I Just Want You to Know by Kate Gosselin Page A

wouldn’t have considered. It was important to me for our kids to be able to experience these trips because I did not have similar opportunities as a kid.
    Even with the show, we couldn’t have managed alone. We needed help from others. When help came, I needed to learn to accept it, which was another hard lesson for me to learn. I like to be independent.
    As we settled into our neighborhood in Elizabethtown, our community reached out to us. One neighbor loved to bake and used to make us delicious cookies every other week or so—a huge neatly arranged bag of them. I so appreciated having fresh baked cookies in our house. Other people in the community used to make us dinner every so often. We didn’t even know them, but their care and concern was so helpful and important to us. Someone making us dinnermeant that my whole naptime was free to do laundry and catch up on other things.
    While our schedule got crazier with the show, our financial pressures eased up because of increasing fringe benefits. Thankfully companies unsolicited started sending us sample product, and our kids were all too happy to open the surprise of the day. We absolutely loved it, as it helped subsidize our living costs. Then companies noticed we ate organically and sent us organic juice boxes and snacks, which was a complete luxury we certainly appreciated.
    We could hardly believe how much was sent to us, as fans too would send us new and secondhand clothing and toys—stuff that we very much needed. So many of these generous people didn’t want anything in return—they just wanted to help us through a difficult time where we were still living paycheck to paycheck.
    I once again find myself in an uncertain financial situation now that I feel the burden of providing for eight kids and carry the weight of such a large responsibility on my shoulders.
    Looking back over that time in my life when I was dependent on others to provide for our basic needs gives me the confidence to believe that no matter what, we will be taken care of. There’s a verse in the Bible that talks about how God cares for even sparrows, and he takes care of us that much more. He has never let us down. I can give my worries over to God as he has shown himself faithful to us time and again.
    My family weathered the season when our financial situation was a struggle, and we made it through. Our needs were always met. I know we’ll get through the storm again because something, somehow will work out. It always does. Today, the mortgage is paid, food is on our table, the kids are in a school they love. I’ve learned to work as hard as I can while being grateful for the provisions and blessings of today, and I chose not worry about the particulars tomorrow will bring.

Letter to Hannah
    Dear Hannah,
    Oh sweet, sweet girl, I absolutely enjoy being your mommy! I remember the moment your name came to me. I was on the sofa in the family room of our Dauphin Avenue house, the first place you called home. I was resting and thinking of names—the two things that occupied almost every moment of my time while you were in my belly.
    There was a girl in our church named Hannah. She was around my age and very sweet. I found myself thinking about her—and then her name—and I realized I loved the name Hannah…with an h on the end, of course! So when Daddy came home from work that day, I asked him what he thought about the name on my mind, and he emphatically agreed. So Hannah (or Baby B until birth) you were! Later, in keeping with Alexis’s middle name, you became Hannah Joy. You have been a complete joy to raise, so your name fits you nicely.
    You were born on a Monday, May 10, 2004, the day after Mother’s Day. By the Friday after you were born, during one of my frequent visits to the neonatal nursery, your nurse, Sandi, asked if I would like to hold you. This was extremely exciting to me because I had not yet been able to hold any of you. So, Hannah, the nurse wrapped you in what seemed