In unstable time, Haltom City mom just wants to keep her daughter warm

Marisol has some money set aside but dares not spend it.

“My husband has to go back to Mexico to get his residency, and I don’t know how long he will be gone,” said the Haltom City mother of three.

Marisol’s husband came to the U.S. illegally in 2007 with his father, and stayed here when his father returned to Mexico. He since met and married Marisol. Now he wants to make things right. That means going back to Mexico, submitting papers for a work visa and clearing other hurdles to earn legal status.

The only thing certain about the process is that it’s going to cost a lot of money.

“We’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” said Marisol, a college graduate who works part-time at a warehouse.

Getting by means clothes-shopping at thrift stores, which Marisol doesn’t blink at most of the time. But Isabel, 7, needed a jacket for winter, and Marisol wanted it to be a new one. The Goodfellow Fund helped make that happen with a $50 J.C. Penney gift card. Her other kids, Recardo, 4, and Cruz, 2, are too young to be eligible.

“She knows that I bought her a jacket and that I’m going to give it to her for Christmas,” Marisol said. “If it gets really cold, I may have to go ahead and give it to her.”

Meanwhile, Marisol still has a little left on the gift card and is keeping an eye out for a J.C. Penney shoe sale.

“She wants Converse,” Marisol said.

Marisol and her husband have high hopes for next year.

“I have a BA in sociology and want to use it,” she said. “But I can’t do anything until our family is stabilized.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2016 at 2:55 PM with the headline "In unstable time, Haltom City mom just wants to keep her daughter warm."