Anywhere With Jesus

Watch this song


Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go
Anywhere he leads me in this world below
Anywhere without Him dearest joys would fade
Anywhere with Jesus I am not afraid

Anywhere, anywhere ...any little fear I'll never
Know
Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go

Anywhere with Jesus, I am not alone
Other friends may fail me, he is still my own
Tho' His hand may lead me over dreary ways
Anywhere with Jesus is a house of praise

Repeat Chorus

Anywhere with Jesus I can go to sleep
When the darkest shadows round about me
Creep
Knowing I shall waken nevermore to roam
Anywhere with Jesus will be home, sweet home

Today I went for a few hours to the Women of Faith conference in Rochester NY. I'm NOT big into going to conferences, especially women's conferences! It's just Not "my thing" BUT Amy Grant was going to be there and I really wanted to hear her!

She started her selection of songs with the above song "Anywhere with Jesus" I almost fell out of my seat, in the nose bleed section! Our music minister sang that for us our last Sunday before we left for Ukraine. He knew how much I hate to fly and he was encouraging me and kidding me at the same time:) What a coincidence! Not exactly a well known song!

It spoke to me because the words of this song, are so true. Whether I am literally traveling thousands of miles or whether I am walking through a valley...Jesus is with me!

Thank God for His presence! I'm so glad He is with me " Tho' His hand may lead me over dreary ways, Anywhere with Jesus is a house of praise " Those can be empty silly words UNTIL you experience it yourself. When you feel the peace of God even while you are walking over dreary ways, then you know ALL those things you learned in Sunday School and all those songs you sang and all those endless sermons you heard...THEY ARE TRUE!!

Tonight Jon is with Selah. She has been stable although right now her heart beat is high but she probably will be getting her meds soon. Staying at the RMH, one of us (or our wonderful "nanny" ) has to be with our other kids. So the days my friend can't come, makes it a bit more complicated but it's good to be with the kids. They are healing to my heart! Selah will be moved out of the PICU soon, I think they are just waiting on a bed.

Tomorrow as you attend your church (and if you don't have one...find one!) PLEASE put Selah on your prayer list. Ask God to have mercy and to heal her! Thank you for continuing to bring her name up to the throne of God. We are still praying for God to touch her and heal her little mind.

I really want to thank so many people...today we got a gift card from a family in NC. Also I got a pair of hand made slippers from my future daughter in law...(LOL inside joke but I think this young lady ROCKS in many many ways!!!!) I'm wearing them along with my soft thick PJ pants that my friend bought me and I'm wrapped in a blanket that another friend made!!! We went out to eat tonight thanks to someone who left a Colie's Cafe card at the RMH for us...I KNOW I am not going to do all the thank you cards that I should! I hadn't even sent out my thank yous for our adoption and I am so sorry! Believe me I was raised better!!! My Aunt probably is rolling in her grave about now! I had planned to have our family picture made and send it out with a card for everyone who gave to our adoption....I never had the time to get it done...and now I don't think I will ever be able to thank everyone like I should! I am so sorry! We are so thankful, at times your generosity brings us to tears, we don't take it for granted at all. Our kids are just shocked at all the sweet things that have been done for us. I hope even if we don't ever thank you properly, we will remember and reach out to other families who are in crises situations in the future. I think my boys have learned how nice it is and how it makes you feel and they will grow up to do things for others. Thank you all so much!

Dreams of Adoption

If I were asked what my dreams for my life were, I'd say.....to see Selah healed & restored, for our family to stay healthy and close, and to go back to Ukraine to adopt 2 little boys and 1 little girl that caught our hearts....that's all I want in a nutshell....

We had some very tentative plans about adopting again, but they were real enough that we had talked to our facilitator about the children we were interested in. I actually told him we'd let him know if we were going to commit when we came home from our NY trip. We knew we'd have to see some real miracles if we were going to adopt three more kids but we have seen some real miracles of provision in both of our adoptions. We knew what God can do, it seems He moves heaven & earth to help orphans find homes!

Sometimes when I pray I remind God of what He has done for us and what we felt He had placed in our hearts to do. We were willingly to go back and get those three kids and give them a family. Our kids were totally with it and wanted to go get them! So I tell God we need a miracle for Selah in order to be able to do what we felt urged to do...

So I don't know if we will ever be able to adopt again, with the new responsibilities we have but let me encourage you to think about adoption. International adoption is wonderful. When I say it saves lives, I mean it saves lives, real lives... Having had the most beautiful opportunity to walk out the doors of two different orphanages holding my children, I can tell you the feeling is amazing! I think because it so closely mirrors what God does for us when He brings us into His family.

There is such need overseas. When you are there and you see with your eyes, then you become thankful for the safety net of the social care system in America. It may be flawed BUT it is so much better than what many countries have in place!

Thinking about so much tonight, but I just had to share about this. If I had a dollar for every person who has told me "I'd love to adopt BUT...." I say get your BUT out of the way:) there are some valid reasons why people can't adopt but IF it's just you don't think you can afford it or you think it's too hard, then don't let that stand in your way. If you think that you'll get everything perfect in your life and save all the money up to do it, things will never be perfect, Just Do It!

If you read back to Shad's story or the girls' story, you can see we were never at the place where things were perfect-far from it! LOL It seemed the two times we adopted, we were as far as we possibly could be from the perfect place! It looked like foolishness to adopt but we knew it was what we should do. How many of you have had hearts tugged at to adopt but dismissed it? Let me tell you there are real children, lying in orphanages all over the world who need real parents, right this very minute! I've seen hundreds of these children, and I can't look away!

Tonight I want to encourage you to step out in faith,if you feel that tug on your heart, start looking into adoption. Yes it is hard, I will not lie to you, the paperwork is hard, there are many hoops to jump through BUT the end result is so so very worth it!

I read different blogs, stories etc...and some people say different things about having the right motivation for adoption. I don't know what the "right" motivation is. All I know is we loved our kids from their pictures and pushed with everything we could to get to them as soon as we possible could! We wanted to rescue them, just like we'd want to rescue our biological children if they somehow ended up in an orphanage. We worried about the children during the whole process of adoption. Just like we'd worry about our biological kids. With the girls, we got to see them daily but it took over a month before we could take them out of the orphanage and I worried about them obsessively during that time. My biggest fear was that the institution would catch on fire. One night I was crying in our apartment, worrying that something would happen before we could take them out!

It's hard to explain adoption but the kids become your kids from their pictures. Meeting them in the flesh, is more sacred than meeting a president or king. It is such a holy moment. We didn't get Shad's or the girls' first meeting on video, it doesn't matter, it is so in my brain! In both meetings there were tons of other folks there, but I only had eyes for my kids, I couldn't tell you what was happening around me, just like childbirth in that sense of the focus is so on your child. What a precious privilege to have had those experiences!

So if you are reading this blog of mine, there is a good chance that you are interested in adoption. If you are eligible, pray about it, don't let fear hold you back. If you want any personal advice please feel free to contact me at
theclanton5@aol.com If you are moved by the things you have read on my blog, do something, if you can, adopt. If you can't adopt then help another family in some way to bring a child home. I feel the bible is pretty clear that we should help orphans but that is not necessarily why we adopted. We adopted because our children somehow were living in orphanages in other countries and needed to come home! They are not our "project" or "our ticket to heaven" they are our precious children that we are honored to be their parents. We were blessed to be allowed to adopt them and have them in our lives!

It seems people find it hard to believe that we adopted because we NEEDED the kids. We didn't know how much we needed them in our lives. We needed them to be the family we are. We're not saints, not in the least bit but we listened to God and we heard His voice and He told us that our lives would be changed as the children's lives were changed. We had no idea of the joy that would come out of adopting.

Right now our hearts ache because our little girl is injured but she is still our jewel. Truly even knowing how hard this would all be, we are so glad she came into our lives. We hate that she has gone through this, she deserves so much more than this but we are going to still ensure she has the best life.

So as always pray for Selah. But also pray for two little boys and a little girl who are sleeping tonight in an adult mental institution, pray that God will send a family for them. It might not be us, but pray that someone will come for them. All three of them have Downs syndrome. They are precious. We were able to play with the little boys quite a bit but I never saw the little girl out of her bed. So many people are reading my blogs and praying for Selah and us, I know you will add these three children to your prayers. We "named" them Sally, Seth, and Silas. (yes I know we are a bit crazy with the S names but once you start, you can't just quit doing it cause the child you name something else will wonder why they didn't get an S name...) But I have to say after these three names we are out of names:) We try to keep them Biblical but Sally pushes it (it is a derivative of Solomon)


Thank you for your prayers as always! Let me warn you, I started praying for Sarah and 4 days later we were doing the paperwork to go get her:)

ABC news story

http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/sehlah-clanton-canal/TqDZu-FUMEukRVCjBoGeBg.cspx

Here is the link to the news story we did tonight. If the above link doesnt' work then try to go to Rochester NY channel 13, we were the top story

DISCLAIMER: As far as I know the ABC station in Florida is just looking into partnering with Home Depot and a contractor about adding a room for Selah to our home. I don't think they are going to be building us a new house LOLOLOL So see don't believe everything you read or see on TV!!!! Although if they'd like to build us a new home, that's ok too BUT I just don't know anything about it:)

Friday Update

Selah is still stable. The PT got her up today and Jon was able to hold her for over 30 minutes. This is the first time she has been out of bed since the accident. As soon as a bed becomes available, she will be moved off the PICU unit to a step down room. We should be able to put her in a wheelchair soon and help her to adjust to being in a UP position. It may take her some time to adjust since she has been lying down for over 4 weeks.

Her blood pressures still aren't completely normal. She does have periods of time where her BP is in the normal range but often the BP is above normal but closer to a normal range than it was. Please pray that her blood pressure can be stabilized completely. Her heart rate is near normal most of the time. Everything else is going good physically.

Sam has been fine today, no more puking thank God!!!!

Today we did an interview with the local ABC station. It is our hope that we can share our faith and hope with others. I will post the link later tonight.

Please keep praying for Selah. Pray that with us being able to touch her and hold her that it will trigger some responses. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

LIFE

Selah is doing good. Her blood pressures have been closer to normal most of the day. All her labs are good, her heart rate is still a little high but not too much. It runs in the 120's, which is much better than it was running.

She did do something new tonight. I was looking at her eye and it looked red so I turned on the overhead lights and she squinted her eyes closed! I managed to look at the eye and it was fine. Then I turned off the lights and she opened her eyes. Selah never liked bright lights and would often close her eyes and cover her face if she was in direct sunlight. So it seemed like a normal response from Selah and that was good.

So physically she is doing pretty good, neurologically she needs so much prayer.

Tonight sitting with her, I just felt peace...an assurance that everything is going to be alright. I don't know what "alright" is going to be, but it's going to be alright! What a peace to trust in the Lord. And what is also helps is that we knew before this ever happened, that we respect LIFE and we had had conversations about various public situations and how we would react if we ever found ourselves in any type of situation where we had to make decisions of care and life/death decisions.

Now we never were asked about "pulling the plug" with Selah. She always had brain activity. But we were faced with the question of whether we would put in a trach and g-tube. Evidently some families do not chose to do those things. Since Selah doesn't' have a gag/swallow reflex, she can not swallow her saliva and could choke or aspirate and possibly die. Obviously she can not eat either, so she needed a g-tube for nutrition. Jon and I respect the God given Life inside her and we are committed to her care. In my opinion, since the medical advances are there to help people to live longer, more comfortable lives, then we should use it. If the medical know how is there, we believe we should use it to take care of a person. It was allowed to be created for a reason and we are going to use it to take care of our child.

So honestly we thought about questions like this more in regards to ourselves as adults, not really that we would have a child in a situation like this. But it is a blessing to KNOW what you believe and not to be shaken in that belief if something like this happens. There was never a question in either of our minds about her care or how far to go in saving her. She was without a heartbeat for at least 30 minutes. When they finally got a heartbeat in the ER and she was transferred to the PICU, I was told that she probably wouldn't live through the day. I immediately asked if there was ANYTHING that could be done, any surgery, study, medicine, whatever. The doctor told me that there was a study that she could be enrolled in. where she would be put on cooled sheets and her temperature would be kept within a certain range. I said "lets do it" Then the doctor said he needed to go over everything with me. I was quick to tell him, that he had just told me my daughter was not going to live, he didn't have to tell me anything just get her set up! We have laughed about it since and he told me Selah was entered into the study the fastest that any other child had been LOLOL! I can get a bit aggressive and I was on aggressive overload that day! See I was able to make decisions on my own KNOWING the beliefs and values that my husband and I have. I didn't wonder or think twice about it. I didn't even have to talk to him about it because i knew what he would say!

Why did I know what he would say? Because we have a value system based on the respect of LIFE! Not that we don't believe in a wonderful Eternal Life to come but we believe Life is a gift from God and should be considered precious. We wanted to give our child every chance of Life there was to give! What a blessing not to have to have some moral dilemma! We had no questions...we wanted the doctors to give her the best care to give her a chance at Life.

So our daughter defied the odds. The next day when one of the admitting doctors made rounds I asked him if she would live and he said that he hadn't expected her to be alive when he came on. So again I asked him if he thought she would live and he said he'd have to rethink it....well now more than 4 weeks later she is alive and doing quite well physically.

Now the doctors and medical staff don't expect to see a change in her neurological condition. It's hard for me to believe sometimes that it will change and that she will come back. I understand the medical explanation of her brain damage and the ramifications. During the time she was so critical, I was afraid but I think in my heart that I did expect her to live. It was such a confusing time emotionally that nothing was clear. The way I hear from God, is I try to clear my mind of all the confusion and really try to hear from HIM, not my desires but what He is saying. God has spoken to my heart before, and sometimes it has been a clear NO. When we lost the twins, I knew it was going to happen, God prepared me and I knew in my heart as BAD as I hated it that they were gone. During that really awful time with Selah , I told Jon that I felt like God was saying to me that she would live but I wasn't sure if she would recover. I couldn't hear God's voice on that. I still don't know in my heart what the answer is. I still pray that He will in His mercy touch our wonderful unique little girl and bring her back to us! Sometimes I think maybe I don't hear the answer because I don't want to know the answer...I'm not sure.

I do remember the dream I had right after this accident that we were home and she just "woke up" Now I know that they type of brain injury Selah had with the lack of oxygen is not a type of injury that you just "wake up" from like some traumas to the brain. But it was a good dream and I'd love for it to happen. So we are all just holding onto to Jesus no matter what the future is for us!

So let me share with you, have your heart settled, know what you are believe based on the Bible BEFORE you are faced with any type of situation so you are prepared. I have questioned WHY did God allow her to come back to be in the shape she is in now BUT I only think that because I know how wonderful Heaven is and it's hard for me to see her suffer. But God is the giver and taker of Life, since He allowed her to come back, we rest in that. We are committed to making her life as comfortable and as full of love as possible. We will take care of her and get her the best medical help there is and we will pray for her for God to heal her.

This may sound very simple to some reading this...I'm too tired to give a big long in depth ethical argument but simple is sometimes the easiest... Simply trusting that "this is the way it is".....we are going to make the best out of it. I know from experience that simply trusting God brings Joys that you never dreamed of....So we are simply trusting....



Other Family news

I took the kids out to eat today and we are sitting just starting to eat and relax...THEN Sam made a noise like a burp, then he did it again and threw up a GALLON of puke! I thought I was going to pass out! I had to strip him at the table because there was NO way I was going to pick him up like that!!!! He seems absolutely fine now, I got him back to RMH, gave him a bath and put him to bed. Went and bought a huge cheap plastic table cloth so he won't get anything on their carpet if he gets sick again. Jon came back from the hospital to help me cuz I don't do puke very good. I'm proud of myself that I didn't join Sam, I have been known to do that!

He has been fine since then and ate soup for supper. We won't be going back there to that particular restaurant even if we are allowed LOL But I have to say that was my grossest parenting moment in almost 17 yrs of being a mom:)
It's actually funny to me now but standing in the restaurant, I didn't know what I was going to do!

I've gotten some questions about Shad and Steve. They are missing school but the good thing is Shad is almost a year ahead in his schoolwork so we aren't worried about him missing some time. Steve brought some work with him knowing that there ws a chance he'd miss the first few days of school and the school has sent him some more work also. They go to a private christian school that is working with us.

Sam and Sarah are missing their therapies but they will be able to get back to that when we get home.

Our kids have done well during this time. They really "go with the flow" and are very flexible. We've been here almost 5 weeks and they seem to be fine. It is different living in the Ronald McDonald House than at home. We all six share a room, talk about communal living LOL! Good thing I don't snore (wink wink) RMH is large so there are various tv rooms, we've kinda taken over the one closest to our room, cause we can put in a baby gate and the little ones will stay in there and play with their toys. I cook them breakfast every day, lunch is usually leftovers and most night volunteers bring in the suppers. If not we go out and eat or I cook a simple meal. Jon and I have tried to eat supper with the kids since all this has happened so they feel the comfort of something they are used to. It's been a growing time for our family. I've never believed that you should shield your children from the realities of life, we believe you should use Life experiences to help prepare them for their future. We've been honest with the kids and have answered any questions they've had without unduly worrying them. They have gone up a few times to see Selah but haven't gone in her room because she continues to test positive for MRSA, although she has no symptoms of it. So we are working through this as a family and it has created a tenderness between all of us. We aren't taking each other for granted. Even hard times can become a time of learning and bonding, even through tears.

So thank you for your prayers for our family, please continue!!!!!

Tv Interview

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2763794.shtml?cat=566

I hope you can click on here, if not try this one....

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2763794.shtml?cat=566

I looked up Rochester Ny channel 10 and it's the top story

LOVe that we were able to share our faith and be able to thank RMH for everything :)

Busy Day~

Pictures-Sam waiting for Dr A
Jon, Dr Aquevella, Sam and Yvonne


Selah had a good day! Her blood pressure is closer to a normal level, it seems that the new blood pressure medicine is helping her thank God. Everything else physically is going good too. We are thankful! Please continue to keep our dear girl in your prayers. We are still praying for a total miracle for her! Thank you for your prayers!

Today Sam had an appointment with Dr Aquevella, to make sure that his eyes were ok following the accident. Sam has corneal implants in both eyes so we have to always watch for infection or any type of problems. We try not to get any water in his eyes whatsoever. His eyes are fragile and more susceptible to infection. We are thankful that when he was in the dirty canal water, he didn't pick up any infections from it. His pressures were normal too!

We love seeing our dear Dr Aquevella. He used his God-given gifts to give our son sight...what can you say about a man like that?? We appreciate him with all our hearts! The gift he gave to Sam, PRICELESS! He gave Sam SIGHT! And Sam enjoys every bit of it and uses it to do much mischief and we LOVE it!!!!!! Thank God for Dr Aquevella!!!!!

We did an interview with the local Rochester tv station Channel 10 and it will be shown tonight. We plan on doing interviews with all the local stations in the next week or so. We haven't responded to any of their requests before because we just couldn't handle doing them but we want to thank the Rochester Area for all they have done for our family and all the kindness shown. What a great town this is:) We've always thought highly of Rochester and these past few weeks have just shown us that there is plenty of "Northern Hospitality" too!!!!!

As we were doing the interview with Ms Adams from Channel 10, she asked some real questions about our faith and how we are dealing with this. I thank God that we can say that we serve a Good God, One who is with us no matter what is going on in our life. The last few days I have been so very sad, missing my little girl's funny litte self, my heart literally aches with in me. I've never been a "crier" but now my tears flow like a river at times. But tonight I can confidently tell you that God is good! His mercies endures forever! No I don't see the miracle I want right now but our life is but a vapor...so even if Selah is not healed on this earth, she will be healed for ALL eternity! I am so thankful for the eternal hope that we have in God! So I might sit in Selah's room and do nothing but cry at times but even tho my heart is breaking, I truly can tell you I trust God! What a precious Lord we serve! The presence of God is so real and true, I can't hardly believe the deep peace I feel despite the sorrow. No one can ever tell me that God is not real!!! Because without God I would be beyond a mess at this time! In the past, I've tried to handle hard times on my own and it was a MESS! What a difference to "lean upon the everlasting Arms"

So if you think I'm strong, you're wrong! It's God's strength that is holding me together!!! And the wonderful thing is YOU can also have this kind of peace in the midst of your storms. Turn your life over to God and just get as close to Him as you can, don't let any bitterness into your heart. It's a choice. I chose throughout the day NOT to get bitter, NOT to turn away from God in anyway in my heart. I say this all the time but I've been bitter and I do NOT plan on going back there!! Daily I throw myself on God and I depend on Him. He's a God that is dependable. When I can look at life through the lens of eternity, it is a bit easier to handle heartache. Sorrow is fleeting when we think of that which is to come...there is coming a day ....when all is made right and I'm so thankful for that. But also serving God, gives us strength for today, and even through this God's spirit is so sweet and tender.

Love the verse 1 Peter 4:12

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy

And this one...
1 Peter 1:5-7

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,


So when trials come, we shouldn't be surprised by them but we should expect them and trust God through them.