A Week (or so) in the Life…

There is a reason for what would seem like my sudden abandonment of my blog and email over the last month or so (and particularly the last week +).

Life on the roller coaster is always somewhat distracting…and the ride has certainly been a WILD one lately.

I angrily twittered, 12 days ago: “I am livid right now. Smoke-coming-from-my-ears livid. And heartbroken. I have learned once again that you really can’t trust people.”

Now that I have “simmered down”, I can offer an explanation.

You know, unlike my husband, I naturally have a general distrust of people. He calls me cynical and suspicious and frequently tells me to “lighten up”, but it is my past, my own previous experiences with being “stabbed in the back” that have caused me to be on guard like I am. If only I had followed my gut this last time. I knew something wasn’t right, but I at least thought that these people meant well. Au contraire.

If you recall, after yet another of Audrey’s violent outbursts last January, some family “friends” from reenacting stepped in and offered to help out. They offered to take in Audrey and provide her with medical care and even alternative treatments that we couldn’t afford. They spoke of how since Audrey would only be an hour away, she would still be able to visit with her family often. (I can count on one hand the number of times we actually saw Audrey during those months). I can only merely speculate about what went awry. I don’t know if these people were lying all along, on some sort of vendetta, or what…I won’t do that here though (speculate, that is) — I shall stick with the facts.

The facts are that as soon as Audrey began showing her true colors at their house and they had Audrey put into a “facility”, they cut off all communication with us, and between us and Audrey. They wouldn’t let us participate in Audrey’s care, wouldn’t return phone calls or emails — and refused to let Audrey contact us. (Thankfully, Audrey, against their wishes contacted us anyway, three times, using a borrowed cell phone at school, and informed us of some things that were going on. Oh MY — the LIES! The DECEPTION! These people are unreal!)

On Wednesday, the 21st, Rob called these people yet again (we hadn’t seen Audrey in about 2 months at this point) and said that we needed to talk. They called back late Wednesday night stating that we would NOT have contact with Audrey, NOR would we have anything to do with her care and treatment — as if they have the legal right to do such a thing! We never gave up our rights. We merely gave them the legal ability to get Audrey medical treatment and schooling. We were asking for one thing and one thing only — to be involved with our oldest child’s life. Period. They refused so Rob asked for the name of their attorney….

And they threatened him! They said that if we tried to get Audrey back that they would file false allegations of child abuse against us so we would “lose the rest of [our] children”.

They then proceeded, the following day to go through their phone records and call anyone Audrey had ever called from their phone, SLANDERING us (making up all kinds of false allegations against us — RIDICULOUS stuff!)

We contacted our attorney and the child protective unit of our sheriff’s department. Both told us those people had no legal rights and to go pick Audrey up. We did, early that Saturday morning. This act prompted these people to commit libel against us by emailing everyone from our reenactment group to further their character assassination against us.

The first thing Audrey wanted to do when she returned home
was to take a bath and cuddle with “Boo”, her favorite little sister

Our attorney is recommending that we file both a slander and a libel suit against them…and if they do follow through on their threats of false allegations to DCF, they will be facing felony charges under the law.

What a mess! Why do people do things like this?

It came out, after we brought Audrey home, that the entire time we had been trying to contact Audrey, they had been telling the poor child that we didn’t WANT her anymore — that we (her entire family) wanted nothing to do with her — and that she should just “forget” about us. Obviously, Audrey is glad to be home. She says she never wants to see or talk to those people again. I can only imagine what they put her through emotionally, while under the guise of trying to “help” her.

So please pray for us. This has been a painful situation for the children, especially Dinky Tumblina who, much like Anne Frank, believes that people are good at heart. She is hurt. She keeps saying, “But Mom. I thought they were nice. We even spent Christmas with them.” The betrayal is cutting her deeply.

We need prayer for Audrey too. She is completely un-medicated at the moment, and has NO conflict resolution skills as usual. Lots of tantrums — throwing things, yelling, banging around. Flying off the handle over nothing. We don’t know what we are going to do. We have an “emergency” appointment for her for counseling on Wednesday — the absolute soonest we could get her in.

So please pray for Audrey…and for wisdom on our parts as to what to do about her.
And please pray for my other children who are suffering from all of this…and for this whole DCF thing and this whole slander/libel thing.

All of this is in the midst of preparing for yet another move, and trying to finish up our homeschool year while preparing for next year, and while Rob is looking for another job, and while the children are performing their spring plays, and…(the list goes on).

See? Roller coaster ride. These are the things that have taken my mind off blogging and answering email faithfully over the last month or two.