Day 17 fish Oil study

This morning Jon planned on taking Sam to the park for awhile since we didn't think Selah had therapy.  Then when he got back, the NBC channel here in Rochester had called and asked if we'd do a segment on Thanksgiving.  It will be on the NBC station tonight at 11 pm.  After they left some friends who are adopting stopped by and then our van wouldn't start again....so it ended up he didn't go over to the hospital till after 5 pm.  I don't think that has ever happened before.  BUT when he came in the room, Selah lifted her head and shoulders off the bed and moved towards him!!!!  She was ready to see her daddy!!!!!!  He called me on cloud 9 that she responded like that to him!!!  She has had a good day and did end up with OT and Speech with some other therapists so that was great too!   Isn't that great how she responded to Jon????  Everything going good, she  just has  a little bit more gunk as this cold works it way out of her system.  I'm so proud of our little fighter!!!

Today was a very sad day at the RMH, a family who is here with another child, lost their toddler to an accident at a relative's home.  Please pray for this sweet sweet family. Their other child had heart surgery today.  Please Please pray for them!!!!  Our hearts are broken for them. 

Another mom that we met here years ago just got the news that her son, who has fought leukemia two times before has had a reaction to the chemo and he is fighting for his life.  This young man has endured so much and was facing a bone marrow transplant.  Please pray for this family that has gone through so much.  The outlook is not good for him and I know they would appreciate your prayers!

Our hearts are heavy for these families that we know, that we have laughed with, ate with, and talked with.  Please pray that the God of all comfort will be with them tonight and give them comfort!  Tonight I am thankful for the comfort of God....sometimes that is all you have.

Day 16 Fish Oil Study~ Good day!

So a really good day:)

Selah has a cold, just a cold not pneumonia and the great thing is I picked up on Saturday that something was off.  It's not bad, she has never even had a fever but they are watching her.  Her lungs are clear, no issues.  I'm just happy that I picked up on it and so did her therapist as soon as she saw her yesterday.  That was what had her "off" and it a relief to be honest that that was all that was going on!!!

Selah did lots of good stuff today, she coughed some and the nurse thinks.....she may have gagged some when she was suctioned out!!!   We are going to look for that more.  She did all her usual things and did them well.  Her therapist actually stood her up for the first time and her feet flexed some.  She probably will need surgery & botex in order for her ankles to be normal again but they all feel it is doable.  I don't want to quote the doctor but.....there is hope that she will get to the point she will walk!  There are so many good things that happened today, it's hard to remember all the little points...today felt like Christmas to me:) 

I was able to talk to the doctor some today about her blood work.  She had very high levels of inflammation which is what the fish oil targets.  She was at 15 and needs to be at 5.  Selah had her blood drawn yesterday and we hope to hear by Monday if the level is down.   The doctor feels that she is waking up more.  There are alot of small signs that point to that!  I also asked her how we will know when she is out of the coma since she will probably come out of it with some issues still.  She said for us to look for "purposeful" movement.  We are getting some and today we got quite a bit!  She will have the after affects of the accident, for awhile, even if she recovers completely. 

A VERY big thing is she has had NO storms now for TWO weeks.  I can not tell you what a blessing that is.  If you have never seen "storming" I can promise you it is awful to watch.  I get the impression that people are amazed that they are gone.  As I've said before we were advised that the meds would eventually stop working and she would storm over them.  What a blessing that that has not happened and that they are gone!  This reaction to the fish oil alone maybe a huge thing for other people with neurological injuries.  All I can say is to watch someone you love have a storm is an awful awful experience.  I am so thankful they are gone!!!

Selah is accepted into the Brooks Rehab in Jax Fl.  Our plan is to leave next Tuesday.  But who knows with the weather and this cold if we will leave then.  All the plans have to come together just perfect for this to happen.  I'd be fine being here longer to give Selah more of a chance to improve before we leave.  But I've learned to say "whatever the Lord wills"!

We still are looking for housing for our family in the Jax area, if you can help, let me know.  We are too large of a family for the RMH there.

Thank you all for your prayers!  We have just really struggled the last few days with our emotions.  It was hard because she had been doing so good and then things stopped sorta, and she seemed far away again.  I'm glad that there was a reason, her being sick, that makes sense in the whole feeling of her being "off" and that she seems to be better today.   We were both really struggling with our emotions and some real worries about the future.  Today was like a breath of fresh air in our souls to see her more responsive and to have others point out somethings....it was great!  Please keep praying!!!

Thanks to all who have nominated us for Extreme Home Make Over!!!  I just sent mine in today.  I was not able to download any pictures or videos!  Hopefully they will look on here!!  We are keeping our fingers crossed:)  It would be fun and it would be great to have everything done so our house was ready for Selah and more handicapped accessible for all of the children.

How you can help our family .....

We've had many people who have given to our family during this time and others have asked how they could give.  We've never mentioned our needs and yet God has supplied them all.   We have actually discouraged some folks from giving and just asked them to wait till we got something set up for Selah.

So we  think we have decided the easiest way for us to handle gifts would if you'd like to give, please feel free to give through our church, Grace Church, 7060 Berry Road, Zephyrhills Fl 33540  just mark on it attn: Clanton Family gift and it will go into a fund for our family.  It can then be dispensed as there is a need.  We thank you all and we thank God for His provision through His people.

Another way you can help our family is by nominating us for Extreme Home Makeover!  Evidently this show is back on and some friends have nominated us.  We live in a very small house and it we will need to do some remodeling or move after we get Selah home.  At this point, she will have to have a nurse almost 24 hours a day and a room just for her and the nurse.  We have very little privacy as it is in such a small home.  We have had several offers of help to remedy this and frankly have been too focused on Selah to really pursue anything, although we appreciate it.  Maybe all the folks who wanted to help would be able to get involved in helping through EHM if we are chosen.   So if you'd like to nominate us this is the link  http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fabc.go.com%2Fshows%2Fextreme-makeover-home-edition&h=kAQGvYp21  it's a short process to nominate us.  Our basic info our names....Jon, Yvonne. Steve. Shad, Sam, Selah and Sarah, our address is 7060 Berry Road, Zephyrhills Fl 33540  (don't worry burglars we have an alarm system and a neighbor across the street who is a Vet and he has plenty of ammo!!!   He watches our house for us!   Plus we have nothing to steal LOL)  Phone number is 863 712 1734    our email is   
 theclanton5@aol.com  If you don't have all the details that's ok. 

So I feel a bit uncomfortable sharing about our needs but I am humbled by people's responses to want to help even when we were focused so much on our children that we didn't even think about the future.  This situation has taken all the planning out of me. But now we are realizing some of the things we will need to take care of Selah in the near future and we're thankful for the folks who have wanted to help us.   I've just gone through it one day at a time knowing that God would take care of us.  God has been so faithful to touch hearts to do things for our family.  Honestly as I am reading the book "The Hole in the Gospel" I feel we have so much in a world that has so little.  We've always done our part to do what we can to reach that hurting world and now when we have needed it, others have reached out to us.  That in turn only makes us want to do more for others!! 

But the most important thing you can do, and what you have been doing is to pray for Selah and for us!  You may not believe it but pray is really really what has carried us through!!!   Thank you all. 

Day 15 Fish Oil Study

Another roller coaster of a day.  We've felt since Saturday something was "off" with Selah.  Her nurse & therapist thought the same today.  She was more grouchier than normal.  She did do everything that she has been doing and she opened her mouth as soon as she saw the syringe of chicken soup!  She did some good drinking/swallowing but still just a little bit.  We don't know if maybe she may be "waking up" and that is why she is grumpier or if she is getting sick.  She doesn't have any other issues but something is different....

I get really worried about her today.  Jon was over with her and I just had to go over too.  That helped me alot just to see her.  I trust my "gut instinct" and I had to see her to know she was ok.  She seemed really alert so I'm hoping she is just waking up more.

We also found out that Selah hasn't been accepted into the rehab yet!  We hope to hear tomorrow for sure but everyone thinks she will be accepted. 

We got back to the Ronald McDonald House right in time to be on tv again LOL The PBA had given RMH a $13,000 gift and they asked us to speak and thank them as we came in the door, on tv without even brushing my hair or fixing my make up after crying all day.  LOL  But we LOVE RMH and will do anything for them:)

Some good friends of ours whose daughter has Peter's Anomaly are here for their daughter's eye exam.  Please pray for Abbi tomorrow morning as she is having some issues with her vision and they don't know what is causing the problem and what has to be done.   Abbi was so sweet and prayed tonight for supper and although she is facing surgery tomorrow (at just 7 yrs old) she prayed for Sam, Sarah and Selah that they could all start talking!  How sweet!!!  It is nice to have our friends here!!

Well our wifi is not working here tonight at the RMH but thankfully  our friends have a "my fi" and I'm using it so I can update! 

Please continue praying for Selah and for us.  Jon & I are having a hard time right now.  Please pray for us too.  We're just worried about her.

I'm reading  "the Hole in the Gospel"  and have lots of thoughts for a great interesting blog coming up.  That book has helped me to take the focus off of us and realize how blessed we are even going through this time. 

Sorry this is so disjointed but I'm trying to hurry.  Thanks again for your prayers!!  It means so much to us! 

Living Loose not Loose living.....(Day 14 Fish Oil Study)

http://reecesrainbow.org/38066/sponsorbasas  The Basas family has $8000 in their account.  They need $3000 more to reach $11,000 which is what they need by Wednesday!!!  Thank you for your help for them, please pray and give if you can!  Help this little boy to come home with his familly!

This was my post on FB today:

Today one year ago, we were officially matched with Sarah on the Reese's Rainbow site .....I got tons of emails from folks who had been praying for her to find a family for years....I remember feeling so excited and overwhelmed with all the love that folks had for Sarah and I was excited and overwhelmed by the task that was before us to get to her....I remember thinking we need $25,000...how will that happen....less than 8 weeks later God had provided every penny....and then some since we decided to add another child. But God....was faithful. Now a year later, we stand again in need of God...and I know He is faithful...His hand has never failed us. We may not ever get the answer we want but nevertheless, God's Hand has never failed us and will never fail us!

I am so thankful for the battles that have been fought and won to look back on.  I'm thankful for God's hand of provision whether it is financial or emotional or spiritual provision.  God has certainly freely given all of that to us this past year.  Even when life is hard, it is exciting to watch what God does.

Right now we don't know what is going to happen with Selah or with us.  This is certainly a transisitonal time for us on many levels.  We feel that God is doing something in us through this situation.  I don't know what that will mean, but we are so open to being exactly where God wants us to be.  And I don't mean just being physically where God wants us to be, we maybe where God wants us to be physically at home.  God can use circumstances to clean out your mind and heart and help you clarify what is really important.  He can also use circumstances to change us, to bend our wills, to help us to let go of things in our lives and look to Him.  We've said "YES" to God many times throughout our lives and each time He takes us to a different level of brokenness and trust. 

Oh I used to hold on to things so tightly.  Whether that was friendships, relationships, stuff, career, plans etc......  Then with each step He led me, I had to learn to let go and loosen my hands that were clutching things so tightly.  Sometimes I faltered and still held on tight, but even in those situations, God still used the circumstances in the long run. 

I've learned to live "loose" with hands that lightly hold on to things.  This year has been a crash course on living loose ( what a funny term for a preacher's wife LOL)   As of this past Friday we have been gone from home 20 weeks this year (including our Ukraine time)  I would have never chosen that, I can be such a homebody but it was not my choice....  I've learned even more to be "content in whatever state I am in"  I've learned to live for TODAY~ in the sense I can't make long range plans, everything is out of my "Ms. Planner's" hands!  You know I'm one of those folks who can make looooong range plans, one year, five years and even ten year plans LOL  Well that is pretty shot now huh?  LOL  I've learned to make do with what we have and not try to have the perfect family. 

So I don't know what our future will be in so many different ways....I know I've learned many things about myself, my husband and our family through this ordeal & this past year  and all in all, I am quite happy with our resourcefulness and flexibility.  I know we have seen things this year and faced things that have made us stronger & things that have made us know that God wants so much more from us that just silly meaningless words,  You can't sit in a adult mental institution & hold children  and go back to life as usual....  The truth of eternity has penetrated our hearts and made us want to get all the things out of our lives that are meaningless.   We have never been people that could be defined by being in any certain "box"   We never felt the need to fit in to any mold that anyone would want to put us in.  Our backgrounds are similar in some ways but so different in other way and that has made us look at alot of things differently than some people do.   This year has only made that difference stronger in us.   We have seen God's provision come in ways we would have never expected.

So we're living loose, with our hearts open and our ears listening....


Today after church and lunch, Jon went over to the hospital to work with Selah.  She has been very aware with him and up in her car seat.   She has done alot of head movement today.  Something funny that Jon noticed today was that when she wanted to turn her head, first she'd turn her eyes then move her head. , with her eyes.  It seemed like to Jon she thought she had to look before she moved her head....just a glimmer that she seems more aware.  Tomorrow will be a busy day with lots of therapies, maybe she will do something new tomorrow!!!

Today we picked a church to go to, a Wesleyan Methodist church, and we go in and the first thing Steve sees is a sign up sheet for Thanksgiving Dinner for the Ronald McD House!  They will be doing out Thanksgiving Dinner!  How interesting that we picked the church that is coming here,...what were the chances of that?  I had wanted to go to an Wesleyan Methodist church as that is movement that my family started in as kids ( my granny & aunts)  My husband was raised United Methodist, so he was familar with the service.   It was a very good service. 

Day 13 Fish Oil study

On Saturdays we take the kids over to see Selah.  Selah was stressed when we got there and got more stressed with the kids there.  It seems she is aware of them more.  It's funny because she showed she was more irritated by getting stiffer but her heart rate never went up over 120 and her blood pressure was fine.  I'm taking that as a good sign.  She calmed right down after they left.  It was like although she was upset, she handled it. 

Later I went back over and worked with her.   I sat her on the edge of the bed and gave her some support and worked her on a side to side motion and up and down.  She didn't like up & down...I was laying her on the bed and bringing her up.  At one point she pushed away from me.  I like that she did that! She held her head up some on her own.  I certainly do think that although I have to give her alot of support, it is easier to have her up than it was even a couple of weeks ago.   I also put her in the car seat for awhile and she did fine.  I put her to bed and she went right to sleep! 


December 4th will be 30 days on fish oil...I'm looking forward to that date.  It's not a "magic" date but I'm hoping that by then we will be seeing major changes.   My emotions are up & down alot more lately.  I'm hopeful but afraid she will be the one that the fish oil doesn't work for or that she is so brain damaged that even if she comes out of the coma, her brain damage will be so bad that there will be no change.  Fish Oil is being used to treat brain damage also, so I have to remind myself of that constantly.

I got really sad today walking through Toys R Us.  Someone wanted to do something for the children and asked for some suggestions.  It was more than I could do.  Everything I looked at just hurt to look at....toys that she has, her Princess ride on,  and me thinking she is not even interested in string (her favorite toy- YES string......that's what she had to play with and she was quite addicted to any type of string)  It took all my self control not to completely lose it in Toys R Us!    It's hard....it's hard to see the little  children with her.  I can't help but compare her to them...and although they are both very delayed, they aren't as delayed as she is now.   It's sad to see Shad and Steve talk to her, there is such a sweetness but a sadness there.  Sorry to be down, but we are just holding on as hard as we can.

But more than anything I remind myself that God took the time to send someone to me in the mall ( he knew where to find me lol) months ago to prepare me for this and to tell me "do not be afraid"   So when the fear comes, I remind myself of that conversation.  And believe me, the fear comes, it can be debilitating at times.  I just have to take a deep breath and remind myself that "life is short, eternity is long" and that our lives are in His hands....

So I'm resting tonight in that peace.....

Please remember to bring Selah's name up to God's throne tomorrow morning in prayer....

Bless the Lord O My Soul

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
Lord, I'll worship Your holy name

Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
I'll worship Your holy name



I love this song....I highlighted the parts that just make my heart soar!!!!  What a song!!!   Hope you are blessed by it!