Carnation Instant Breakfasts Drive

We've been asked by several people how they could help the children in the institution. One way we have thought of is through supplying Carnation Instant Breakfasts. A wonderful ministry works there called Life 2 Orphans and they supply the children with the mixes. So if you'd like to send monies earmarked for the Carnation Instant Breakfast Drive, I will buy the packets and we will take a duffel bag full:)

If you live in the area and would like to do a drive, through your works, school or church, that would be great too.

Make sure if you are mailing a donation for the Carnation Instant Breakfast Drive that you write that on your check or money order. Make our your checks to Grace Church 7060 Berry Road, Zephyrhills Fl 33540.

It will be tax deductible also!

Another $1030 came in today, we need just a little over $6000:) We are blessed!!!!!!!

The Faithfulness of God -We got another miracle

When we started out on this journey less than 2 months ago, we had no extra money. We live on one salary with 3 kids. I coupon, do a veggie garden, thrift shop, love hand me downs....do all I can to stretch each dollar. We didn't have the $30,000...to be honest we didn't have the initial $3000...I was asked by the ministry that we are working through "IF we would have the required up-front fees as needed." I said "yes". When I said Yes, we had exactly $82 in our checking account & payday was a few days away. And even when payday came, there wasn't an extra $300 to spare, much less $3000! So did I lie? NO! Because I knew we would have the required fees to send it. Don't ask me how I knew it , I just did.

There are a few times I can look back on in my life and just KNOW I heard from God! When I was a young person, God spoke to my heart, beside our mailbox that I was to go to Southeastern College. I had gotten a flyer for it & as I was pulling it out of he mailbox, in my heart, head, spirit...where ever, I clearly "heard" this is the school you will go to" So against many odds, I did go and did graduate from there!

So in the same way, we felt God spoke to our hearts about these children. So when I said "yes", I was speaking in complete confidence. I've learned to trust God & I've learned God's nature. Read the Bible, it's filled with references about taking care of the orphans. Was I a bit overwhelmed? YES But I just "had a knowing"

So within the first week, everything came in that we needed for that time frame. Every single step of this journey, the need has been supplied. It's been amazing!

Then a few days ago I realized I had miscalculated & that we needed more than I thought at first because I had left out the children's tickets home & I'd written 2 deposits twice & I hadn't budgeted but for 4 weeks there, and really we need to be prepared for 6 weeks....so I was overwhelmed. But I prayed that God would not let me be like the children of Israel who had seen so many miracles but when times would get rough, they'd doubt God every time. I really prayed through about that & told God that I chose to trust Him, no matter what!

So yesterday.....

I checked our Reece's Rainbow account when I first got up and was encouraged that there was $30 that came in, then 221.50 later in the morning, then around lunch $2000 was posted!!!!! We were rejoicing as a family! Then another $100 came in and we were just blown away....A few hours later, I got a call from a sweet lady that I know and we talked for a bit and she told me that her family was mailing in a donation. I was blessed & thankful...THEN she told me the check was for $7500 & I literally could not catch my breath! When I finally could breath I was bawling, just torn up because of their willingness to be a part of this journey. Then I managed to tell my husband who was on the phone to someone else and he had to get off the phone & he laid down on our bed & wept! We were blown away.....Thank you my friends for giving so these two sweet little people can come home with us! We promise to make their life sweet & so different from what it is now.

Since then another $225 have come in and we are down to needing $7211 to have all the funds that our agency suggests we have to insure that all in country fees are paid.

God is faithful to the orphan! I don't believe He moved like this cause we have such great faith ( LOLOL) but because He hears the cries of the orphan. When Sarah's & Seth's parents left them in the hospital after their birth & forgot about them...God never forgot them. The God of this Universe heard their cry. I have a picture of both of them sucking their fingers, to comfort themselves at rest time. They have never known the love of a family. Obviously they've been taken care of, basic needs met but even if they couldn't' describe it, in their hearts they yearned for a family. God heard their yearning.

Why these two? Doesn't God care for ALL orphans? YES, yes He does! I don't have perfect theology but I believe if Christians began adopting orphans that the problem would be solved. I've read that if only 10% of professing Christians would step forward and adopt both within their own country & internationally, all orphans would have homes. But God is waiting on someone to step forward to take the children. Jon & I were willing, not that we're saints, but our hearts were moved with compassion. Not everyone can adopt but many can who think they can't! If ONLY the people who have said to me "i wish I could adopt" would get up and do it instead of wish about it, many children would have homes!!! If you are in a place in your life that you can not adopt, then give to someone who is or to a feeding program or something. God doesn't say everyone has to adopt but He does tell us to take care of the orphans & the fatherless. God has used so many different people who could not adopt at this time in their lives to bless us to enable us to adopt. It's all a part of God's plan.

God is faithful, able to be trusted! We sung this morning in church (preplanned before all of this) "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus" How very fitting. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus. I think back on my life and those times when I leaned back on Jesus and trusted Him and not myself, those are the sweetest moments of my life. They were not always the most pleasant or easiest moments but they were so sweet. Right now I feel that as I see this all unfolding..."Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus just from sin & self to cease..." Sometimes we need to cease from self!

Need a Miracle again

Last night I redid all my figuring on the financial aspect of this adoption and realized we need more money than we thought! I had not included the children's airfare home (a slight miscalculation) and I had entered two deposits, two different times and had not budgeted to plan on possibly being there for 6 weeks ( I had only budgeted for 4 weeks) So we need $17,499.52! So that is where we are at and I'm bummed! We hope to leave by the first of Mach, so we have to make sure it all comes in by then.

The only things we still need are:

$8500 for our program fees
$3000 travel to the country
$6000 in country (travel, hotel, food, various expenses)

All other fees have been paid or there is money to pay them.

Homestudy (all fees involved including backgrounds)
Commitment fee
USCIS
Appostille fees
Shipping fees
Medical exams (for us)
Medicals (for our new children)
Visa applications (the children's)
Passports (for all of our children)
Fee for extra child
Translation Fee

So much is paid for, and we have only three things now to raise money for (although they are BIG things)

This whole step of faith has been a miracle. Every fee that is required at this point is paid for. God called us to this and he will provide the rest, I'm sure of it but I sure wish it would happen today:) That would make this faith walk a little less scary!

I don't want to be like the children of Israel...God would do a miracle for them and a few days later, they'd be right back to grumbling & complaining !!!! I don't want to grumble or complain. I want to trust God for His provision!!! So please pray for us that God will supply!

If you'd like to donate, please send donations to :
Grace Church
7060 Berry Road
Zephyrhills, Fl 33540 attn: Clanton family adoption

they are tax deductible!

Process

Sometimes when you are in the adoption process things begin to feel surreal. Right now with our main dossier in country & our homeland security approval coming very soon, most of my CRAZY running around is over. Now we are almost to the point of sitting back and waiting...waiting on that phone call that will turn our world upside down. With the way our children's country moves, we will probably go in the first of March. So between now & then, we raise our money and we wait...

I remember the wait and the frantic phone call December 31 2005....Yvonne "hello" Agency "we need you to leave for China by 5th" OMG!!!! I had to get a VISA for travel from Washington DC's Chinese Embassy & arrange my flight OVER New Years Holiday! I do not know how it all came together to this very day, it's a blur with just little pieces here & there...what a crazy 6 days! But it all came together! And on Jan 8th (Jan 7th here and that added to some confusion) I sat in a cold orphanage & waited. Waited for a lady to come in the door and hand me Shad. What a moment forever emblazoned on my mind.

With Steve, Sam & Shad those first few moments are like little videos in my brain. With all three, all I can remember of those moments are them! I don't know who handed them to me or even what they looked like, ALL I focused on was that child! So as with childbirth, adoption is 100% the same, you don't see nothing but the child! And it's shocking! I know when I was pregnant both times I was shocked to see a real baby:) I guess I thought ET was in there moving around or something. Well with adoption it is shocking to see that little person that you've fallen in love with from a picture, in real life! It is breathtaking!

So right now I'm in the stretch where it seems unreal. Will I really get to that child? This time around we have many more worries , both for the country and the changes that seem to come without warning and for the children's health & well being. We know more this time and it is scary...lots can go wrong just like in a pregnancy.

Things have moved at such speed for our adoption, that it is truly unreal. It certainly helped that we'd done an adoption before, already had a Social Worker who'd worked with us and had done home studies & post placement reports on us. But honestly I just did everything humanly possibly to speed things along. If it could be hand walked through I took it. I didn't give any allowances for human error or wasted time and that does help! Pretty sure we had so many paperwork errors that I'm responsible for killing a small forest! We had a friend of Jon's who is a notary that helped us so much, redoing everything and always being available for us! God provided for us.

So as committed as we are in our hearts, we are trying to hold back a little emotionally. We've seen other families lose their child(ren) due to other folks adopting that child or changes in that government's adoption laws ( they didn't affect us this time) The country we are adopting from does not allow the family to pre select a child and have that child held for them. China is different you don't have that concern. Of course it doesn't seem that children in institutions or with the various special needs our two have are really affected by that. They've both been waiting since they were 1 year old, so chances are no one else will come for them. The ones who seem to get adopted out like that are ones who have minor special needs & who are still in orphanages. So in one small way we are lucky. "So while it is not likely we'll have complications, it's still a scary thing that lurks in the back of my mind!

So we are just holding on, doing (or have done) everything we can do & praying that all goes well! Please continue to pray for our babies!!!!

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

Last night my husband and I watched an old movie called "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness". It's about an English girl who wants to be a missionary to China back in the 1930's. She goes & endures so many hardships. In the end she rescues about 400 orphans from certain death by the Japaneses. To me the most touching scene is when the town elder tells everyone to leave town and go to the mountains to escape and he honors the missionary by putting it in the town's records, as they are closing down the town, that he has chosen to be a christian based on her life....she just sobs (and so do we) What a movie! Guess what, it was not a christian movie...rather it was a Hollywood film from the 60's! Pretty amazing to see how far we have fallen. We certainly do not have movies like that anymore! The movie was so inspiring to me. I had read about this missionary before (I can't remember her name this morning but I think I have a book on her) But what a life she led!

Jon kept comparing me to the lady,she was a bit headstrong! LOL She was told in England, by the experts, she could never be a missionary, she didn't have the right training. Then she was told she couldn't get there because of all the turbulence in the world but she just preserved on. I LOVE determination.

So many times I look at people who have gone no where in their lives, some had dreams but they were told it was impossible so they believed it and let their dreams go....That is sad but it also makes me mad!!

Recently my husband found an old list of mine. I had written it my first year in college (BTW, I had folks who told me I'd never make it in college! I had no support from anyone but a friend & her mom. But I made it!!) So I had written my life goals on the list......Dear God, I almost fell out!!!!!! So many of them I had achieved!!! Almost all of them!

The thing that makes me laugh is that for every one of those goals, I had people telling me I could NOT do it!!!!!! But with God's help and my determination I did!

My goals were to finish college & get my BA, marry a wonderful husband (I had all the qualities I wanted written down & Jon met them)! Travel, move to NYC & work in inner city ministry, have kids, adopt kids..etc.... I've met most of the dreams I had written down.

I want to encourage you to remember your dreams...no matter where you are in life, push forward with your dreams. don't let anyone stand in your way. You may have to work hard, I did, she did...She was a maid scrubbing the floors to save up the money to go to China. She didn't look so heroic then but each step was a step to her destiny.

Great movie, watch it if you have the chance. I'm going to try and track it down so I can buy it!

Do you get it??? And Update

I got hit by a troll on my blog. A troll is exactly what it sounds like , an ugly inside & out person, who hides out and doesn't make their identify known. The troll said something to the effect we should save our pennies if we wanted to buy a child & that we were participating in child trafficking....


Just to answer that trolls questions and any that anyone else has....

We personally were not expecting to adopt. We have our three boys including an adopted child, and were quite content with our life. Actually I had given away alot of our youngest child's things recently. (and yes I could kick myself now!) BUT God had a different plan than what we had!

Just by looking on an orphan listing site, our hearts were moved with compassion. We couldn't get away from what God was asking us to do. We're not saints but we try and listen to that small voice that leads us down life's path. That small voice told us to go and get these two precious children left to languish in a mental institution until they died. We understand children like them, our own son was born with similar if not the same condition. The difference is we took care of our son since the day he was born. We worked with him, got him medical care and most import, loved on him. So we know what these two particular children need medically, physically & emotionally. No we didn't have $30,000 saved up to rescue them but we know the same God who asked us to step forward, would ask others to step forward and be a part of this. It's been a beautiful thing to see.

As far as child trafficking...that's laughable. the two children we picked aren't going to grace the cover of American Baby or do photo shoots for Toys R Us. They don't have alot of what the world calls outward beauty. Folks will stare at them. We know that, people do with our son. We've found that people don't like any imperfection. We are not picking them because thy are the perfect blond haired, blue eyed children so prized by the world's standards. But to us, no one could be cuter:)

We want to be their parents to take care of them and bring them happiness. I don't think they've seen alot of happiness. WE can't wait to get them started in therapy and possibly have some eye operations to see if they can be given some sight. These two, so like our precious little boy , deserve more than lying in a bed until they die! They are God's creation.

Why do I think God allows children to be born like this..I have lots of theological ideas about it , obviously we live in a fallen world, God's not a genie who makes everything perfect right now...etc etc.... But I know that God uses situations in our lives to help us to grow & learn compassion. Obviously I do not believe that God caused my son to be born the way he was, but God worked in our lives through those circumstances. He changed us & it's been a good thing! I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Sam's life has deepen mine! Would I have chosen for him to have all this...? Of course not! But we can't make everything right. But I love that God can be with us in our worst moments & speak comfort to our hearts. And because God has done that for us, we are equipped by God to be able to give two other children a home. Wow I love how God works. Ten years ago, I could not have done this! I wouldn't know where to start but since being taught by the Great Sam:) I know how to help a blind child. But don't let the fact that you have not had a child with a disability give you an excuse not to adopt. There are plenty children who do not have disablititles that are waiting for a home. Please you can learn how to take care of a child with a disability. God tell us to take care of the orphan.

It's funny, with our first adoption, we only had disagreeable remarks from some of my husband's family and a very rich man in our old church....Of course that was before FB, blogs etc... It shocks me that anyone could ever be against anyone rescuing a child. Our government and the child's government have the family to leap through lots of hoops (and that's a good thing!) They both want to know the family is in a position to take care of the child(ren) So anyone that gets oked to adopt internationally especially has had their backgrounds gone over with a fine tooth comb!!! And I'm all for that, it keeps out people who have any sort of background that is unstable. So who in their right minds would want to see a child lay in a bed until he/she dies rather than have a family, and medical. physical. and emotional help????? Some sort of freak!!!! Just ask my 8 year old if he is glad we came and got him!!! He'll tell you!!!!


NOW FOR OUR UPDATE

I got an email from our worker at Homeland Security that there was no problem with the financial part of our application. She just needs a few more documents and should have our fingerprint notification to us by Tuesday:) This is flying!! The lady we are working with is great! I'm so impressed by how prompt and helpful she is! I was hoping we'd have everything by the end of the year and we'll just miss it by 3 days. she thinks we'll have it by Jan 3rd! I'm happy! We have such a sense of urgency to get everything done. I believe God can work miracles but not if we sit on our butt! So I'm not sitting!!!!! I'm running & pushing ahead!! Please continue to pray for our two children, a half a world away.....some days they seem even further....

Galen

http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=galen&x=0&y=0

What a cute little boy. All he seems to need is a little eye surgery/patching & some therapy for his CP. The lady who sponsors Sarah prays for & is involved with Galen also. What a dear little guy. He understands and wants a family. Give him the best Christmas gift ever & step up for him! You'll never regret it!!!