“From Shadows to Strength: How a Daughter’s Courage Confronted the Legacy of Abuse in Her Family”
This is Quinten on his birthday- I’d given him white cake, trying to avoid a mess- but he decided he wanted chocolate! So he reached across the table, pulled the cake to him, and dug in! That’s how Quinten was around food- you’d think it would be out of reach, but then he’d have it in his mouth as soon as you turned around.
After almost 4 years of caring for them, I reached a point where I could no longer, emotionally or financially do it anymore. Our father was sending money, but I still had to work. Finding affordable daycare for the two of them was next to impossible, and Cameron was reaching the age where he needed his Daddy. So I asked our father to return to the States and get them. This is me telling them goodbye at the airport. Sometimes I feel like this was the last day that I was alive
After 2 years overseas with the boys, our father returned back to the states to live. I was ecstatic. They were only 4 hours away, and I would visit as often as I could. They were 12 and 13. As time passed though, I started noticing that Quinten was looking very pale, very thin…and he wasn’t happy anymore.
I tried coming to town more often- every time I came there was no food in the fridge, the house was filthy, and everyone was so…sad. I would buy groceries, and spend my entire visit cleaning- and it would be right back the way it was before the next time I came down. The boys kept on getting sick- colds that never went away, but our father never took them to the doctor.
