Troubled Times 2
The names have been changed here to protect the privacy of the family.
My sister, July, was having troubles of her own out in California, and wanted to move back to Wisconsin and live with me for a while. I agreed, and July and her three year old, Mike, moved in with me. It wasn't long before she got a place of her own... just a cabin out on a lake, but it was hers. She asked me if my youngest daughter, Annie could come and baby-sit for her over the summer.
Annie really wanted to do this. I thought about it, and told her that her Dad had not contacted me about his visitation, so I thought that it would be all right. According to the court judgment, he was to have the kids for one month in the summer time, but he was supposed to let me know the dates and times by May 15, or he wasn't supposed to get them. He had not complied with the order, so I assumed that he wasn't planning on taking them this year. Annie moved in with July
In July, Ron (my ex-husband) came back to Wisconsin, and called me, and told me that he had plans to take Annie down to Arizona on the 15th of the month. He never even mentioned the other two girls that were now living at the school in Spring Valley. I told him that he couldn't do that, and that since I hadn't had any notice from him, we had made other arrangements. He told me that he would have to get his lawyer to talk to the judge. I then asked him something that had really been bothering me for a while. Mary had asked me once, if her Dad had ever done anything to her. She had asked me if she had ever been abused, sexually. I didn't know how to answer that question, because I had never seen him do anything like that, but you never know. The doctors that had done her assessment, and the people at Social Services had told me that she was exhibiting some of the classic symptoms of someone that had been sexually abused. So, since I was already upset with him, I asked him if he had ever done anything like that. That really got him angry.
He did go to his lawyer, and somehow they got the judge to write up some kind of papers, and they had a police car sitting outside of my house for days on end. I got scared, and packed a few things, and moved in with my aunt in Minnesota for a few weeks. I left a note at work, and told them that I was having trouble with my ex, and that I didn't know what was going to happen, but I couldn't go into work for a while. I knew that he would be watching my work, and they had the police car sitting outside of my house. I had a friend at my church that made a few inquiries for me at the courthouse, and he advised me to stay out of Wisconsin, at least for a while.
I found out from my sister that Ron had been hunting for Annie. He didn't know where July lived, but he knew that she lived in a cabin, so he methodically went to every one of the lakes in the area, until he found them.
July saw him behind her one time when she was driving, and he started to chase her. She is a very fast driver, and got away from him, but she had to pretty much max out the speedometer of her little car in order to do it. He came to her cabin one time when they were gone, and the neighbors told her. The second time that he came, my Mom and Dad were there visiting her, and Annie was hiding in the cabin. My Mom looked at him and said, "Up to your old tricks, again, huh..."
He informed them that if Annie was not turned in to the courthouse by a certain time, I was going to jail. This went on for several weeks, and finally I could not stand it any more. I couldn't live like this. I wasn't a bad person. I hadn't done anything. I knew why Ron was so incensed, and why he was determined to "get" me. I had not only defied him, but I had accused him of sexually abusing our daughter. But I thought that, no, this could not go on indefinitely.
I was going to go back to Wisconsin, and confront the problem. I would just go and contact that police officer and ask him to serve me with any papers that he had. He had told my grandpa that if I didn't want the papers, I just didn't have to answer the door, or look out the curtains, or show any sign of life in the house... but who wants to live like a fugitive for the rest of your life?
I went back to Wisconsin and called him. He told me that I should contact the District Attorney, and make arrangements to talk to the judge.
The meeting was set up, and they wanted me to bring my daughter along. First I went into the Judge's chambers, and Ron's lawyer was there, and wanted to make it very clear, and wanted it to go on record that I was violating Ron's rights as a father. I just listened to what he had to say, and made no comment as he was berating me to the Judge and the stenographer. Then I made a suggestion, that maybe, since Annie already had plans for the summer, maybe he could take her for two weeks at Christmas time, instead. They thought about it, but the judge wanted to talk to Annie.
She went into his chambers, and he asked her a few questions. Annie told him that she didn't want to go to Arizona, with her Dad, because her sister Mary had said that she thought that he had abused her, and she (Annie) didn't want to end up the same way as her sister. They called me back in, and accepted my proposal to have Annie go down with her Dad at Christmas time, and no charges would be placed against me. Nothing was said about the sexual abuse, and I think that the Judge was just happy to have any excuse to be done with the whole thing.
After this time, Annie started to show some of the same behavior that her sisters had. Mostly with her, it was like a cold hatred in her words, and she would do or say anything to put me down and show how she did not like me or anything that I did. She also wanted it to be clear to me that she was in charge, and not me.
Everything began to pile up on me, and I felt so tired. I kept on going, but it was like something was draining the very life out of my soul. Social Services refused to do anything, because they said that I was a strong person, and had confidence that I could handle this. They would send over a counselor every once in a while, and Annie would play games with them. As long as the counselor was there, she would act like she was the rational one, and that she was really trying to make all of these compromises with me, to make life at home more acceptable for her. She made it seem like I was the unreasonable one, and did not want to work with her.
I would tell them, what they said was fine, but as soon as they left, she would do exactly what she wanted to do. It was all lies. And then, of course that made me look even more like I was unbending, and not willing to work with them. In reality, I would have done anything to make things better, if it was something real and not a lie. But Annie liked to play games.
Things began to escalate with Annie. Mary was gone, but now it was my baby, Annie. Kay was uncontrollable, and was always running, but Annie was my baby, and she had always been so loving and precious. It was hard to see poison running through her now. At times, she would have nightmares, and tell me about how she would see different people in our family that were possessed by the devil, and tell me how she was so afraid by these things. But she would also do and say some horrible things to me.
She also refused to eat, and I would take her into the doctor every week, who would lecture her on the dangers of anorexia, and tell her that she looked like a concentration camp victim. She seemed to enjoy this, and played along with them for a while. She was a game player.
I would pray, and pray and pray, and had friends praying constantly for my children. But there didn't seem to be any change. I kept trying, but I was getting so tired. One day, I woke up, and didn't even realize what day it was. I started doing something, and several hours later, realized that I was supposed to be at work. I called in, and knew that I was in big trouble. After I explained my situation to my supervisor, she told me that I need to go into counseling. I started seeing a counselor, and their diagnosis was that I had a stress related disorder, and gave me some anti depressants. I took those pills for several months, and after talking to Social Services again, they agreed to let Annie and Kay, my remaining children go into foster care for six months.
Annie did not take well to foster care. The people that were her foster parents wouldn't play her games, and told her right out that if she didn't want to eat, they didn't care. She could go ahead and kill herself. That was her choice. She started to eat, but she really hated them. She started punching holes in their walls, and stealing from them. Social Services told me that she had to come home. I told them that the Judge had ordered that both of my kids were to be in foster care for six months, and that we needed to discuss this. They said that if the kids refused to go to school, and were unmanageable, they had to come home. I really wasn't ready to have them come home. But Social Services has ways of making sure that whatever they want comes to pass.
They went to my children, and told them that they were coming home, and then my kids got really happy, and informed me that they were coming back. I had no knowledge or understanding of this, but Social Services manipulated things behind my back. And if I said that they couldn't come home, I would be the bad guy. And Social Services said that there was no place in their system for them. So they came home.
There was no change in either one of the kids. They were running, refused to go to school, and were totally hateful to me at all times. One day, I was in my bedroom, and Annie was sleeping out on the couch. Suddenly, God showed me what was troubling my daughter, Annie, and I got so mad at the devil.
I started praying, and took authority over those things. I did this quietly, because I didn't want her to hear. If I prayed and my kids could hear me, they were extremely abusive, and it seemed to make things worse. Anyway, this time, I just started rebuking the devil, and there was such strong unction. Then I felt like I was done. I stopped praying, and I heard Annie talking to Kay out in the living room. I went out to see what was going on.
"Mom," Annie told me excitedly, "You will never believe what just happened to me. I had the strangest dream. I was laying here, and all of a sudden, I had all of these demons crawling all over me."
I looked at her, and calmly said, "I'm not surprised," and turned around and walked back into my room.
From that day forward, Annie's attitude, her speech, and everything about her changed. Gone was the poison, and the abuse and the hate. Gone was the foul mouth. She was more like she had been before. God had delivered her, and she was released from those things.
Continued....
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