Grandmothers Raising Their Grandchildren: From Broken Pieces to Peace and Purpose; One Family's Journey of Addiction to Adoption

By Rachel Mahnke

This empowering and transformative book by Rachel Mahnke is important self-help for grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren, mothers who have addicted adult children, and grieving mothers looking to find hope. In the chapters of the book you find tools to conquer guilt and shame while learning to speaking truth to the lies we are led to

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: Jun 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885900980

Rachel Mahnke

Rachel Mahnke is a certified health and wellness coach and a sought-after speaker who travels around the country speaking to groups and churches to let people know that grand-families exist and are a group that needs our love and attention. Rachel is the mother of 10 biological children, three stepchildren, and two of her 11 grandchildren. Rachel is married to her best friend Lee. She and her husband are raising their family in Colorado.

Book preview

CHAPTER

1

Acknowledging Our Current Realities

How did we get here? Not one of us probably ever thought when we had our children that we would be sitting in a room filled with other grandmothers who were raising their grandchildren, and here we are, one of them. How did we get to place where our hearts ache daily from the brokenness that we feel inside? I’m a mom and a grandmother just like you. I had similar hopes and dreams for my children just like you all did, I’m sure. If we all got together for lunch one day and shared our stories, I bet we would have a great deal in common. I would even guess that we come from all different walks of life as well. I believe we would all share one thing in common: we all love our children. If you were anything like me, I gave it my all trying to be the best mom that I could. I read the parenting books. I prayed for my family. We went to church every Sunday. I felt like I was doing a good job raising my children. Then it all seemed to get flushed down the toilet, literally right before our eyes. My beautiful daughter began hanging out with people we didn’t know. Before I knew it, she was taking drugs. She found a group of people that accepted her brokenness, and she felt like they understood her. That drew her out of relationship with her family and into relationship with a group of hurting young people like herself. One day, she just stopped talking to me. I think that she felt so ashamed and lost. I feel that it was easier to just cut us all off than try to explain what was happening inside of her.

Then came the not so unexpected pregnancy. We tried like crazy to get her help. Thankfully, she was accepted into a rehab for young mothers. This opportunity brought hope that rehab would fix all her problems. She managed to stay sober until shortly after our beautiful granddaughter was born. I had believed that my daughter would stay sober to care for her new baby. The stress of being a new mom, the sleepless nights, and a sore body won out over reason. The doctor said that she was dealing with postpartum depression, but I think it may have been a combination of addiction and depression. Soon she was back on the drugs that she was addicted to. My heart was crushed to watch her struggle like this. What hurt so much was watching from the sidelines and feeling helpless. She went from momentary mommy back to addict in just a matter of weeks. The power that drugs held over my daughter was astonishing. We were all so naive about drugs, addiction, and