Showing posts with label triangulation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triangulation. Show all posts

Friday, June 24, 2016

In Our Thoughts Prayers and Dreams

This parenting gig doesn't end.  Even when kids you love choose estrangement.
Father's Day I honored Hubbie, my baby-daddy -such a wonderful daddy that he accepted others' children to raise as his own... with the same undying love he has for our biological child.  (Not that adopted/bio EVER made any difference... Until Reactive Attachment Disorder RADtypically attacked at the time when age-typical-embarkation to adult life  reawakened our adoptees' abandonment issues.)

Nightly my love mentions our children, their children and even their RADtypically triangulated against us "rescuers"... Whomever is currently pretending to be "the awesome parents our adoptees never had" ...unknowingly perpetuating our kids' estrangement as they "rescue" our kids from dangers that never existed (in OUR home).

Aside from us praying nightly for our kids by name... Adoption issues have been a small part of my daily life although thoughts of the kids, prayers for them, flow regularly throughout.

This has been a bigger than normal "adoption issues" week for me.  Bumping into adoptive friends I've not seen in almost a year... Calls from friends who call me 'cause ppl who haven't adopted would NEVER understand.

I dreamt of the murdered child's father a few days ago.  Googled and found an online presence.  Found a "throwback" photo of our adoptees' biomom.  I thought... Wow... Same face... She'll probably look just like that when she's middle aged!   Then I noticed caption.  Wow.  Our adoptee is already older than biomom when that photo was taken.  Addiction is such a hard life.

My work sends me all over.  From time to time I work almost walking distance to the address that consistently shows court history for biomom.  I don't think that address is the brothel/crack-den where various sources have said our son was born... But I suppose it's nearby.  I honestly don't know. There's this little (big?  I have no idea) microcosm of life so foreign to everything I know.  A place where their reality is so very different than my own.

I wonder sometimes what keeps adopted daughter away.  She's said she's made contact with bio family... I wonder if that's part of it.   She's shared her shock at biomom's manipulations which sound like the same manipulations the murdered child would tell me about.  There is a reason the children couldn't stay safely in that microcosm.  It was never their fault.  We always encouraged our adoptees to have loving thoughts about their birthparents.  Tried to explain how consuming and distorting addiction can be.  We always encouraged if our adoptees choose to explore their biological roots that they be careful... Cause it was during a visit with the family of origin that the oldest was murdered at 18.

Anyway... I wonder from time to time if connecting with birthmom plays some part in our daughter's estrangement.  I don't think it should.  I've struggled for almost 7 years of estrangement to understand our adoptees thought processes.

As I drove near that neighborhood for work recently, I wondered if our grandchildren have been to their biogranny's  house.  

I dreamt of our adoptees this week.  In the dream (like in real life) our adopted daughter was running around the church people we raised them near, causing strife against us.  I dreamt church families were struggling marriages, children, health issues.

  In the dream I told our daughter... It's okay... We love you... We've only ever had you and your siblings as our children.  Our love is irrevocable.  You've had about 19 families before us.  Everything you're doing is SO NORMAL for kids who've had beginnings similar to yours!   We love you, and allow you to love the ones before us.  You might find comfort in the knowledge you are not alone in your experiences.  We love you.

In my dream she began sobbing.  The church ppl surrounding her became suddenly distracted by their  own family, health, relationship issues.   I woke up praying health, healing, happiness and Love... for them all.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Finally!!!!

We have been asking certain family members for more than three years that IF they choose to have contact with our estranged adult adoptees...

PLEASE learn about Reactive Attachment Disorder!

PLEASE learn how to best be supportive of adoptive families as a whole!

PLEASE learn about triangulation that is symptomatic of RAD... and don't allow yourself to be triangulated! 

We never forbade family to see or talk to our children.  We have only asked for a consistent message of  "Your parents love you, YOU NEED TO TALK TO THEM NOT ME about what's going on between you."

Somewhere along the line the easily triangulated ones with the "rescuer" gene would fluctuate between,

"Let's all smile pretty and pretend nothing happened!"

and

 "Don't worry, just because your parents suck, IIIII still love you!  You'll ALWAYS have MY love!"

and

"I have to hear both sides of the situation before I can make a proper judgement about what's going on between you and your parents." 

It seems like last night FINALLY one couple of the most painful perpetuate-ers of strife in our family seemed to "get" how their "good intentioned" meddling has continued to hurt us and our family over the last three years. 

This is huge!!!!

We are grateful for progress. 

We are grateful for family and friends who support our adoptees' return to mental health by supporting our family as a whole. 

We continue to pray for the rest. 

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

RAD nightmares

Many times dreams help us process recent events.  Many times they appear they are nothing more than fluff.
Sometimes dreams are SIGNIFICANT. 

I had a significant dream two weeks ago.  It was a nightmare actually.  Key characters were the entire family portraying "new family" to our RADson.  


The dream involved the entire family messing around in OUR BACK YARD.  

Their dog had bitten, and latched onto our son.  Our son had that family's dog horizontally latched onto his upper thigh yet our son kept INSISTING he was fine, insisting it was "no big deal."

In the dream I was yelling;
"YOU'RE TRESPASSING!  
                 GET OUT OF OUR YARD!  
                        YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!                            
                                 I'M CALLING THE POLICE!  
                                               GET OUT!"  
I awakened... teeth clenched... fight or flight mode...ringing in my mind fresh from my nightmare was:
"YOU'RE TRESPASSING!!!!!"

The first conscious thought I had after realizing it was just a dream was; 
"Forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us!"

Throughout our ordeal, one consistent link to peace is being obedient to God's call to forgive... (it is often the VERY LAST THING I WANT TO DO!!!!)  
I am blessed beyond words as we pray for those who persecute us... to make the decision to forgive even when feelings of unforgiveness rear their ugly head.  Peace begins to flow... 
I studied la-maze when pregnant 25 years ago.
So many years later I find it helpful for so much more than child birth... 
YET, all the zen breathing in the world,
does not restore peace to me
anywhere near the way
the CONSCIOUS
DECISION
TO EXTEND FORGIVENESS
does.

It turns out my RADnightmare was a tad prophetic... 
Yes that family HAS BEEN trespassing, for almost 2 years now!  But additionally, I found out a few days after my bad dream the RADtypicallyTriangulated Rescuers are branching out with new boldness proclaiming our ADULT son as their own in a more public forum.  
They are SO VERY PROUD of the rebellion they have been growing.  
They delight in "playing Savior."

I'm praying "Father, convict them (not condemn them!) so they will stop their harmful behavior... and most importantly... forgive them for they obviously know not what they do!"