Day 106 FOS~ SALLY HAS A FAMILY!!!!

So much good news today I don't know where to start!

I saw that "Sally" has a family!!!  You can click on this link http://gracehavenhome.com/?p=639
and see the news yourself!  There is a link there so you can give...they call her Patricia...  Her real name is not allowed to be revealed by her country.  I called her Sally in my mind and heart because I LOVE that name and it is a S name and I thought if we were ever able to adopt her maybe my husband would let me call her that (he wasn't too sold on the idea LOL)  

The way this works is the ministry Grace Haven holds the grant for the child until the family is ready to go get her.  Reece's Rainbow works the same way.  If by any chance the family couldn't go, the grant stays with the child in hopes that it will encourage another family to step up since the cost of adoption is what holds many people back. (Even tho it shouldn't!) 

So you know what I'm going to ask...... Please give towards Patrica/Sally's grant!!!!!!!!  If you can't give but a dollar, give that dollar and it will help!  I will be asking for help for this child until she reaches her full grant which I think is $20,000.  She has some on the grant now, not sure exactly how much but we have a ways to go. 

But you see, I've held this little girl, I've looked into her eyes I KNOW she needs a family!  She absolutely captured my heart the minute I saw her.  This child isn't a unknown to me....nor is she unknown to God in heaven above. 

If you want to do something that will absolutely change her life....GIVE....to her ransom....

The last time I saw her I asked the caretakers for her and they went and got her out of bed.  It was the middle of the day and she was very sleepy it made me suspicious to be honest.  All I could do was  to touch her as she laid her head on a care giver's shoulder and I made a promise right then and there in that hallway  to try and help her.  I had hoped we might adopt her but since the accident, that is unrealistic for us.  So I've prayed that someone would come forward and now someone has!  I am so thankful...you really have no idea! 

So please if you can help please do!  If you'd like to do a fund raiser that would be great too!  ANYTHING to help her get home would be wonderful!!!!!!!!

Btw I loved all the comments on my last post!!!!   THANK YOU for understanding what I was sharing and concerned about!   I'd like to respond to each of them but my internet is giving me a run for my money tonight!

Maybe you can repost my blog on FB so others can see Patrica/Sally and hopefully give to her!!!!!!


Today was a great day for Selah!  Our day nurse is so motivated to work with her!  What a blessing she is!  The nurse encouraged me because since Selah's last hospitalization, she again regressed.  But our nurse is setting small goals for her.  Today was working on her holding her head up.  At the point this picture was taken she was about at 20 minutes.  We did put a pillow to give her some support after the first few minutes but she did a fine job on her own!  We even saw her swallow 3x while we were working with her.  I am so thankful for the support of good nurses!   It encouraged me once again to start looking for the "baby steps" that will lead to big milestones!!!   We prayed for good folks to work with and love Selah....thank God we have nurses like that!

 

 

 



 

The whole family at church on Sunday

 

 

Day 105 Fish Oil Study

Selah went to church this morning and has had a great day.  She is stable and doing fine.  We are so thankful that she hasn't had any new issues.  I took some great pictures but I"m having issues downloading the pictures! 


Last night watching tv I saw a commercial for abused animals.  Now anyone that knows me knows I love animals.  I have personally rescued about 200 ladybugs from my house and our church, I stop for turtles and get them off the road, I drive around snakes....I rescue cats and dogs BUT....BUT....  I also do not put animals above people.  Watching that commerical made me think of the FACT that there are human beings in situations much worse than some of those animals.  OH MY GOD, I have seen orphanages and I know what I'm talking about.  I've heard first hand from others who have seen far worse things than I have seen....  Isn't a human worth more than a dog?   I think of my Shad in an orphanage so cold that I could see my breath when I went to pick him up.  A boy so malnourished that he cried and threw a fit when we'd leave the restaurant in the hotel.  A child that acted like a trip to the grocery store was better than going to Toys R Us any day!  A child that would store food in his cheeks for months after we came home so he wouldn't run out of food!  I think of my Sarah with a flat head from being kept tied down to a bed with 3 leather straps, a child that is just learning to walk at 6 years old...WHY?  Was it because she didn't have therapy or there was something wrong with her?  No there is nothing wrong with her except she wasn't allowed to make her developmental milestones.  So in the 9 months we've had her, she has learned how to stand, holding on to things, and now is starting to let go, she has learned how to crawl!  And this is without her being in therapy at all or me really working with her, just allowing her space to move around and be free and she has figured it all out herself despite being blind and delayed!  She was a child who weighed 23 pounds at 5.5 years old when we got to the American Embassy doctors for her check up, we're sure she'd gained weight with us the few days she was with us.  did she have something "wrong" with her?  No she just plain out wasn't fed enough.  Selah has just learning to walk at 7 years old when we picked her up, she was also malnourished and had zero Vit D in her system.  Selah who played with strings all day long...was she delayed, yes but once we got her home, she begin to play with toys and understand what they were for.  A little girl with teeth so bad that we had to have 8 pulled and 6 filled.....

That's what ought to tug at our heart strings, that is what ought to keep us awake at night...that is what should bring us to tears......

As Christians we should be "shouting from the roof tops" about this!  We should have our churches mobilized to do something....but sadly enough we don't care....  It's so much more fun to go to some new "revival" or hear some great preacher tickle our ears and tell us how we are "the King's Kids" and how we can have a wonderful life with all our wants and desires met....It's so much easier and fun to buy that new CD or go to the coolest new christian concert....  It's much easier to go and rescue a dog from the pound than to adopt a child....  it's much easier not to think about the plight of unknown children and disabled adults....  What do you think would have been Shad's, Sarah or Selah's future had they not been adopted?  Shad would have had it the easiest but in his culture, not having a family would have forced him into menial jobs, no education....  Sarah and Selah would have died in institutions, that's the bottom line. 

Obviously every child in distress can't be adopted and not everyone qualifies to adopt but if you are a believer you can do something whether it is to consistently pray, to give, or to adopt ....

I believe in adoption, I bacially was adopted by a relative and I"m thankful for her, she saved my life, no doubt.  Children in America need to be adopted, I will never say that they do not....but as I"ve said before, we do have a social care system that may not be perfect, it is not like other countries I've been to.  Yes sometimes it fails in America but when it does, generally someone goes to prison...not so in many other countries.   It is no big deal there...things are so different.  I do take into account life is harder and even the workers do not have all they need to get by but it is still hard to believe how bad things can be for children, for "the least of these" 

That commerical last night just turned my stomach, we need to have our priorities straight!

I bet most of you reading spend more on your cats/dogs/animals than you do on orphan ministry.  I do take care of my pets but I also don't go crazy and treat them like they are human.

This is another post that I'll probably not get too many comments on.  I appreciate all the comments I get on Selah and we do feel the love, please don't get me wrong but a year ago she also was an orphan that no one card about....we had just learned of her existence, there was never any picture of her on the internet or anywhere, it's a miracle we heard of her!  Just so you know there are about 147 million more Selah's out there....  So many children are alone tonight... many that  are adoptable...for others and for disabled adults you can get involved in some type of ministry to try and help the ones not adoptable....

Remember one day we will stand before God for how we treated "the least of these"

Day 104 fish Oil Study! She is awake:)

After sleeping almost 48 hours she finally woke up this afternoon.  She seems really content her vitals are pretty better than mine or yours!  She is still tight especially in her legs but she is getting better. 

I took this picture after her bath in her new bath chair (thanks again Andrea!)  She certainly woke up for that and was not at all happy with us:)  but she is nice and clean and it really was so much easier and quicker!  She feel back asleep but then she finally woke up.  We had her up in her green bean bag chair all afternoon and she did great with head control even being sleepy:)

 

Our boys had a good time at their friends house last night and Shad went to a Valentine Dance at their school.  I want to see some pictures of Shad man "cutting the rug"  I was told he was the celebrity of the dance:)  We met up with them at the mall today and finally finally finally Jon got a new pair of running shoes.  He lost his shoes in the accident (along with his glasses) and we just have not made the time to go and get a pair of good shoes for him till today.  He did get the glasses a few weeks after the accident!  At least we didn't wait that long for the glasses!!! 

 

I was going to really clean our church tonight and then the toilet overflowed all over the ladies bathroom....and it's cold....I'm not a happy camper!  We got out as much water as we can without a shopvac so we'll do the rest tomorrow morning early! 

 

BTW snow flurries are expected tonight in the county right above us!  BRRR!  How's that for some global warming?  LOL  So you can imagine it is pretty cold here.  I'm glad I didn't put in my garden yet.

 

 

Selah has some doctor's appointments coming up and I've decided to drive her myself rather than her being taken by ambulance.  I had thought it was safer than me driving and the nurse sitting with her in the back.  God forbid she had an issue.....but she seems to HATE the ambulances so bad and gets so stressed out.  I'm a bit stressed at driving her myself but it will be better for her.  If you think I'm being a ninny...just think if you were driving your child and she had an issue with her breathing - a real issue since she has a trach and you are stuck in traffic on I-75 at 5 pm....scary stuff but if the ambulance freaks her out so much, I think in the long run it would be better and exposing her to less germs if I just drive her.  This is one of those things you Haw to play by ear I guess. 

 

So keep us in prayer and please always remember to pray that God would heal our Selah. 

 

Day 103 Fish Oil Study ~ 6 months ago....

Today was six months since our nightmare started.  I've lived it and yet it is still unreal to me.  There are days when I wake up not thinking about it and then it hits me in the stomach like a fist.  How could this actually happen to us?  Looking away 4 seconds...4 seconds and our lives are changed forever...how fast something awful can happen!  It's still too much to comprehend.

Selah had PT come in with the wheelchair person and she had a custom ordered wheelchair ordered for her.  It will fit her and be more comfy than the loaner she has now.  This afternoon she had a massage session with the therapist I go to.  She came to our home to do it.  Selah basically has slept through everything!  She was exhausted.  Her stats have been perfect and the nurse just feels she needs to catch up on her sleep.  She is comfortable.  Her upper body is relaxed but her knees and ankles are just awful!  They are so tight.  She really reacts to stress by tightening up.  The PT and the nurse have seen her so relaxed, actually the PT said she got a 45% range of motion on her knees at her evaluation.  Today she had no ROM whatsoever, just like in Jax at the rehab!!   I have to say the sleepiness has worried me but the nurse thinks it is really good for her. 

For the first time since the accident. I'm allowing the boys to spend the night over at one of my BFF's house.  She also has 5 kids and my boys each have a friend there.  She didn't know this was their first time away since the accident so she has promised to sit up tonight with a fire extinguisher and the phone in one hand while her husband mans the guns !  LOLOL!  I've always been a protective mom but since the accident, let's just kindly say that protectiveness went into over drive!!!!!

Several folks have asked about my neck and it is worse than ever, I now get spasms down it.  I've tried massage and it does help but it doesn't last.  I guess I'm going to have to try and go to a doctor next week about it.  I don't even know where to start and NO chiropractors for me!  This morning was the worst ever! 

So today has been a quiet day, Selah sleeping, the boys gone...oh I wish we could go back 6 months and change things....I wish that with all my heart!

Please pray for Selah!!!!!!

Day 102 Fish Oil Study ~ Happy Valentine's Day

It's 10:30 pm and I'm sitting here waiting for the ambulance to deliver Selah home:)   What a busy day we left the hospital about 6ish "right" before the ambulance was leaving....well.....  it didn't get there until 10 pm!  She is doing great and finally had a diagnosis.  of some sort of something in her poop.  And they do think that she had a cut in her stomach either from all the moving of the gtube or from all the heaving when she threw up.  Anyhow she has responded well and they feel everything is under control.  Whatever she was diagnosed with could have been in her system for a long time.  It was nothing I'd ever heard of before and can't remember what it was.  She will be on antibiotics for a couple of weeks and she has been changed from Xantac to Prevacite.

Finally got Steve and Shad to the dentist!  Steve had to have major work done on his braces and now has bands.  Shad had to have a tooth pulled!  Thankfully it was a baby tooth!

I have lots of thoughts about Valentine's Day...but I'm almost too tired to share them LOL

I'm not a roses and card type of girl.  To me that is such a waste...buy me a few plants for my garden and take me out to eat and I'm happy.  I certainly don't need jewelry or diamonds....that just doesn't appeal to me!  I'd be too worried about losing it or having a kid grab it and break it!  I'd slap someone if they bought me a fur coat....  I guess I'm pretty simple.  Today my husband got up early worked from 8 am to 10 pm to make up the hours he'd used when he stayed in the hospital with Selah Monday and Tues to give me a break....  To me that speaks LOVE.....  No we didn't go out to eat I did have Chinese pick up waiting for him when he got home.  We didnt' get each other cards we haven't had the time to even go to the store these past week.  We'll go out sometime this weekend to eat (maybe-and probably with the kids)  We're not going to have a "romantic night" no we have 2 nurses here and a daughter just being released from the hospital)  But this is real LOVE....not the kind you see in Hollywood or really even the kind you think about as a young person but it is LOVE.

Love is not picture perfect, it is real life, where the "rubber meets the road"  It is commitment when you might feel like running away 

I've learned what LOVE is....it took me a few years but I'm thankful I have a real LOVE in my life and I wish the same for you.  See I watch my husband giving eye drops to Sam or changing Sarah or staying up all night in the ER with Selah and I know that is a committed LOVE.  He ain't with me because of  just from what he gets out of the relationship.  And I know he'll be there for me if I need him.   I thank God for that kind of love in my life. 

I'm not a "hottie" but every now and then when I'm alone (LOL) in public I get hit on....I'm not alone much in public but I've laughed right in guys' faces when they hit on me.  Once I was waiting for our pizza order at a Hungry Howie's a guy asked me "Are you looking for a bad boy?"  After I finished laughing  in his face I told him "no I have THREE of them waiting for me at home"  I also told him that he needed to look at the left hand to see if a woman had a ring on before he asked dumb questions like that at a Hungry Howie's LOL!  I also told him he needed to get right with God and he told me he went to church I said "probably not often enough!"   

My point in telling you this story(besides a good laugh)  is to just let you know that if you are single, don't settle for a cheap pick up line or for someone who just has a relationship with you to meet their needs.  find a good man or woman who has real love to share freely with you with NO games involved!  I've dated game players and I don't know about you but that got old quick!  If you are in a relationship that you can not trust the person or his/her motives.....RUN away as fast you can!    Having lived to be in my late 40's I've learned alot and seen so many people have heartaches that could have been avoided.  I could have avoided some heart aches in my life but I was stupid....

So Happy Valentine's Day to y'all!  I hope and pray that you have or will have a true love who will be with you in thick and thin!  Don't settle for less!

Well since I started this night's blog, Selah arrived very upset but I held her and cuddled with her for awhile and she calmed down.  Sometimes holding her completely is too much for her so I knelt by the bed and cuddled her head and talked to her.  She calmed down immediately!  Her heart rate dropped to the 100's )now in the 80-90's since she is asleep  and her blood pressure went from crazy high 163/89 to a normal 115/72.   She was given her meds during the time I was holding her but they don't work that fast:) 

So on this nice rainy night I'm thankful that all the Clantons (ans a nurse) are under the same roof tonight!

Day 101 Fish Oil Study ~cute pictures

Well today is officially 101 days since Selah started the Fish Oil Study, I took it to her today since she is back on her her feeds.  I have to say St Joe's have won my heart this time around.  They were amazing about the fish oil study and went out of there way to make sure it was put in the right place ( the fish oil has to be in the freezer)  What a difference from the rehab hospital, who could have cared less about the study!  This time in St Joe's Selah was on the regular floor instead of the new wing and the care has been wonderful.  If one of us is not there, they call us about everything, I really like that!

She had a tiny fever today but if everything goes ok she will be home tomorrow!  She looks great and was relaxed.  Still no answer about what was the problem but I think it goes back to the changing of the gtube...  

 

Here is our girl, she was busy watching the light/water machine they'd brought it.  It is a sensory toy that has a column of water with different light colors on the bottom, it changes colors to classical music, this one happened to have mirrors and it seemed like there were 3 of them.  I LOVE it!  So did Sam and Sarah

 

 

 

Sarah immediately reached out for it when I put her near it

 

 

I LOVE this picture of Sam and the light

 

They both were touching it

 

Sam basically stood there for 2 hours and held it!  He was enthralled....Look at Shad, he and Sam are both 9 yrs old now...he is a head taller than Sam!

 

 

So if any one has a spare one of these send it my way!  My kids love it!!!  I had looked at one in a magazine and it was over $1000...if  Extreme Home Make Over ever comes to my door, they need to have one of these with them!!

 

 

Here are some pictures from yesterday.  The kids at the dentist office watching a movie, I just love this picture of Sarah:)  Sam had Steve's Ipod:)  he is so cool

 

 

Look at my big girl sitting up with a ribbon in her hair!  Big difference from that tiny little weak girl I met 9 months ago!

 

 

So pray for Lala that she is completely well and can come home.  We miss her!  And please continue praying for her healing.  I pray throughout the day that God will heal her mind and bring her back to us.  You have no idea how many times throughout the day I pray that....it's always on my mind no matter what I'm doing.  

 

I want to give a big thank you to Andrea who mailed me her sweet daughter's bath seat!  Her little girl passed away recently but she wanted to bless another family.  I can't wait to get Selah home and give her a bath in it.  I may post a picture:)  With a towel cover up so you can see how much easier it will make things for us!  What a blessing that was to us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update on Selah ~ thoughts on "The Boy From Baby House #10"

Selah has improved.  She is holding down her meds and they will be starting her feeds tonight.  This morning Sarah had a dental appointment right near St Joe's.  Her appointment went good and she has no cavities, the pain she seems to be experiencing is her 6 year old molars coming in right on schedule:)   The dentist was amazed at her teeth as they are in much better shape than most children adopted from overseas. 

We then went and saw Selah and picked Jon up.  He needed to go into work today.  She was calm, asleep and had perfect stats!  It's hard for me that one of us can't be there most of the time but she is in the regular pod and her room is just a few feet away from the nurses' station.  The plan is for her to be given the feeds slowly to make sure everything is ok.  She did not test positive for anything at all and none of us are sick.  The doctor I spoke to earlier feels she did have a small tear in her stomach, but she felt it was from all the gagging she did, not that the tear caused all the throwing up....  I don't know but it seems like too big of a coincidence that it happened when her gtube was messed with....it's so frustrating!

The doctors and nurses have called several times today to ask questions and i liked that!  She had a small storming episode and I think it's because she hasn't had her fish oil since Saturday. 

She is expected to come home in the next few days.  We are spread thin at this point as Jon really needs to be at work and I'm not comfortable leaving the kids for hours at a time.  We are going to go up there every day as much as possible.  Today's visit  went good, there was a volunteer singing in the lobby and that kept Sam and Sarah 100% occupied!  Steve and Shad have dentist appointments on Thursday, poor Steve hasn't had his braces adjusted since early August.  I'm sure he will need to wear them longer. 

Last night I reread the book "The Boy From Baby House # 10"  It is a book about a boy with CP who is left in a baby house from hell in Moscow.  Things get worse as he is transferred at 4 years of age to the "internat" what many Eastern Europe countries call "adult mental institutions"   He and some people who miraculously came into his life tell his story.  It is shocking.  I read this book a few years ago never knowing I'd adopt two daughters from an "internat"  Ukraine's government is set up almost similar to Russia's as it was of course a part of the USSR for many decades.  It still runs that way.  The book just grabs me, if Sarah and Selah could talk, some of these stories and experiences would certainly be theirs also. 

The only thing that really bothered me in the book is how many times it is expressed that this child should not have gone there because he had "normal" mental abilities.  Of course they are not saying any child should be there but...they keep stressing how different he was compared to the others and that bothers me!  I don't think any child or adult should be in those horrible situations!  I know the author ddn't mean that either but it just came across a little bit like that. 

But all in all, I encourage you to read this.  It's real, believe me it is real.  I've stayed quiet publicly about many of the things I saw when we were there visiting the girls.  It was rough.  But I do take into account the poorness of the community. I never got the impression that anyone was being mean, just not involved or interested and "this was how things were done"   Believe me I got angry, very angry at times....  Things have changed, all the little ones like Sarah and Selah have been moved to orphanages instead of living in the same facility as adults.  Are the orphanages any better?  I don't know....it is a hard situation....  the best thing is to adopt these kids out of the situation!!!!

Look at little Sasha, adopted one year ago...see the difference???  This is a real child, a year ago he was in the "internat" dying....

 

he is included in this video of a real orphange  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs42-5HnQRQ

watch it if you dare to be challenged.

 

This all is real folks, you can't shut your eyes to it. 

 

Listen on the day we stand before God, I believe He will ask us what we did for "the least of them"   He won't say "Well that's ok, that was the Clantons's calling...."   He won't tell you that James 1:27 doesn't apply to you also as a Christian!    I've actually had people tell me that orphans were "our calling" "our ministry"...ummm the last time I checked in the many scriptures that talk about orphan care in the Bible not one time did it say "this is for the Clantons only"  Nope....not seeing that!

 

 

 

 

I'm not saying everyone has to adopt, some children are unadoptable for legal reasons but we can be involved in many many ways.  But the thing is we should be involved!  You can adopt, you can give to other families that are adopting, you can give to ministries that help orphans I know of one I recommend http://www.life2orphans.org/cms/ their website is a bit outdated but I know what they are doing first hand and it is wonderful.   The thing is, do as much as you can!!!!

 

Should God heal Selah, we would adopt again.  How could we not?  We had planned to possibly start the process to adopt three children we met while in Ukraine.  Then the accident happened and of course we can not do that now.  One of the children we felt drawn to, just got adopted today!  We are so thankful that he has a family!!!  Now there are two others who need famileis!!!

 

 

this is Sally....I loved her from the second I saw her tied to her bed around the waist.  She is 8 yrs old an the size of a 2 yr old

this is Silas  he loved Jon and went right to him if he was brought out.  this picture doesn't do him justice.  he was such a sweet boy.

 

So these two children who touched our hearts are still waiting for families...we may never be able to go back for them.  Will you pray that a family will come forward?  As much as I'd love for them to be in our family, I know at this time it's not possible and I'd love to see them adopted.

 

Thank you for your prayers for Selah also!