Selah's nurse and I took her to her pediatrician early this afternoon. He was wonderful as always! Dr W is just the best doctor to work with a family to help their child. He sent us off to the lab for blood work and a chest x ray. He tested her for the flu to rule that out. He had her secretions checked. It seems she just has a bit of an infection, just starting in her trach. He started her on an antibiotic, a steroid, and eye drop because her eyes are red and watery (not allergies) and a nebulizer. After all of that, right when we got home with her she stormed....not a bad one and she quickly came down from the 160's with her medicine. We think she had a bit of a delayed emotional reaction to everything.
Tonight her heart rate is in the 70's and 80's and she already is looking better. We really feel like all of this has been "nipped in the bud" hopefully and she will not get any worse. It's right at the 2 week mark.....we are going to see ENT about putting her on a preventive medicine until we can get her worked off the trach. It seems to be something she needs. So thankful that we know evidently she will be off the trach ( we all think she will at least) and we won't be dealing with this anymore.....one day!
It's hard to deal with this but I am so very thankful for medicines to help her when she needs it. Thinking about how sick she could get, made me very thankful that there are meds that can help her. Before Sam I didn't think much about medicines or doctors.....NOW I do and it's a real blessing to know your child can be helped. I get irritated very quickly if we are in a situation where I do not think medical care is up to par. I do my best to ensure those situations do not happen often with my kids. But on the other hand I am surrounded by some wonderful nurses who work with Selah and some great doctors who work with all my kids. We probably have one of the very best pediatricians in the state of Florida. I've always been appreciative of Dr Whele and his staff at Watson Clinic but today I am overwhelmed with gratitude towards them. He was leaving early yet took the time to see us as the last patient, although he had to be somewheres else. Selah takes awhile to go through everything and get all the orders on the computer etc... He took the time, was not impatient with us at all. His staff, are just as wonderful and caring. They never seem frustrated with me for calling them, they are always helpful and kind towards our family. Today they all worked together to get everything done to hopefully avoid Selah having to go in the hospital this weekend! It would have been easy enough to not put all that effort into her situation but they went the extra mile (or two) for her and for us and I appreciate it. They have always been like that for our family. I can't say enough how much easier they make our lives by being there to care for our children. God bless all of them and especially Dr W!!! Hopefully all the efforts will not be in vain!
So please keep Selah in your prayers, hopefully she will respond well to the medicines she is on and for once, not need to go to the hospital! She regresses when she goes in, in so many different ways. We can't be with her all the time and that is very hard for me and I think for her too, so it would be so much better if we can ride this out at home. The good thing is we have 24 hour nursing, that is just focused on Selah. So it's more than just me and Jon taking care of her, we have several others who can notice if anything changes. That is a true blessing! We are hoping for a good night for her with no issues!
"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!
Friday, May 17, 2013
I HATE Roller coasters!
I HATE roller coasters, always have....but would fake it when I was younger to go with friends and then sometimes with Steve when he was old enough to ride, but didn't want to go without his mom and dad.
Life seems to be like a roller coaster for us. I had held off writing that post on Selah until a whole week and then some had gone by. Well....last night she started having issues! She usually goes to sleep by 9 pm but she was wide awake and had to poop, several times. That kept her awake. She was also sneezing and needing suction which she usually doesn't. She finally fell asleep for a few hours but she is "off". No fever but she a bit red looking which usually means something is up. She is needing more suctioning and she is sneezing and her eyes are all glassy and watery. She doesn't have allergies that we've ever noticed so we are hoping it's just a bit of a cold. We have an appointment to go see our pediatrician this afternoon so hopefully he will put her on something that will stop this from going into a trach infection.
Her heart rate has been up in the 90's and the night nurse said it went as high as 120 for a short time. She got all her meds this morning including the Valium and I think she is going to sleep until it is time to go to the doctor.
We really do NOT want her back in the hospital! Please pray that whatever is going on is nothing big and we can handle it at home. She has been doing so wonderfully amazing....we don't want to lose our progress!
Thank you!
Life seems to be like a roller coaster for us. I had held off writing that post on Selah until a whole week and then some had gone by. Well....last night she started having issues! She usually goes to sleep by 9 pm but she was wide awake and had to poop, several times. That kept her awake. She was also sneezing and needing suction which she usually doesn't. She finally fell asleep for a few hours but she is "off". No fever but she a bit red looking which usually means something is up. She is needing more suctioning and she is sneezing and her eyes are all glassy and watery. She doesn't have allergies that we've ever noticed so we are hoping it's just a bit of a cold. We have an appointment to go see our pediatrician this afternoon so hopefully he will put her on something that will stop this from going into a trach infection.
Her heart rate has been up in the 90's and the night nurse said it went as high as 120 for a short time. She got all her meds this morning including the Valium and I think she is going to sleep until it is time to go to the doctor.
We really do NOT want her back in the hospital! Please pray that whatever is going on is nothing big and we can handle it at home. She has been doing so wonderfully amazing....we don't want to lose our progress!
Thank you!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Speechless..... Day 201 Fish Oil Study
Speechless...rarely am I....BUT...something is going on with Selah!
This sounds so dumb but it is hard for me to describe, hard for our nurses too....she is improving. Just in the past week and a half there has been such a big big change in her.
Her tone (how tight or loose she is) is almost normal everywhere but her legs/knees and the PT says she gets 90% range of motion there when she is working with her. Her ankles and feet are great. When she was sick and in/out of the hospital in April, her wrists were curling up. We even had them come in and measure her for splints...now that is gone! Her PT says she doesn't need them!
We finally changed her formula from Pedisure to Complete which is a lower calorie and a plant based formula (it's first ingredient is peas....and I can read all the ingredients unlike Pedisure) It took awhile because insurance had to approve the change. She started it last week. Her poop is more normal, she doesn't seem to be have all the gas and tummy cramps she had before that would shoot her heart rate up. She is a chubby girl, but she doesn't look as chubby now, not that she has lost weight, but I think the pedisure was making her belly extended from gas. So she feels better physically.
Her heart rates are wonderful...under 100, mostly in the 60's and 70's! That is a miracle. We'd had a few times when her heart rates would be normal, but maybe for a few hours or a day...It's been more than a week now! I can remember days when she'd be at 160 all day...OMG!
Yes she is still on Fish Oil. This is day 201 on Fish Oil. We didn't give it a couple of days when she was throwing up but for the most part she has gotten it 2x a day for 201 days now! We still can smell fish oil LOL She is our little mermaid:)
We finally got the order from the doctor for her to wear the "passy muir valve" while she is awake. This cover on her trach allows for her to breath in her trach but forces the air up out of her mouth/nose to exhale. She handles it great with no issues. This moves air over her vocal cords and at some point she will probably start making noise again. Remember in NY, they worked with her on it and she made some groaning noises. They were light but there! So now we are waiting for her to make some more noise! Once she starts making it, she will continue. At night she has to wear the regular valve right now and she can make a slight noise with it on and she makes that noise if she is wet. She gets her feeds all night long, so she tends to get wet at night more often and she does NOT like it. Her night nurses agree that she makes the noise when she is wet. At first Jon and I thought there was no way she was communicating BUT she is!!!! She was still in diapers when the accident happened and we were planning on working with her on that....
We are waiting for the insurance to ok her for speech therapy and then it is full steam ahead in working her off the trach altogether! She is swallowing all the time now, just like you or I do. She rarely drools, only when she is sleeping and that can happen to anyone LOL she also keeps her tongue in her mouth! That is a biggie!!!!
Once she is off the trach, we are starting HBOT Oxygen Therapy!
There are so many slight things that only we or our nurses would notice but she is looking at us more (she had a problem looking at people before, institutional autism) she is relaxed, not jumpy, NO Valium for almost 2 weeks now! Clondine (a BP med) used rarely ( most of the time she is too normal to meet any of the parameters) More movement alof of it seems purposeful... If she is placed on her side and doesn't want to be there, she tries her best to roll her self over. She hasn't done it YET but it is coming!!!!
My heart is so thankful, we have no explanation for this huge improvement over the last week and a half (not even 2 weeks yet) but it is unreal. We all just say THANK GOD! Whether it is from her body/mind healing (since God made our bodies to repair itself) whether it is from the fish oil (that God made the fish) whether it is just prayer.... I do not know. BUT I know how things have been these last 9 months, and there is a REAL change going on right now. And however it has come....I thank GOD for it!
I'm pretty honest on here, I try not to make things better or worse than they are..."just the facts". I've been sent different blogs/facebook pages of kids in situations like Selah, and knowing what I know, I can read between the lines. The families alot of times try to make things more positive because they want to have hope, it is horrible not to have hope. But it's even harder to have a false hope. I've kept it real on here so if you see I share improvement, it is real and it is verified by her nurses and therapists. There have been days, weeks, months of no real improvement, little things that maybe were not consistent....but this is consistent and continuous!
When I look at Selah, I'm seeing "SELAH" now at times....there have been small periods when I could see her in her eyes (if that makes any sense) but I see her more and more now. The way she looks at things, the way she looks at me and makes eye contact then looks away is just like she did BEFORE the accident and she is doing it more and more every single day.
Again I don't know what to say...and we still have such a very long way to go but this is good!!! I wanted to share all of it in detail with you all. Thank you for every prayer that you have uttered on her behalf. Please keep praying for our little girl. If she'd been at this point, say a month after the accident, we'd have alot of medical hope that she'd fully recover, since we are 9 months from the accident, there still is little medical hope for Selah that she will go much further but God.....
This sounds so dumb but it is hard for me to describe, hard for our nurses too....she is improving. Just in the past week and a half there has been such a big big change in her.
Her tone (how tight or loose she is) is almost normal everywhere but her legs/knees and the PT says she gets 90% range of motion there when she is working with her. Her ankles and feet are great. When she was sick and in/out of the hospital in April, her wrists were curling up. We even had them come in and measure her for splints...now that is gone! Her PT says she doesn't need them!
she is sitting straight up with no head support and look at her hands! She does have a head rest behind her head but she is straight and doing all the work.
We finally changed her formula from Pedisure to Complete which is a lower calorie and a plant based formula (it's first ingredient is peas....and I can read all the ingredients unlike Pedisure) It took awhile because insurance had to approve the change. She started it last week. Her poop is more normal, she doesn't seem to be have all the gas and tummy cramps she had before that would shoot her heart rate up. She is a chubby girl, but she doesn't look as chubby now, not that she has lost weight, but I think the pedisure was making her belly extended from gas. So she feels better physically.
Her heart rates are wonderful...under 100, mostly in the 60's and 70's! That is a miracle. We'd had a few times when her heart rates would be normal, but maybe for a few hours or a day...It's been more than a week now! I can remember days when she'd be at 160 all day...OMG!
Yes she is still on Fish Oil. This is day 201 on Fish Oil. We didn't give it a couple of days when she was throwing up but for the most part she has gotten it 2x a day for 201 days now! We still can smell fish oil LOL She is our little mermaid:)
We finally got the order from the doctor for her to wear the "passy muir valve" while she is awake. This cover on her trach allows for her to breath in her trach but forces the air up out of her mouth/nose to exhale. She handles it great with no issues. This moves air over her vocal cords and at some point she will probably start making noise again. Remember in NY, they worked with her on it and she made some groaning noises. They were light but there! So now we are waiting for her to make some more noise! Once she starts making it, she will continue. At night she has to wear the regular valve right now and she can make a slight noise with it on and she makes that noise if she is wet. She gets her feeds all night long, so she tends to get wet at night more often and she does NOT like it. Her night nurses agree that she makes the noise when she is wet. At first Jon and I thought there was no way she was communicating BUT she is!!!! She was still in diapers when the accident happened and we were planning on working with her on that....
We are waiting for the insurance to ok her for speech therapy and then it is full steam ahead in working her off the trach altogether! She is swallowing all the time now, just like you or I do. She rarely drools, only when she is sleeping and that can happen to anyone LOL she also keeps her tongue in her mouth! That is a biggie!!!!
Once she is off the trach, we are starting HBOT Oxygen Therapy!
There are so many slight things that only we or our nurses would notice but she is looking at us more (she had a problem looking at people before, institutional autism) she is relaxed, not jumpy, NO Valium for almost 2 weeks now! Clondine (a BP med) used rarely ( most of the time she is too normal to meet any of the parameters) More movement alof of it seems purposeful... If she is placed on her side and doesn't want to be there, she tries her best to roll her self over. She hasn't done it YET but it is coming!!!!
My heart is so thankful, we have no explanation for this huge improvement over the last week and a half (not even 2 weeks yet) but it is unreal. We all just say THANK GOD! Whether it is from her body/mind healing (since God made our bodies to repair itself) whether it is from the fish oil (that God made the fish) whether it is just prayer.... I do not know. BUT I know how things have been these last 9 months, and there is a REAL change going on right now. And however it has come....I thank GOD for it!
I'm pretty honest on here, I try not to make things better or worse than they are..."just the facts". I've been sent different blogs/facebook pages of kids in situations like Selah, and knowing what I know, I can read between the lines. The families alot of times try to make things more positive because they want to have hope, it is horrible not to have hope. But it's even harder to have a false hope. I've kept it real on here so if you see I share improvement, it is real and it is verified by her nurses and therapists. There have been days, weeks, months of no real improvement, little things that maybe were not consistent....but this is consistent and continuous!
When I look at Selah, I'm seeing "SELAH" now at times....there have been small periods when I could see her in her eyes (if that makes any sense) but I see her more and more now. The way she looks at things, the way she looks at me and makes eye contact then looks away is just like she did BEFORE the accident and she is doing it more and more every single day.
Again I don't know what to say...and we still have such a very long way to go but this is good!!! I wanted to share all of it in detail with you all. Thank you for every prayer that you have uttered on her behalf. Please keep praying for our little girl. If she'd been at this point, say a month after the accident, we'd have alot of medical hope that she'd fully recover, since we are 9 months from the accident, there still is little medical hope for Selah that she will go much further but God.....
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
More Improvments!
Today Selah started OT. The OT therapist had not seen her since early Febuary. It took awhile to get insurance clearance and for a space to open up in her schedule. She remarked that Selah is much improved. Her tone (tightness) is great and she is looking at things. We can't really say she is tracking things with her vision yet but she feels that Selah is remarkabley improved!!! Everything she discussed with us was very positive! I LOVE hearing others say they see a difference!!!! Please keep praying for Selah, we still have a long way to go!
Here are some pictures of my fav birds, SWAMP birds aka Sand Hill Cranes. I stopped by where I walk to feed a homeless cat and these birds were right there, no fear of me. I never found the cat, I think he was too smart, it was hot out there!
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this was nap time a year ago....LOL
Here are some pictures of my fav birds, SWAMP birds aka Sand Hill Cranes. I stopped by where I walk to feed a homeless cat and these birds were right there, no fear of me. I never found the cat, I think he was too smart, it was hot out there!
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In my emails I got an email from one of my readers who wanted me to share her video on surviving
mesothelioma cancer! It is an inspriration video.... http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather/ Thanks for sharing Heather!!!!!!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
this was nap time a year ago....LOL
Looks like Selah threw out all her dolls and then decided to go and get them but fell asleep!
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Today is 9 months since the accident....there are still so many "if onlys...." I'm thankful for her progress but I don't want this to be our story. I want her up and running around, playing outside, getting messy, being loud....that's what I want... I think she would probably prefer it too.
Please pray for Selah!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Big Announcement!!!!!!!
I feel very privileged to get to make an announcement on my blog.....
Brian and Shelly Burman will be bringing home...Patrica/Paige, Lauren and Nolan! This family has an incredible testimony on their blog http://carringtonscourage.blogspot.com/ they are a large family that has opened their home and hearts to special needs adoption. I read their blog when we were starting the process to adopt Sarah and was just amazed by their story of Carrington, who was adopted very near death and how God used this family to bring her to LIFE! Go read their blog....you will be amazed by their love & story.
Shelly reached out to me after Selah's accident and we quickly became friends. We seem to "get each other" that can be scary LOL! When I saw that Patrica/Paige/Sally (she is called Patrica on Grace Haven Ministries, Paige on Reece's Rainbow and Sally in our hearts...) had a family committed to her, I was thrilled and announced it on my FB page as my friends knew how much we had hoped to adopt her before Selah's accident. Then Shelly contacted me and told me THEY were the ones adopting her!!! I was very happy because I know they have the skills to parent her as well as these other two children. BTW if you are wondering why she had so many names, it is because we called her Sally...and each of the ministries listed her and could not use her real name.
http://reecesrainbow.org/1377/nolan117
Brian and Shelly Burman will be bringing home...Patrica/Paige, Lauren and Nolan! This family has an incredible testimony on their blog http://carringtonscourage.blogspot.com/ they are a large family that has opened their home and hearts to special needs adoption. I read their blog when we were starting the process to adopt Sarah and was just amazed by their story of Carrington, who was adopted very near death and how God used this family to bring her to LIFE! Go read their blog....you will be amazed by their love & story.
Shelly reached out to me after Selah's accident and we quickly became friends. We seem to "get each other" that can be scary LOL! When I saw that Patrica/Paige/Sally (she is called Patrica on Grace Haven Ministries, Paige on Reece's Rainbow and Sally in our hearts...) had a family committed to her, I was thrilled and announced it on my FB page as my friends knew how much we had hoped to adopt her before Selah's accident. Then Shelly contacted me and told me THEY were the ones adopting her!!! I was very happy because I know they have the skills to parent her as well as these other two children. BTW if you are wondering why she had so many names, it is because we called her Sally...and each of the ministries listed her and could not use her real name.
http://reecesrainbow.org/1377/nolan117
These three children were all at the same institution that our girls were at. I got to know the girls and were blessed to spend time with them. I think I saw Nolan some, there was a group of boys more physically active, and I think he was in that group. Sometimes it is hard to tell who a child is unless you really know their picture, before you get to the orphanage.
The girls are now in a regular orphanage and the little boy is in another one. It will be a long and expensive adoption but in the end, these three lives will be saved, they will get to know the love of a family...that makes it all worth it!
My goal is to raise $1000 and it will go on Patrica/Paige/Sally's account with Grace Haven Ministries as I planned from the beginning. I am so very thrilled that they all have grants from Reece's Rainbow, from folks raising money and giving sacrificially in order to bring these children home. It's amazing to see how people give to change a child's life forever!
If you'd like to help me reach my goal of $1000, please send a check or money order to Grace Church, 7060 Berry Road, Zephyrhills Fl 33540 attn: Orphan Ministry and I will send one check at the end of May to Grace Haven Ministries. You can also give directly to GHM by going to their site
http://gracehavenhome.com/?page_id=4 and write in the box that it is for Patricia and please say you are from my blog...I really want to met the goal for this month:) We are at $610 so far!
My heart is filled with gratitude to all who have already given to change these three children's lives....having had the honor to get to know the girls and to walk the hall of the mental institution these children lived in....makes me REALLY feel gratitude to all who have given and will give... You really have no idea what these little ones faced. Right now they have all been put back in orphanages BUT if they were not adopted, they would age out and go right back to a mental institution for the rest of their lives....
THANK YOU!!!!!!!
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Tonight Cephas (aka Maxium) and Lucia are HOME~ http://kacirek.blogspot.com/ read their story. It took TEN LONG weeks but they are home! Thank God and thank you all for your prayers and giving! They were also in our girls' instiution and now to know they are home...it thrills my heart! God places the lonely in families....
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So for a bit of a Clanton update.....
Selah continues to do awesome. We are all still in amazement at this dramatic change in her. So very thankful to see her so relaxed and all her numbers nice and low. Today I gave her a bath and blow dried her hair. She kept lifting her head up while I was drying it, totally on her own. She didn't really care for the blow dryer but if I did that every day, it would give her plenty of neck exercise!
Her physical therapist got 90% range of motion in each leg and 100% everywhere else:) We are really speechless except to say "Thank you God" for this change!
Sam seems fine now, his eye doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. It looks awful but he keeps it closed most of the time. I don't think it will look like there is an eyeball anymore even after it heals, since the iris was taken out when he had the orginal operation.
Today I got to go out to lunch with my friend, she was making fun of me with my magnifying glass:) but it was dark in there! LOL I got some thrift store time in and bought a set of Pyrex I don't use anything with aluminium in it anymore so all my stuff is glass or ceramic including my pans. I do have a few pots that are stainless steel that my aunt used so you know they are very old! I also found a pair of SKORTS my fav type of outfit!
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I feel I have alot to be grateful for tonight....my kids are all well, Selah is better than ever, and two children are home from their institution and three more have a family.....my heart is filled with thanksgiving!
Monday, May 13, 2013
Good News!
This morning I just had to share this....
Selah is doing unbelievably good!
During therapy, the therapist said she had NEVER seen her do as good! She got really good range of motion in every area of her body and her feet twitched, there was some movement, even if it was just response neurologically, it was something new!!!!
Also she has not had Clonidine, one of her Blood Pressure meds since Friday morning....WHY? Because her BP has been in the low normal range!!!! We have a parameters in giving it and she has not meet them since Friday! This is amazing!!!!!!
She hasn't had Valium since Tuesday morning early!
She also has been continually swallowing, like we all do! No drooling!!!
No one knows what is going on but it is GOOD!
This is the best overall she has been since the accident.!!!
Please keep praying...we have a long way to go!
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Got $10 from Pennsylvania today towards our Orphan Ministry! Thank you my friend! We need $390 to meet our goal of $1000 for this month! I know we are going to meet the goal!
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I've thought about this for a long time, even since before the girls and I really think God is leading me to speak/share at churches, women's groups, civic groups etc...about our life experiences and our trust in God. So if you are interested in having me come and share, email me and let me know theclanton5@aol.com
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Mother's Day
Mother's Day.....
When I was growing up Mother's Day and Father's Day were very hard for me. I was raised by my great aunts, two old sisters, Boot's and Ruby. When they first took me, as a baby, my great uncle was alive, he was married to the aunt I called "Boot Mama" Her real name was Bertha but her nickname was Boots. So she became Boot Mama...only in the south.... He died when I was 3 years old and then their brother my Uncle Mack came to live with us. I adored him, he passed away when I was 12 years old. Even tho I was loved and pretty happy as a child, it was odd in my small town not to have a mom and dad. I didn't know anyone else who lived with anyone other than their parents or whose parent's were divorced. So those days were just stressful to me. Not that I didn't love "Boot Mama" as much as any child could love their mom, but it was obvious I was different.
Then once Mama died, when I was 17 years old, I was sad when Mother's Day rolled around.....then I got married and couldn't have kids, so it was still a sad time to me.
I told Jon years ago, do NOT be like some pastors and make big deals out of Mother's & Father's Day...it is too stressful and sad for many folks. I HATED it in some churches I've gone to over the years.
BUT in 1996 I celebrated my first Mother's Day as a Mother with my fat happy little 7 month old boy Steve! Never dreaming that one day I'd have FIVE kids:)
If you wonder about my "birth" family...it's weird...I don't have hate I just want nothing to do with them. I only saw my father one time that I could remember, and then about 15 years ago I got a call from a lady who identified herself as my "sister" and she said that our "father" had died....I was a bit impolite to her....she wanted me to sign something so his "family" could get his insurance money or whatever.... I told her to leave me alone, I wanted nothing of his. My "mother" has been in and out of my life a few times. She always has an excuse as to why she left me with her aunts. Now I think she did a GOOD thing as I shudder to think what my life would have been like being raised by her BUT I believe in personal responsibility and she has no clue of that... She is always the "Jerry Springer victim" To be honest, I didn't have time for that type of thinking ever and certainly not now. She wants to be close and have some manufactured emotions...it's so not there and I can't see it ever being there. I needed a real mother when I was a child who put her children before herself and gave her kids a solid foundation....I didn't get that. I don't need craziness now in my life. Before I was a mom, I could listen to her excuses HOWEVER after I became a mom, there was nothing and no one who could ever tear me away from any of my children....
Being a Mom has been the best thing in my life! I wasn't 100% sure I wanted kids, cause I sure didn't like other people's kids LOL but I wonder how it would be to have my own kids....I KNEW my kids wouldn't be brats...and they are NOT:)
This is what I posted on FB this morning.....
Happy Mother's Day, I've been given the best gift of all, the children, God has blessed us with. Being a mom has broken my heart at times but it has given me the greatest joy also. Having our children, with their unique stories, has been the most exciting thing to happen to me. I wouldn't trade one minute of it, if it meant not having one of them. I've learned to appreciate the good times even more, because of the heartaches....I love you Steve Clanton, Shad, Sam, Selah and Sarah and our twins..... I'm glad each of you are my kids:)
My kids & husband are the most important things in my life. I adore them and I enjoy them....our family is a place where we can relax and lean on each other. Adversity has only drawn us all closer together. We've learned to depend on each other and to be there for each other. I thank God that He gave me a good husband who came from a stable family. God also gave me glimpses of families so I could have an idea of how a family really functioned. We're not perfect parents, but we have a happy home and our children are well behaved and respectful. They have fun with us, but they also know we are the parents. I think kids like to have boundaries, it makes them feel safe. Jon & I have never really disagreed on parenting issues and that has made things really easy for us. We pretty much had the same ideas.
Jon and his family
Steve & Shad cooked out for us today after church. They grilled hot dogs, baked beans, chips, drinks, and smores:) It was unexpected and sweet! It really was neat to see them do it all, Shad was all about starting and maintaing the fire LOL They've never done anything like that and it was neat to watch them do it all!
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Last year.....
When I was growing up Mother's Day and Father's Day were very hard for me. I was raised by my great aunts, two old sisters, Boot's and Ruby. When they first took me, as a baby, my great uncle was alive, he was married to the aunt I called "Boot Mama" Her real name was Bertha but her nickname was Boots. So she became Boot Mama...only in the south.... He died when I was 3 years old and then their brother my Uncle Mack came to live with us. I adored him, he passed away when I was 12 years old. Even tho I was loved and pretty happy as a child, it was odd in my small town not to have a mom and dad. I didn't know anyone else who lived with anyone other than their parents or whose parent's were divorced. So those days were just stressful to me. Not that I didn't love "Boot Mama" as much as any child could love their mom, but it was obvious I was different.
Then once Mama died, when I was 17 years old, I was sad when Mother's Day rolled around.....then I got married and couldn't have kids, so it was still a sad time to me.
I told Jon years ago, do NOT be like some pastors and make big deals out of Mother's & Father's Day...it is too stressful and sad for many folks. I HATED it in some churches I've gone to over the years.
BUT in 1996 I celebrated my first Mother's Day as a Mother with my fat happy little 7 month old boy Steve! Never dreaming that one day I'd have FIVE kids:)
If you wonder about my "birth" family...it's weird...I don't have hate I just want nothing to do with them. I only saw my father one time that I could remember, and then about 15 years ago I got a call from a lady who identified herself as my "sister" and she said that our "father" had died....I was a bit impolite to her....she wanted me to sign something so his "family" could get his insurance money or whatever.... I told her to leave me alone, I wanted nothing of his. My "mother" has been in and out of my life a few times. She always has an excuse as to why she left me with her aunts. Now I think she did a GOOD thing as I shudder to think what my life would have been like being raised by her BUT I believe in personal responsibility and she has no clue of that... She is always the "Jerry Springer victim" To be honest, I didn't have time for that type of thinking ever and certainly not now. She wants to be close and have some manufactured emotions...it's so not there and I can't see it ever being there. I needed a real mother when I was a child who put her children before herself and gave her kids a solid foundation....I didn't get that. I don't need craziness now in my life. Before I was a mom, I could listen to her excuses HOWEVER after I became a mom, there was nothing and no one who could ever tear me away from any of my children....
Being a Mom has been the best thing in my life! I wasn't 100% sure I wanted kids, cause I sure didn't like other people's kids LOL but I wonder how it would be to have my own kids....I KNEW my kids wouldn't be brats...and they are NOT:)
This is what I posted on FB this morning.....
Happy Mother's Day, I've been given the best gift of all, the children, God has blessed us with. Being a mom has broken my heart at times but it has given me the greatest joy also. Having our children, with their unique stories, has been the most exciting thing to happen to me. I wouldn't trade one minute of it, if it meant not having one of them. I've learned to appreciate the good times even more, because of the heartaches....I love you Steve Clanton, Shad, Sam, Selah and Sarah and our twins..... I'm glad each of you are my kids:)
My kids & husband are the most important things in my life. I adore them and I enjoy them....our family is a place where we can relax and lean on each other. Adversity has only drawn us all closer together. We've learned to depend on each other and to be there for each other. I thank God that He gave me a good husband who came from a stable family. God also gave me glimpses of families so I could have an idea of how a family really functioned. We're not perfect parents, but we have a happy home and our children are well behaved and respectful. They have fun with us, but they also know we are the parents. I think kids like to have boundaries, it makes them feel safe. Jon & I have never really disagreed on parenting issues and that has made things really easy for us. We pretty much had the same ideas.
Jon and his family
Jon, his dad, mom and brother Jim with Molly the family dog
BTW I LOVE my in laws! I've had the best!
me and my blessings!
my five blessings!
Steve and me!
cookout in our backyard
Steve built this simple fire pit and it works well
Steve & Shad cooked out for us today after church. They grilled hot dogs, baked beans, chips, drinks, and smores:) It was unexpected and sweet! It really was neat to see them do it all, Shad was all about starting and maintaing the fire LOL They've never done anything like that and it was neat to watch them do it all!
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Last year.....
Church Dedication 2012 the girls first Sunday in church Mother's Day
Me with my 5 kids last Mother's Day
the kids swinging outside....happy day....
Memories....
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Today I became aware of another little girl with vision problems who needs a home. She is in Foster Care in Texas.
there is a link with info about her. My heart is pulled towards her and her situation, knowing how our family knows how to work with a child with vision issues but I also know our situation....maybe someone reading might realize that God is leading them towards this sweet girl. She sounds like our happy Sarah. She needs a forever mom and dad too!!!
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DON'T FORGET OUR ORPHAN PROJECT FOR MAY!!!!!
We have $600 raised already this month, with a goal of $1000 to go towards two little girls. One is listed on Grace Haven Ministries, Patricia. She will be adopted with another little girl. You can give directly to GHM or send a check to our church marked Orphan Fund Grace Church 7060 Berry Road, Zephyrhills Fl 33540. You can make a difference in a life!!!
On this Mother's Day, I think of the children in need of a family.....
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