Families of individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience many stressors associated with transitions across the lifespan. One way to explore how families adapt to transitions is to explore meaning making surrounding transitions. The current study utilized the phenomological method and the process of retroduction analysis to understand how families make meaning over time within the specific context of life long transitions unique to individuals with IDD and their families. The family resilience model (FRM) (Henry, Morris, & Harrist, 2015) was used as the lens to review the data for themes surrounding family meaning making and an inductive analysis was allowed for new themes to emerge. Using a sample of 23 family members from 19 qualitative interviews, the research question examined included: how do family members of relatives with IDD make meaning over a lifetime of risk and transition (e.g., initial diagnosis, institutionalization, and deinstitutionalization. Family members shared eight themes, six of which fit within the FRM.