go check out Pre-Paid Legal, which benefits them, sign up for "Blast-Off" from the banner on their page and they get credited with points, points become dollars, all good, and bonus - Blast Off is pretty cool, and free... it's FREE. :)
You can sign up for Pre-Paid Legal.. check out the program and benefits, it's an amazing service and if you sign up, you help out my parents a lot, if you sign up for a month you help them, keep the program and you help them, sign up for the program and then sell it yourself and you become their new favorite child... (2nd to me of course ;) just kidding, they don't actually play favorites, but you're welcome to try!)
http://prepaidlegal.com/hub/rjbriggs

You can check out my mom's auctions and sales on Ebay and see if anything catches your eye.
http://stores.ebay.com/cleoshops1

You can contact me on how to make a paypal donation to them along with a friendly note, or you can do it anonymously and I'll never tell them who it was by making a paypal donation to me and I'll pass it along. (Email me and I'll get you the right addresses for Paypal.)

That's all I have.
I have no easy answers, no great bursts of wisdom, no rich dead relatives to fall over and make it all better with a well written iron clad will. I just have me, and now maybe I have you too.
Please pass this blog link along to anyone that you think might be willing to read it over and consider my family a little in their thoughts and even in their prayers.

much love,
Megzy