'This jar has forever changed who I am as a person and my daughter as well'

Warsaw, Indiana:

After going through a rough divorce over a year ago, my daughter and I have been struggling financially to say the least. After being sued for debts from my marriage that my former husband wouldn't pay, medical expenses not being reimbursed, and being diabetic with no medical insurance for myself, things were getting tough. I have been working three jobs, seven days a week and was beginning to lose faith that I would be able to make ends meet much longer. During the week of Christmas, my sweeper and dryer quit working and I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next. Well on the evening of December 22, 2011 I was working on making Christmas gifts for members of my family, knowing that this Christmas would surely be the worst for us when it came to money, and while sitting at the dining room table my doorbell rang. Busy at work, I asked my daughter to see who was there and she went to the door, looked out the window, and said that there was no one there. Confused, I went to the door, turned on the porch light and looked out. No one. My daughter decided to take one more look out, and with the porch light on, it was making something on the porch sparkle. She noticed something and called me back to the door. We opened the door and there it sat, a 9-10 inch tall clear glass Christmas Tree full of money along with your book. We both stood there in amazement and cried...This jar has forever changed who I am as a person and my daughter as well. She started to save and put money in her very own jar that night. To be honest it has sat in my home, untouched, as I kept looking at it in amazement, until this last week. I just couldn't believe that someone was looking out for me and the thought of the gift is what kept me from opening it until now. We just counted it this week.

You see, one of my jobs is as a special needs assistant at a local elementary school, working with autistic students getting them through their day. I am in a fifth grade class and told the teacher and students about my amazing Christmas Jar. The students in the class have all been given an assignment from their teacher to write stories about what gift they would give to someone and how it would change the giver and the receiver. Jason, you would be amazed at the lives this jar of mine has changed. Not just my daughter and I but this whole class of young people. When we finish these stories, I would like to send them to you so you can read what this book has done for us in this class.

I thank you for writing this little book and I will be eternally grateful to the person or persons who wanted my daughter and I to have it along with my jar. The $228.16 was so helpful with bills, but what it did for my daughter and I emotionally and spiritually means so much more than the coins. I am so happy for the many lives touched by this simple gift...God Bless and Thank All Involved