By: Ally Bishop
In Portal, Georgia is a mother struggling everyday to take care of her two daughters. A mother is a here to many and even the ones who do it all by themselves.
Brittany Raymond, 30, has two daughters, Emmy, who is 7, and Claire, who is 5. Raymond has been on her own for five years because her husband was incarcerated when her youngest was just born.
Raymond is thawing out chicken to prepare for her and her children for dinner. Raymond is a waitress at Ole Times in Statesboro but has come a long way from living in the projects to being a house owner.
Preparing dinner is what Raymond is doing while her daughters play on the devices and with their toys. "Everything I do is for them, even though they're just like normal kids, spoiled and crazy, I love them more than anything. Sometime it is hard doing it by myself though." Said Raymond.
These are these things Raymond uses to cook dinner with almost every night because her daughter love it. "I try to cook as much as I can because I like to teach my girls how to cook so one day they can do it all by themselves, I don't care how young they are." Raymond said.
Dinner is almost ready as Raymond puts the finishing touches on everything. "I recently just went back to school for a Criminal Justice degree in hopes to work in the federal area dealing with sex traffic or child molestation cases."
Here is Raymond's youngest daughter, Claire, who is playing on her iPad after she just ate dinner while her mom cleans. "I like to let the kids relax after a long day, today we got to go to Splash n' the Boro, the waterpark after I work 11 days in a row." said Raymond.
Raymond begins the girls laundry after cooking dinner and feeding the girls. "This is my time to relax and I know sometimes cleaning is overwhelming but it is my time away from the kids, I love them but they can be a lot haha." Raymond said.
Finishing up laundry, Raymond puts the girls clothes away about to get them ready for bed. "The hardest part about being a mom by myself is going to school functions and seeing everyone together as a family, but other than that, I am not bothered by much." said Raymond.
This is the refrigerator in their home with some drawings the girls made for their mom. Raymond is a very sentimental person because you never know how much time you will have with someone, due to her husband being gone and them not knowing when he will be released.
Raymond is helping her daughter brush her teeth so that she can go to bed soon "Getting the girls ready for bed is not always any easy thing, one always has an easy time falling asleep but the other will stay awake till 5 a.m.." Raymond said.
Raymond cleans the girls room after having their friend over for a play date. Their room is a disaster after lots of dress-up, barbies, and dance parties.
Raymond cleans the girls room after having their friend over for a play date. Their room is a disaster after lots of dress-up, barbies, and dance parties.
Raymond is sweeping the kitchen to finish her daily chores while the girls do theirs. "We are small family and they know I can not do everything by myself, I love that they love to help, so I give them small things to do." said Raymond.
Claire is seen feeding the animals their food for the night because it is her chore on the list. The girls love their animals because they have 6 dogs and 1 cat.
This is one of their dogs that is an inside dog. "This dog was my husbands but since he is in prison, I had to take care of him." said Raymond.
This is their cat that is sleeping and one that also loves to cuddle with the girls at night. "Our cat was the first thing good to come into our lives after everything bad happened so we love him so much." Raymond said."
Here is Raymond reading her daughters a bed-time story before they go to bed. "Every night I am so tired but I push through the exhaustion to do anything I can to make them happy." said Raymond.
Raymond tucks her daughters in bed on the couch because her bed is too small to fit all three of them so they actually sleep on the couch. "We don't mind sleeping on the couch at all, we feel more closer and safer together." said Raymond.
After the girls go to sleep, Raymond relaxes and finds a spot for herself to go to bed. "At the end of the day I look at what I have and then look at what I had and all I can do is be thankful." said Raymond.
