The Cast

There is me!  The wife and mother.  I was married before to a very violent man. I had two children with him before I realized it was never going to change.  I prayed hard for God to send someone who would accept my children as his own.

Enter my husband, Paul.  (names changed)  He adopted my two children and, as prayed for, accepted them as his own.  We have been married almost 24 years.  We had six more children making the supporting cast of eight.

Child 1:  Crawford.  The alienator. The one who will stop at nothing to destroy our family.  The one who waits in the shadow to snare each child as they leave home.  The angry one.  The sociopath.  The one who is perfect and never to blame.  The one I have had to bury and suffer his death and yet he continues to resurrect.

Child 2:  Lynn.  My first daughter.  The one I once has a special bond.  The one whose betrayal I never saw coming.  The one who hurts me with her children.

Child 3:  Paul.  Our first baby together.  The one that held our hearts for so long.  The one who still causes us tears.  He is brainwashed.  We still hope.  We pray for his return.

Child 4:  Grace.  She almost fell into the clutches of evil.  They worked hard on her.  But through the grace of God she escaped the icy grips.  She ran back into our arms.  She loves us and makes us feel so.  She lives close.  Lets us watch our grand baby grow.  She is God's consolation for the pain we have endured.

Child 5:  Clare.  The almost perfect one.  The one that is still too young.  She is undefiled.  She is an honor student.  She is God's consolation to us.

Child 6:  Michael.  Our special boy.  He is autistic with a brain injury. He is like dealing with quadruplet toddlers.  He is my little angel on the inside but can be loud, abusive, demanding and just down right nasty!

Child 7:  Marie.  I'm not sure about this one yet.  She is a pistol.  But she is so funny.  So full of life  She is popular wherever she goes.  She has a kind and strong heart and loves her faith.  I think this one may need a little extra prayers.  She is a lot like Grace and could be easily led astray but also easily kept close.

Child 8:  Augustine (Gus).  The baby.  He may have some learning issues and deals with a lot of ADHD.  He loves us to the point of suffocation!  He brings me so much comfort and joy.  So many nights I can still hold him on my lap and feel the security that I can give him.

Grand child 1 and 2:  Natty and Deanne.  They belong to the alienator.  I see them every couple months thanks to their mother who is divorced from Crawford.

Grand 3:  Dawn.  Belongs to child 3.  She is a character.  She loves me.  She loves to come stay with me.

Grand 4:  Rose.  Belongs to child 2.  The first of the grandchildren to truly be used against me.  I have seen her only a few times in her first year.  She is also the first grand from a daughter.  I was surprised at the bond I had for her before she was born.  Being cut out of her life has had an unexpected pain.

Grand 5:  Mena.  My joy in life.  She belongs to child 4.  She is the one I see all the time.  The one whose face brightens when she sees me. The one to whom I can truly be grandmother.

Grand 8:  Bella.  She belongs to child 3.  His second.  I have seen her may times since her birth.  She is so sweet and beautiful.

Grand 7:  Gerard.  Second baby of child 2.  The first boy.  A new pain for Paul as he is cut from his first grandson's life.  He is the newest.  The smallest.  The first one to enter the world without us knowing until he was here.

The other supporting roles include the other halves of these children.  The ones who have a big influence on them once they leave.

Child 1 has had three of these.  The first lasted a month.  The second gave me 2 grandchildren and lasted a year.  The third has been a pretend spouse but will be making it official this spring.

Child 2 is married to Tony.  He can not stand anyone in her family and isolates her from everyone.  She told us after they were first married that he was abusive.  I have not heard anything since then.

Child 3 is married to Lynn.  Since there is already a Lynn in the cast we will call her Pauline.  She did not like us for a long time.  I understand  She did not know us.  She was poisoned by the lies that child 1 and 2 told them.  But God has worked hard on us.  We love her dearly and if she doesn't know that we pray that one day she will.

Child 4 is married to Benny.  He is amazing.  He has replaced the 2 older brothers for the younger children.  They love him.

So there is my cast of characters.  We are a motley crew but is there a family on earth who is not??