Seth Job Clanton

Seth is officially on the Reece's Rainbow page "My Family found Me" so I can now publish his picture!!!!! We are looking forward to day that we can hold this little guy and take care of him! Please pray that all the paperwork moves quickly for these two precious children!!!!!

Paper chasing.... still

Sitting here waiting for our notary friend to come by and redo the last 4 pages on our dossier:) Still waiting for my homestudy, which is waiting for Jon's medical (for some reason they didn't check the paper for an HIV test and it had to be redone) Then we still wait on the USCIS (homeland security/immigration) background. As soon as I get my homestudy in hand, I'm going to be calling my senator to ask for the paperwork to be expiated!

We sent in the commitment pledge of $1000 for Dmitiry/Seth Can't wait until we are officially matched on Reece's Rainbow and are able to put up his picture too!!!


We are working on all the funding, have some letters/emails out, knowing that the God of this Universe will provide for these kids!!!!

This is the most emotional thing I have ever done in my life. We didn't have to be vulnerable and love these kid but we made the choice to and it hurts. It hurts because we care for them and want to take away their hurt and give them love and a full belly, and we can't yet. We have a son like them, we know their vulnerability and needs, probably more than most. It's hard because we know how loving we've taken care of Sam since his first breath. We've taken him to every specialist and tried to meet all his needs and anticipate his wants as he doesn't communicate verbally. So it hurts to think of two children, lost in a dark world with no one to be their parents. Oh God protect them until we can be there for them!

Please pray for them whenever you think of them.

For all you who thought I was a saint...I ain't LOL

Today has been crazy...got LOTS of work done on the adoption. I'm trying to make sure everything is in for the homestudy, do the USCIS/Homeland Security stuff & the "pre dossier" and the dossier....and raise money ALL at the same time. All are inter related yet separate... Then today the "pre dossier" (for lack of a better term) changed. Well I hadn't done it yet anyhow, I was waiting for the change BUT there came an urgency with the change to get certain documents in. Just so you know getting an adoption document in, doesn't just mean signing it and mailing it...OH NO that would be TOO easy! It means signing it, getting it notarized, faxing it to the agency for approval, getting approved and then sending it to Tallahassee for it to be "apostilled" a fancy name for the notary's seal to be verified ON EACH SHEET OF PAPER!!!! For a charge of course! Then it has to be sent back to us, mailed to the agency and sent to the country!! So I'm stressing!

Then to finish up the paperwork for our homestudy that might be finsihed by Monday I had to drive to Tampa, find the Dept of Children & Families to get our child abuse clearance...(to make sure we haven't been abusing our kids. My son threatened me and told me I had to get him pizza or he'd tell on me lol since he is way bigger than me....)

So I FINALLY find the place and as I'm getting my documents out of the van, a older lady pulls up and tells me "you are in a handicapped parking spot" I said "i know" and just continue getting my stuff. She then told me to move. Ok I sorta lost it at that point and I told her in a slightly louder than normal voice that I have a handicapped child in the car & would she like to see his Florida ID????? THEN she says "lady you don't hae to get all huffy & be rude to me" At that point I reminded her who began the conversation..... She moved. Then I saw her come in the office I was in and go in the employee door....don't you LOVE state workers like that? Reminds me of bratty girls who loved to tell on other children to get them in trouble (and yes I have someone in mind as I write LOLOL)

Anyhow just wanted all my new readers know I'm not always a saint:) What a day!!!!! And I still have stuff to do tonight, I feel like I have a paper to write (even tho it's not that bad) Then Jon & I have early medical appointments in the morning, then I'm sending in our commitment promise on Seth, Steve has to get his bottom braces, we have a ton of stuff to get notarized, faxed and checked. I'm going to wait to over night it to my friend in Tallahassee who is going to walk it through the appostille process and send it back the same day, till I get the homestudy so it can all go together. so many things to come together in the next few days.....

BTW, we did get pizza tonight in Tampa, a Pizza Hut right next to an adult bookstore....what a day!!!! But we are doing it all for two little ones so it's worth it!!!

Good News

Just a short blog to let you know how things are going. On Monday a dear couple gave us a gift of $1000 towards our adoption. Then on Tuesday a close friend & her hubby gave us a gift of $1000! So today is Wednesday and I'm still waiting for my daily $1000 gift to our adoption:) God is good and so are His people!!!!

Reece's Rainbow has given us permission to commitment to the little boy! They are not confident that we will be approved but we are going to do all our paperwork and pray that the country will grant us favor! I'll be sending in our commitment fee & then I can officially post his picture on here!!!!! We are willing to be his parents if God will grant us the favor of the government !!! Please pray, he's been listed for over 3 years, is in the same mental institution as Sarah and only 5 yrs old. We want to give him a wonderful life with lots of love, something he has never had. We've seen a few pictures of him and he is never smiling...Jon said he can't wait to tickle him till he laughs a belly laugh" We want to bring laughter into his life...pray that we will be able to!!!!!


Doing paper chasing every day. I write a 3 day list at a time and make sure I can mark all the things off on a daily basis for example my list thus far has been....
Monday-
Set up Physicals
write & print the adoption appeal letter
get a copy of deed on property

Tuesday-
Go to Bartow pick up birth certificates & marriage certificates
Balance & enter all transactions on the adoption gifts, make copies and file receipts

Wednesday
Talk to Social Worker
email RR
fill out INS

As you can see somethings require many steps but thankfully I've met my goals for the past 3 days! And still have done all my other chores like laundry , cleaning & eyedrops! Please pray that I can stay focused and get done what I need to do!

Tomorrow I am going to Tampa to find the children & Family office to get our Abuse clearance backgrounds done. I think it will be faster to hand walk it through!!!!

So right now this is my life....can't wwait till the paperwork is done!!!!

Contacts

I LOVE getting comments from so many of you and I really want to comment back but for some reason I can't put a comment in my comment section!!! so if you'd like a reply please post me your email address with your comment:) Thanks

To set the record straight.....dedicated to Mr or Ms Annymous

Mr or Ms Anonymous,

I want to set the record straight for you.....

Adopting a child is not buying a child! Yes there are fees that must be paid to government agencies, there is travel for the family, there are document fees...but it's not buying a child. It's no different than having a child and paying the hospital. It's about the same amount of money. So is birthing a child "buying a child"? Guess so since there is money involved. Guess no one should have a baby then??? Nothing in life is free...there is no free lunch OR FREE child! just remember that!

Adopting can be a wonderful thing for everyone involved. I'm so very thankful I am basically an adopted child. It was a "in family" adoption, my great aunt & uncle took me as a newborn and raised me. We are the proud parents of an adopted child from China. A little boy who was left on the side of the road because he was blind in one eye! He is now a happy, well adjusted , straight A 8 yr old who is so glad we "bought" him! In fact he told me just today "Mom I'm so glad you came and got me!" So put that in your pipe and smoke it!!!! Makes you think about what is important.



Mr or Ms Anonymous, have you ever walked into an orphanage and seen babies lying in one crib after another? Seen your breath because it was so cold in that baby room in January? Maybe if you get off your self satisfied behind and see some of the horrible things in this world, then you might, you just might be moved with compassion to want to rescue a child.

Heck I don't even like going to the pound...should we not have more respect & compassion for a life of a human than an animal??? (And I'm quite the animal lover & rescuer!Pretty sure I've got you beat there too)

Are we glad we "bought" him, glad we chose him over buying a new car? YES!!!! What is a human life worth?


The Bible talks about how Jesus came and bought us, He paid our redemption on the cross. The term "bought" is used throughout the Old and New testament. I'm so glad that Jesus "bought" me out of sin....

So no we don't have $25,000 lying around but check back on my blog in a few months and I can promise you the God of the Universe will provide what we need to go and bring those kids home! And it will be to HIS glory. You can have a hard heart but guess what? One day we will all stand before God and he will ask us what we've done "to the least of them" And that is quoting Jesus.... I want to say I did what He laid on my heart to do and was obedient to it. What about you???

BTW, if you're ever going to post on my blog again, you will have to have a name to do it! Don't be a wuss, if you want to post something nasty, have enough backbone to put your name to it!

In the Middle of a Miracle!

In the middle of a miracle is where we are right now!

Just to put this story in perspective....Let me give you all the details....

A few weeks ago someone posted a blog on FB about a family adopting a very special needs child who had been malnourished terribly. I read their story with horror! This child is 9 yrs old and weighs about 12 pounds....She is safe and now with her family thank God! You can read their story at http://theblessingofverity.com/ The mom mentions Reece's Rainbow in her blog. I looked on there....it's a ministry that is not an adoption agency but they help people find international Special Needs children to adopt. I,of course searched for blind kids, and find several, one who looks JUST like Sam. Her head was shaved so I thought she was a little boy...she had already been transferred from a baby orphanage to a mental institution. I clicked off and went to bed. The image and the awfulness of the whole thing just weighed on my mind and I cried out to God for that child and the 2 other ones who had caught my eye. That night I found it hard to sleep! After that I didn't go back to that website. It was too real, that child looked so much like Sam all it did was make me think of how awful Sam's life would be if he was in that type of situation.

So a few weeks went by and then it was the first Sunday in November, official Orphan Sunday. Our sweet church took up an offering and I thought I'd look back on Reece's Rainbow and find that child and put the money on her for a grant (that's RR's ministry, people can give to that child, for his/her adoption- it's called an adoption grant so even if you can't adopt that child you can make it easy for someone else to adopt him/her) So I found those three children again and realized Genesis was a little girl not boy despite her shaved head. That was the afternoon of November 6th, just two weeks ago! We didn't quite have $300 from the offering so I sat there that afternoon and felt inspired to raise the money needed for all three of them to have full adoption grants! I even shared with some of our congregation that night at a small group about it! On Tuesday I spoke to the director of RR and told her several times we were NOT thinking of adoption....just wanted to raise money for these children! By Wednesday/Thursday we WERE thinking of adoption!!!!!!! By last Friday we had committed in our hearts to adopt her. I emailed the director back sure that by this time she thinks I'm some crazy, half baked person who is wasting her time!!!! She asked if we had the money for all the up front costs, about $3000...I told her yes but honestly in our checking account we had about $82 to last a week.... I wasn't lying, I think she phrased the question like" Will you have the up front money?" Well I knew God could do it if He was in it!

So one of my friends encouraged me to ask for donation on FB. I did without giving hardly any details this past Monday...by Thursday $2004 had come in, just what we needed for the Reece's Rainbow fees, the home study & some background fees! Our social worker had a cancellation and was able to see us on Friday and we sent in all the paperwork, some to local law enforcement and some to Reece's Rainbow! Saturday morning I woke up to a ton of emails and the official notice we were pre approved by RR! They had put our story up on their new family page and the emails started coming! Several families had been so touched by her plight that they'd prayed about taking her but it just wasn't to be for them! One family wrote the sweetest blog and prayer for her ON THE VERY SAME DAY I called RR to tell them we wanted to raise money for her... That family saw on RR that we had committed to her and called me yesterday and have pledged to send the money for the INS fees, something we need to get in this month! They'd been praying for her! Read their blog at http//adoptionbeginnings.blogspot.com/2011/11/genesis.html ! It will blow your mind!!!!!! My husband is reading their blog at the prison and our church this morning! God never forgot her!!!!!

Then they tell me of a woman who has been paying for someone to go in the institution and take care of her and another little boy on an individual basis! WHAT???? I got to talk to her last night and I'm just blown away by how God put Sarah on so many people's heart! she was never forgotten by the God of this Universe.....We are so thankful!!!!!!

This all is so holy & precious...please know we are not saints or angels(especially not me) but we are willing servants...who are saying YES! to God's plan for our lives and for her life! We have Sam, we know what to expect, we know we need to be prepared to see that she has life long care...we're not looking through rose colored glasses here...But it is all done "as onto the Lord" In God's sovereign plan for our lives, He allowed Sam to be born...that changed our lives & focus...then He allowed us to adopt Shad & change his life from living in a sad, cold orphanage in China. Now He has opened our eyes to this child who is need of a family who can cope with her medical/physical/mental issues....we have our PhD in "Samology" LOL, so we are prepared by Sam for her diagnosis and prepared by Shad for the experience of adoption:)

We feel she has Peter's Anomaly and our dear Dr A does too. I sent him the pictures we have and all he said was "When are you bringing her??" We LOVE him!!! He feels she will be able to be help visionally just like Sam was by the corneal implant!!!!!!!

This post has probably been the most important post I've ever written. I want to stress how we feel we are walking "in the middle of a miracle" at this moment! I'm not one who has to go on "feelings" but I sense the nearness of God, the preciousness of His spirit, right now in such a holy way. I just want to die to myself and do His will!

I almost hesitate in sharing this next little bit but.....there is a little boy , at the same institution, turning 6 yrs old in December, Dmitriy....he almost surely has Peter's Anomaly too. We have not committed to him but we are doing our homestudy & INS immigration for TWO children...it would only be about $5000 more to adopt him too. We are praying about it, it could make a real difference in his little life for eternity. I'm sure he'd be a candidate for eye surgery too (won't Dr A love us bringing all these little ones in to see him???) We are open to adopting him if we could be approved by that government. Again we are not saints or anyone special...we are just doing what we can do to serve God. Because of Sam, there are things we can't do like travel the world and be missionaries or do crusades like Billy Graham...but there are things we can do that others can't do because of our experiences..... When we stand before God, we want to know we did all we could while on this earth to reach others. I think of the story of the little boy who was running down a beach, frantically tossing starfish back into the sea so the heat of the sun wouldn't kill them. An old man said "hey kid, you can't save them all" the little boy said as he picks up another one "no but I can save this one" That is how we feel...we can do our part to touch little lives and love them so they know they have a family who loves them

So if you'd like to be a part of this you can give through our church, it's tax deductible... Grace Church 7060 Berry Road, Zephyrhills Fl 33540 or you can give to Reece's Rainbow, we won't get the funds till we travel but that's fine. http://reecesrainbow.org/28647/sponsorclanton

To be on the safe side we probably need to raise about $22,000 especially if we adopt this little guy too. We will also need expenses to go to NY for their surgeries and all the out of pocket fees for their surgeries...But God is so faithful, I know He will provide!!!!!