Courtney Thoms writes that she and her husband both work with a federal contractor for NASA, and they are both going without pay. She says before the shutdown began, they started proceedings for her husband to adopt her daughter.

"Now that we aren’t getting paid, we can’t afford the Guardian Ad Litem the court is requesting to finalize her adoption on the 15th of this month," Thoms says.

She also asked for us to throw her an adoption/birthday party since they are 10 days apart, but that won’t be happening either."

Thoms says they are worried about how they will afford their mortgage because they traveled over the holidays to see family.

"We weren’t expecting this, or we would have saved our money," she says.