Heart N Soul Cooking: June 2013

My son is in his last months of college at Full Sail, he's a online student. His wife and him moved back to Albuquerque from Florida in May of 2012. They lived in Winter Park Florida well he was going to Full Sail. We could no long afford for him to live in Florida. So, they came home and he is finishing his classes online. He's dream is to become an animator since he was a little boy. He watched Disney movies, cartoons and played video games and always told us one day he would be doing that. His dream is almost ready to come true, but financially thing have gotten tough for him. Here is a letter his wife wrote and posted on Go Get Funding. Please HELP!!! anything and everything counts. Thank you and God Bless

Here is the LINK, so you can help make his dream come true.
http://gogetfunding.com/project/gabe-s-college-rescuegogetfunding.com

Hello,
My name is Monica and I'm on here for the purpose to do a fundraiser for my husband, Gabriel. This man has such a big dream of becoming an animator and I want to make it come true! I'm not the type of person to ask for help but with the situation he and I are facing right now I have nowhere else to turn to for help. He's a good man and like many people deserves to have his dream come true. He is the most loving and caring man I have ever meet. He is a huge optimist that believes everything always turns out for the better. He has such big dreams that whenever he talks about them his eyes light up and you can hear the very passion in his words! I love to see that in him. He's such a determined person. He's so gentle with things and loves his three nieces that he's helped to raise. He's such a big animal lover and he loves to sing out loud when his favorite song! He's drawings are amazing and his characters are just as great! They are relatable in more ways then one. I love to watch him draw and create characters that he needs for classes. I love to watch him hand sculpt clay models of these characters for his classes. His has such a passion for this field of work its not even a joke. One of his top favorite animators happens to be Glen Keane who did many of the Disney Classic movies and he adores Pixar just for their characters alone. He loves the emotion that the animators put into their characters and into the objects. Its just amazing to see how he lights up whenever he talks about his school and work. I rarely see that from anyone!
I meet Gabriel five years ago. At the time he was attending a local community college in our hometown. Within the small time frame of first week, since he was attending the fall term, that he had done all the animation classes and had no where else to advance to. So with that in mind he applied at a school that was once known as the Art Center Design college, now known as Southwest University of Visual Arts, to continue his goal to become an animator. He was there for two terms before learning that due to funding certain animation classes would be taken away and others would prolong his school because they didn't proved that within that year but the next year. He didn't want something of that sort happening. So at the end of May he applied to a school called Full Sail University located out in Winter Park, which is a subsection of Orlando, Florida. I'm happy to announce that he was accepted to the school while attending on a hybrid program for a Game Arts Degree which would have him going to school online until the school called us out so he could attend classes on campus along with private school loans to help us with his tuition and anything he needed.
In June of 2010, he started attending his online classes. A few bumps in the road occurred but nothing to major as he grew use to the curriculum. How the curriculum works is that ever month you get one class but within that month, each week you can get from one to three projects a week. The school schedule isn't like a mainstream college. You only get a week for summer vacation, for spring break, and for winter break. Its an intense course that my husband seems to enjoy more. The only down side is that most students that go for a Game Arts degree or an Animation degree do not have the time to get a job. Their full focus needs to be on their class and school work. Then in 2011, we got married through our Church. The month before we got married, we had received the call to move to Florida. So two weeks after the wedding we were packing up and moving to Florida.
And there we were, a young married couple, on our own in Florida. By November, I had managed to get a job to help with the bills and help get him things he needed for class. He was attending class on campus and had made so many great friends. Things were going well and looking up until I lost my job. I was working a seasonal position at one of the theme parks. Our strength for each other seemed to get tested as well the moment I found out I was pregnant and within that very same week I lost the baby. I was in shambles and it didn't help that we now had medical bills to worry about. The funds we had saved for emergency was starting to dwindle quickly. It really didn't help that I couldn't seem to find a job either. I had manage to get two interviews that lead to nowhere and a bunch of call backs and emails stating they were no longer looking to have the position I applied for filled or they had already been filled. By the end of July we had come to the hardest decisions of our lives. It was whether to move back in August or stay a few more months only to have to move back anyway. We had learned through the school that Gabriel was on his last private loan which wasn't much and by that time switched his Game Arts Degree to an Animation Degree. (The Animation Degree and Game Arts Degree hold the same core classes.) So with the knowledge of that, my husband had to switch to going full time online and we packed for our journey back to our hometown.
In August of 2012, we returned to our families and since I didn't have a job we were forced to move in with my in-laws. I once again started my search for a job. My husband continued on with his schooling online. His parents helped us the best they could and I managed to get a small part time job cleaning a warehouse. But the job barely helps us pay the bills we have. I'm still searching endlessly for a more stable job but even now I still can't seem to get one. It doesn't help that my in-laws are now struggling as well. My father-in-law has had his time cut and isn't receiving as much as he use to. Now my husband has passed all his prerequisites and is starting all his harder classes. Its at this point in his school that he needs to start building up a portfolio for when he finally graduates and gets a job. It doesn't help that on the move down certain things he does need broke on the move. Its been a struggling. Both of our families can only help so much and just last month he broke his phone that he uses and has to have because that’s the only number his school will calls and he broke his glasses. Both things we have been thankful to have had help replacing thanks to my parents but they can't help anymore. Even my in-laws are starting to really struggle. My husband and I have sold many things just to help out with his parents and to help him get him what he needs but we've exhausted all sources. Now is the point in his schooling when he will need many supplies and things for his hand drawing animation projects and online class animation projects. We're asking for $5,000.00 because we are unsure of the actually amount we need for him. He only receives his supply list only a month or two before his next class.
I'm here now asking you guys to please help us out! Help us make his dream come true! He only has a year left and I'm not ready to watch him throw in the towel on his dream and call it quits on college. He's come so far and worked to hard to throw it all away because we can't afford to get him the things he's needing for his classes. Please! I'm asking you guys from the bottom of my heart to help us out by donating to the cause to help him get the things he needs just to finish this last year. He has such a huge dream and I can't stand to see that die. Please help us raise the money he needs!

Heart N Soul Cooking

Friday, June 21, 2013

Suddenly Salad: Red, White and Blue Pasta Recipe!!!

Looking to take your 4th of July celebration from ordinary to extraordinary? Make Suddenly Salad® your specialty!

Ingredients

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Please HELP!!!

Monday, June 10, 2013

P&G and Home Depot Giveaway! @ The Art of Random Willy-Niillyness

Friday, June 7, 2013

Enter to Win a MacBook Air from ThePennyHoarder.com! (Ends 7/31)