It was the last thing we wanted to do, filing bankruptcy.  But we had no choice.  We were both out of a job and had no prospects in sight, and we had thousands in debt.  We didn't know what to do, except file.  We went to look for some lawyer information online and in the yellow pages.  We asked a few close friends, but we didn't want word of this slipping out and causing trouble.  It's a small town and we owe some of the local merchants, and we didn't want more trouble.  We plan to pay them first.  We have to live here after all.  And they are small business people, just like we used to be.  We were really stressed about all of this, but at this point in our lives we just wanted to survive this with our health intact.  If we had a thousand years we wouldn't be able to pay all our creditors back.  I felt ashamed.  This was not what I wanted.  No way.  Debbie was beside herself.  She didn't want to face her friends in town but didn't have much of a choice because we lived here.   When it's all said and done we will no doubt have to move.