Vote for the Wyndham Rewards Summer Vacation Winner

3 Comments

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  Tina S June 28, 2011

  WOO HOO!! I made the top 7! I am so excited!! I didnt do a sob story or tell how amazing my husband is for all he has endured and suffered … including losing a son in a house fire and watching his father die right in front of him when he was 6. Or the time he was 18 and I was 15 and we were at a party and he was hit head on by a drunk driver. He was on the side of the road, standing there when the car swerved off and hit him straight in the face. After 3 months in the hospital and numerous surgeries later he is filled with wire all over his face and body. He cant go through a metal detector without explanations lol.

  Now even though I am tied for 1st place I feel like I should have written more. I am struggling to keep afloat because I went for cute instead of pity. Here is a small part of our story …

  We live in South MS in a little town called Bay St. Louis. We were wiped off the map when Katrina hit in 2005. We lost our home and everything we owned. Unfortunately, our insurance only saw fit to pay out $13,000 because we flooded, and living far enough from the water we did not have flood insurance. Needless to say, $13,000 will not do much for a house that had to be completely gutted due to over 6 feet of water and everything we owned having to be thrown out. My husband gutted and rebuilt the house day and night, even though he was called back to work a couple weeks after Katrina (thank God he still had a job since I lost my entire business)! But we had to take out a second mortgage to rebuild, and thankfully SBA was the answer to our prayers!! But now instead of 6.5 years left to pay off our home we now have another 25 years …

  We moved my 3 kids back down Jan 2006! We also found out we were expecting a baby!! We needed more space!! So we started to build an addition for a master bedroom in December 2006, but it was slow because we were paying as we could. Meanwhile, we stayed put in a camper in the backyard with the baby and the kids stayed in the house. April 2007 we received terrible news while at our sons baseball game. Our home burned down. We lost everything again. With the inflated rebuilding costs and no one really in the area to hire anyway we were in a tight spot! And found out we were $80,000 underinsured. We were forced to rent a home for $2000 a month (there were so few places available after Katrina it really was extortion)!!! Plus we had 2 mortgages to pay on top of it. Nightmare to say the least. Anyway, it took us forever to settle with the insurance company and find workers. We didnt move back home until August 2009.

  Living in a town still struggling to survive 6 years after Katrina with nothing fun to offer the kids, and losing 2 homes in such a short time frame, we are just desperate for a vacation! But with so many bills and down to 1 income we can not afford it! I coupon and clean a couple houses a week to help out, but there is just no money for any sort of vacation. I feel like this is just one way I can “contribute” to my family! Since we were fortunate to make the 7 finalists I am more determined than ever to make this happen!

  Please take a minute to click the link and vote for Tina S and the little girl in our “redneck pool” Thank you so much and God Bless!!!!

  **** this is a very very condensed version just to give a glimpse of why I want to win! Of course we have had happy times too, but still need to try to get away for a week! *****
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  Tina S June 28, 2011

  I also left out the part of him caring for his mother who struggled with numerous bouts of cancer over a 20 year period until she passed away in 2000. And the time he was helping a friend re roof his house and a nail gun backfired and shot out his eye. Suffering for 2 years of never being allowed to go out into the sunlight and many surgeries later they finally removed the eye and had a prostetic eye put in.

  I guess my point is we all have our struggles and hardships. I didnt put them down as why we deserve a vacation because really who doesnt endure harships? No matter what we have to deal with in our lives we make it through and they make us who we are today. We are happy. I have loved my husband since I was 14 years old and I will be 41 on Saturday! We love our children. We want to win this vacation to make some happy memories together with our kids!

  I love my husband and children more than anything in this world. This is why I entered the contest. I want to be able to give them a vacation of a lifetime so we can make more happy memories together! So please everyone when you vote please vote for Tina S. We are a very close family who has not had the financial means to take a real vacation in 12 years. We would love to win this contest!! Thank you!
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  Jennifer June 29, 2011

  Tina S. Also left off the part of how her husband saved all he could when he was younger so that he could buy his mom a nice home to live in before she passed away. and how he lived there with her and took care of her before she died.

  I’m glad you didn’t do the pity story in the photo contest although, I think this probably counts!!! Anyway, If you are the kind of person who needs to feel pity in order to throw your vote behind someone, trust me, this is a family with more than it’s share of bad luck! But all that aside, their picture is still the cutest and should win!

  Please vote for Tina S, and the cute lil redneck baby swimming in the back of a pick up truck!

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