Marine Staff Sergeant Bill Dickinson and his wife India face a terrible dilemma far too common for military families: How to keep a happy, healthy family stateside while one parent is serving overseas?
The Dickinsons are not only a joyous, playful, fun family -- but above all, they are selfless and generous. Bill has served the US honorably for 17 years (and continues to do so) and the family volunteers and gives back to the community. Sadly, this great family has been forced to live in deplorable conditions. Because of Bill's deployments and financial difficulty, the family home has become almost uninhabitable. Despite Bill's best efforts to make repairs on his own, the list of problems is long: shoddy electrical, inadequate foundation, fire hazards and a dining room floor destroyed by a flood. The most pressing issue is that there's mold in every wall, which is literally making the family sick, particularly 1 year old baby Sophia.
Bill deployed for Afghanistan on November 5th, leaving India, like many military spouses, to deal with the terrible house and the toll it's taking on her kids -- by herself. They want to move but do not have the resources to do so. This weighs heavily on India of course but also on Bill whose work requires intense focus on the dangerous job at hand. Being a loving husband and father, he is distracted by worry for his family, nearly 7000 miles away.