Selah's Story

Someone asked if I'd tell our story/Selah's story to my new readers. If you go back to November 2011 on, you can read it in more detail...but here goes...

Last summer we were a happy family with our three boys...Jon & I are in our late 40's and thought we were complete. We had thought about adoption right after we adopted Shad but that adoption didn't work out. So we thought we were done...and we were fine with it.

Then....a friend posted a blog about a family who had adopted a 12 year old from Bulgaria who weighed 12 pounds she had Downs and was horribly mistreated...I read about their journey & was just amazed! In that blog, they mentioned Reece's Rainbow. Well I looked...and googled "blind children' and three kids came up...Sarah (named Genesis for their purpose to not share her real name), Dimitry and Michelle. Sarah looked JUST like Sam. In the awful picture, her head was shaved and I thought she was a he. She looked so much like Sam, that I was blown away. I turned the computer off, I was just sick on my stomach. Her little blurb talked about the fact she was in an adult mental institution. That night I couldn't sleep, I tossed & turned and thought "what if that were Sam????" I prayed for all three children but especially her (although I thought at the time, she was a boy) The next Sunday was the first Sunday in November which has become "orphan Sunday" I talked to Jon and we decide to take up an offering and put money on a grant for all three children to help someone to adopt them. So we took up an offering. Then by that Sunday evening I had decided a one time offering of a little less than $300 just was not enough! Our church Grace Church had just gone through a building program and because of the generosity of other churches and individuals, we owed no money at all on the more than $100,000 worth of repairs! So I thought our church needed to step up and raise the full amount for all three children to get families....

The next day I called the director of Reece's Rainbow and shared all that with her. I'm sure she thought I was a bit of a kook but she wasn't the first nor would be the last to think that LOL!

So that idea lasted for about 3 days LOL! On Wednesday night I met my husband outside our house after he drove up and told him I didn't want anyone else to adopt Sarah! He totally agreed...the next morning I was back to calling the director of Reece's Rainbow...well just that past Monday I told her that we wanted to help those kids but we were NOT going to adopt them! LOLOL!! So now I'm telling her we wanted to adopt Sarah and Dimitry since they were at the same adult mental institution! I'm sure she thought I was truly a kook then!!!!!

We wanted to commit to Sarah (Genesis) and Dimitry. But RR wasn't sure if that was a good idea as they were at mental institution where there were concerns about adopting from. (Come to find out, we were 100% welcomed there) but we committed to Sarah and began the process of compiling a dossier.

I put on FB what we were doing and how much money we needed for our "American" side of the adoption. Within THREE hours the total amount that we needed to get started came in as pledges! CRAZY!

So we ran through the adoption process, mostly due to the fact we had a great social worker who we had worked together with before in Shad's adoption and plus I was totally motivated to get the dossier done. I had all our paperwork done in 8 weeks!!! Somewhere along the line we committed to Dimitry also who we had planned to rename Seth.

Our fiances were coming in. On December 31, 2011, we estimated that we need over $17,000 to complete the adoption. On that day OVER $10,000 came in! Some through the fund that Reece's Rainbow set up for us and some from a family who gave through our church. Then God spoke to my heart and told me that the reminder would come in all at one time...Two weeks later it did....So we wre fully funded and our paperwork was in country. Then we waited for a travel date...that was sooooo hard! Throughout the process I had a fear that one of the children would die. It was a real fear because that happens. One family just lost the child they were hoping to adopt only NINE days before they were to travel. It's a real life and death struggle in Ukraine. Ukraine is a very poor country with little health care available.

Well one morning I got a email from our facilitator...I read it and just started bawling! Another family had adopted Dimitry...it just broke our hearts. I was sad and angry. Oh that day was just awful!!! If you adopt from Ukraine, the child you want to adopt is not held for you. Some countries do hold a child but Ukraine feels that the child should have every chance of a family and it is in the child's interest that they are not held. Many times adoptive families do back out on adoptions and if the child's case has been held, it may keep another family from moving forward for the child. I actually agree with how it is done but it is scary while you are adopting! So that day I was a mess! But I determined I was going to trust God. I've said this before,and I'll say it again, I've been bitter and I know how awful that place is! I will not go back to there again! So we worked through the disappointment as a family and looked at it as a blessing for Dimitry that he would have a family before we could get there and that he was already being cared for and loved on. He had more special needs so who knows if he would have survived until we got there. Maybe he would have gotten pneumonia or a flu in the weeks before we could come? God knows what is best. (FYI, we are now quite good friends with his family and love them and are sooo happy for him and them! They worked with another facilitator and didn't know us. It's great to be friends with them and see him blossom and grow. We hope one day to meet in person:)

So then we were bombarded it seemed by pictures of other children that were there and available for adoption...the first picture was of Selah. Her condition was listed as blind and Cerebral palsy. We doubted she was blind because of the way she looked into the camera in every picture we saw of her. We were cautious but went ahead and changed our home study to include her age and all her disabilities.

This all happened about 6 weeks before we left. Then I started getting excited about having TWO little girls! ME, the mother of THREE boys, would get to have PINK!!!! Let the shopping begin LOLOLOL!!!!

Then we left on March 30th, met the girls on April 4th, went to court, finally were allowed to take them out on May 5th, got home on May 9th after all the embassy stuff...then we had a wonderful magical summer. Selah was most certainly NOT blind nor did she have CP. Both girls were just a joy to have and they fit into our family like they were the missing pieces! Over and over throughout the summer, I would just tell God how thankful I was for my life and my five children! I told Jon several times that I had NEVER been happier before in my life. We had these three great boys who we adored and now we were blessed with these two precious angels who just fit in and were so easy to parent. Our biggest challenge was getting the three little ones into the van. Sam and Selah don't walk all that good and Sarah doesn't walk yet so it was challenging if you were by yourself to get everyone in and strapped! Truly that was my biggest challenge! Selah and Sarah were pure joy:) There were none of the problems that we anticaped of adopting older children from a mental institution! What a marvelous summer it was, introducing them to new things, planning their wardrobe ( no they didn't care but it was fun to me to put them in new outfits daily!) What fun we had!


On August 10th we left Florida to drive up here for Sam's yearly check up and to see if Sarah would be eligible for a corneal implant. We took our time driving, stopped in Mt Airy NC to visit Andy Griffith's hometown, had a great time. We got here and on August 14, Sam and Sarah had EUA (exam under anesthesia) Sam's eyes were perfect, five years out from his corneal implant. Dr Aquevella had some concerns about Sarah's eye being strong enough to have the operation. So she was scheduled for a MRI on August 16th.

Selah's 8th birthday was on August 14, the day Sam and Sarah had the EUAs. We were at this hospital from 6 am till 4 pm. It was pouring rain that night so we stayed in and ate at the RMH...we really didn't celebrate her birthday, we planned to do so on August 15th.

The accident happened on Aug 15th.

We did get Sarah an MRI the next week but determined her eye is too fragile for the operation.

BTW, the other little girl Michelle who was at another mental institution has a family now also!

DAILY UPDATE:

Jon stayed throughout the day with Selah and I stayed with the other four. Today she has battled very very high blood pressures. One medicine was tried but it brought her heart rate up too high. She has been given a different one now and thankfully her body has responded to it perfectly! Please keep praying for her!

Jon felt like she responded to him today in a new way. Se was mimicking the noises she used to make for different things (she was non verbal) and she began moving her lips as if she were copying him. I took over at 7pm and felt like she was very far away. She is extremely stiff tonight, her limbs feel like a piece of wood. She has just been given some meds for that also. Their hope is that she will relax her limbs as it causes more damage to her range of motion. She seems very far away tonight and again I am just hanging on in faith. PLEASE pray for her!

Our family was blessed today by the Rochester Macy's! They invited us to come and shop with them! It was a fun but a bit overwhelming experience:) They gave us about $150 in free mechanise and then gave us crazy discounts on everything else we bought:) All the boys got a Nike jogging suit and jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Steve somehow got a 2nd Nike shirt and soft jogging pants (don't know how that happened LOL) Got Sarah a PJ set and a new outfit too. We had a wonderful manager with us helping me or I'd probably been so overwhelmed I would have left long before I did! She insited that I get something and Jon too and we actually both got several things. It was fun and we met some really sweet folks! Thanks to the manager Bill and his assistant Amanda!!!!!! You guys just blessed our family so much and in such a sweet warm way:) Steve and Shad can't wait to wear their new clothes! They are excited and hoping it will get cooler quick!!!! We are truly thankful for your kindness to our family!

Y'all know we're from the south....but we have met some wonderful folks up here in the north and have experienced "Northern Hospitality"! We are daily amazed by all the kindness we have been shown! We are blessed with this great hospital and staff who do all they can for Selah and truly seem to care even about little details! We are blessed with the Ronald McDonald House and staff and volunteers who truly care about our family as if we were part of their family! The community of Rochester has been kind to us in so many ways & has reached out to us~ During this trying time we have been surrounded by so much love! We have a college friend Charlene Wallenbeck who comes every day and stays with our other four kids so Jon & I can come up to the hospital together for some time! Our hearts are overflowing with thankfulness for all the kindness so many here have shown to us! The readers of my blog have been so uplifting in their responses, we have so many friends all over the world praying for Selah...calls, texts, emails, cards, packages, gift cards, food, checks...people reaching out in practical ways...it blows us away. It's been a great lesson for Steve and Shad to see how much it means to reach out to others when trying times come! They are so appreciative also. We can't help but weep at times from just the love we've recieved from so many...THANK YOU ALL!!!!