Rejected by my family

Almost 9 years ago, my children's father & I divorced. When I told my mother that he and I were splitting up, she insisted that the break up was my fault and accused me of abandoning my children. She told me that there was no excuse for what I was doing and told me she did not want to hear the reasons why he and I were splitting up. What she didn't know (and didn't want to know!) is that my ex and I had come to this decision together and our breaking up was mutual and amicable. I spent the next five years attempting to maintain a relationship with a woman who was supposed to love me unconditionally, but had completely turned her back on me. I went throught the process of getting a divorce with no support from my family at all. My mother told everyone in my family that I had abandoned my children and cheated on my husband, thus causing our divorce. None of this could have been further from the truth. My children have always been my number 1 priority and I did not cheat on the man. I had spent years with a man who verbally abused me repeatedly and told me over and over again that he "settled" for me. The only good thing that came out of our 12 year marriage is our two beautiful children! So my entire family turned on me based on the lies that my mother told them. No one ever bothered to ask me what had happened. I have been hurt over and over again by this situation, and I am still having a really difficult time accepting the rejection from my mother and my family. The strangest part of this is that my mother was never really fond of my children's father. I guess what makes all of this so difficult is that I had always thought that my family would support me in any situation. I know that I love my kids unconditionally and nothing they ever do could make me turn my back on them. How do I deal with this situation? For the past 4 years, I have had no contact with my mother and last summer she went to court with my ex-husband and his new wife to try to take my kids away from me. My children are 16 and 14 so of course the judge granted their wishes and they were able to stay with me. It just hurts so much to think that my own mother would turn on me like this! Has anyone every dealt with this type of situation before? If so, how do I learn to accept the fact that my mother totally supports my ex-husband and totally rejects me?!?!?