Jon spent most of the day with Selah and worked on training on her care. He was able to hold her and love on her. We did an interview with the CBS/FOX station to thank the viewers of the Rochester community for everything that have done. Then I went to the hospital tonight and held her for about an hour and worked on her arms and hands. She seemed to relax into me some.
The only thing she is still dealing with is high blood pressures. They go up and down depending on the times of her meds. She is being placed on a patch to help regulate her BP hopefully. The idea is to keep her medicine constant with the hope that will help. She spiked high last night for awhile. So she is still in the PICU at this time.
Everything else is going good physically. Neurologically there has been no change. Please keep praying for her.
Tomorrow is Shad's 9th bday and my ? Bday LOL. He and I share a birthday. We are taking him to the small zoo here and out to eat. He is really excited. Shad has been such a great kid and so helpful through this past 5 weeks. We want to give him a special day.
Thank you for your prayers. I hope to do a long blog tomorrow, sometimes an idea/thoughts just kinda churn around till I have to write it, I'm telling you blogging is good for your mental status:)
"Our life maybe a crazy life but it's our life" I'm married to a pastor of a small rural church, who is also the prison chaplain. We have 5 kids, each with their unique story. I love gardening & we all love the outdoors. Our life is not the way we planned it to be, but we are learning to trust God in every area. Come and read about our life as we live it to the fullest!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
More pictures from Sunday
I wanted to show all our friends a good picture of Ken and Lynn! Lynn and her daughter had a horrible accident back in May. Both lived and are doing fine! Lynn is ready to head back to Florida soon!!!! We are so thankful that she has recovered so well. (she was here at Strongs for weeks following the accident!)
Next picture, the kids before church. I just want to encourage you to take your kids (and yourself) to church! We have a reason not to be in church but we are there! Many people have no real reason but that it is too hard to get out of bed! Ummmm thaat is so not a reason! Get to church, Get your kids in church. You will be glad that you did!
Next pic is Jon Sam and me by the lighthouse (I have a thing for Lighthouses-must have been that old song ..."there's a Lighthouse on the hillside that overlooks life's seas.." Who remembers that one????
The Lighthouse of Sodus Point NY on Lake Ontario
It was nice to go to church, eat and relax together as a family today.
Some pictures...
Top picture is us with Ken and Lynn Ginnet our dear friends at the Sodus Point Lighthouse. Then Sarah on the grass for the first time ever (I don't put her on the grass, too many bugs and sand spurs etc..in Florida) then Me and then Sarah again smiling in her car seat:) I can only get 4 pictures on my blog at a time for some reason!
Today we went to our friends' church and then with them to the Sodus Point Lighthouse and out to eat at a Farmer's Market and let the kids play for awhile. Then I came back to the hospital and got to hold Selah for about an hour. She seemed to relax into me some. All her vitals are good, blood pressure still a bit high but not too bad. Please keep praying for her
Saturday, September 15, 2012
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:)
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:)
Friday, September 14, 2012
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:)
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!
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!
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