Overcoming obstacles

I am one of the happiest and proudest woman in the world today because today is the day my twin daughters graduate high school. You may not have read our story where we tried to get out of a bad marriage and ended up in abject poverty with almost nothing left but each other.

Today, we show what hard work, determination, strength as a family and believing in each other can accomplish against the odds.

Today, my daughters proudly accept their high school diploma and honors cord as a symbol of their hard work and dedication through the years and believing in the power of their dreams.

Today, they had to borrow the graduating costume since we could not afford our own.

Today, they had to accept this embarrassing lack of money and swallow their pride since we almost chose to stay home because we could not afford to buy them their own. To get the honors cord you have to walk in the ceremony so we wondered how to accomplish this.

We thought we were getting the native dividend money this last week but I got the dates wrong and it wont come until next month. We had accepted the fact that we could not attend and since they are a bit shy also felt a bit relieved about it but sad because they saw how I loved my oldest daughter's yellow cord showing the results of her years of hard work.

They worked so hard and had so much negative stuff going on in their lives and turned that into the drive to achieve their dreams. It may not seem like such a big thing with thousands of other girls also graduating this year alongside them but not many others have been to Hell and back and still shine so brightly.

To all the moms and daughters out there, if we can do this then you can too with pulling together as a family and letting the love you feel for each other give you strength day after day!

My face is aglow with pride and my smile can blind you today! all our love,

Maria