Summer 2017 part 2 NYC

In June we headed up to Rochester for Sam's TEN year anniversary visit!  YES it's been 10 years since he had his corneal implant!  Sam was the 46th patient to have the implant at that time.  It's called the Boston Kpro.  He had it done because the corneal transplants had failed and usually if transplants fail once on a child they will just continue failing.  Our doctors in Miami could offer us nothing else but our favorite doctor said he'd heard of a "maverick" in NY....well we needed that maverick Dr Aquevella!  He has been a wonderful answer to prayer for our family.  In the Perter's Anomaly world there is so much silly confusion about Kpros and some eye doctors are against them and poison parent's minds-so sad.....  I don't know if it is professional envy or what that causes the prejudice against the Kpros.  I've never figured it out.  We have a FB group and I've just about given up even sharing about the Kpro anymore.  It's been mostly without problems for Sam, except for his left eye and we never had much hope for that eye to begin with. There is work to do and eye drops and a few rules we follow but that is nothing compared to Sam having some vision! We only wish we could have done that for Sarah!


On our way up we went off the beaten path.  We had a turkey cross the road in front of us in South Carolina and it was fussing at us the whole time!  If we'd been headed homeward, he might have wound up a Florida turkey LOL

Then we stopped for the night in Gettysburg.  We had enough time to walk through the cematary, something we didn't get to do the last time we were there.  We got a fabulous hotel outside of town with three beds!  It's always fun to get a really comfy big room.  The greatest thing was the woods behind the hotel.  There was a firefly presentation like none of us have ever seen.  It was just unbelieveable, hundred of thousands of fireflies all in the trees, there was just a hint of coolness in the air, and for a Florida family we felt like it was Christmas time!







Sam had to have an EUA so this was him following the perfect exam!  I still get choked up when he is being taken back to be placed under anesthesia.   He does great and as usual there were no problems.




Our beloved Dr Aquevella and his new assisting doctor that I think we will love also:)

God bless that place!

this picture hangs on the boardroom of the Ronald McDonald House. Not only is it meaningful to us that they have pictures of our family up, this picture was taken just about an hour before the accident at the canal.  But for the grace of God, this might have been the last picture we would have had of Sam. I'll be honest, it is very hard for me to go back to Rochester.  I'm not one to cry but I was very stressed about going this year.  I despise the Erie Canal and hate to see it.  It's very hard emotionally.

After Rochester we headed for NYC!  We left the city in 1997 so 20 years later it was our first time back!   We found a Country Inn & Suites in Queens (Long Island City) that was wonderful.  One block from Queen's Plaza (subway and bus stop) Blocks from the 59th street bridge!










It was bizarre to see the police & anti terrorists force out!  NYCis a far different city than it was 20 years ago when we lived there.

So there is quite a joke in our family about the McDonald's on Times Square.....
in early 1995 I ate there and got sick on the subway before I could get home to Brooklyn.  In fact I was sick for several days so I called them to complain.....when I never could get better I went for an exam and found out I was pregnant with Steve LOL   I never did call them back and apologize.  We always laugh when we see that particular McDonalds on TV or a movie!!!

Olive Garden on Times Square

Sarah and me in Central Park

Of course we had to go to the hospital where Steve was born, St Luke's Roosevelt (although it's another name now) Lots of memories for me- Steve was born here, we lost the twins here and I almost died.....






I swear this was the same bassinet Steve was in LOL
There was a family leaving with their baby and I wanted to grabbed them and tell them how fast time passes by.....but they would have probably thought I was nuts.




Of course you know I had to go to Trump Towers!

Sarah loved the ice cream at Trump Towers!

St Patrick's (now you have to go through a metal detector!)










this was my fitbit for our first day in NYC!  I was so tired and it was soooooo HOT!

Yes Shad is asleep on a NYC bus!!

Sarah got really upset with the traffic and sounds so Jon and I started taking turns taking the boys around....









WHILE WE WERE AT THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
our nurse called and said she had the hand delivered paperwork of Shad's citizenship!!!!!
You just can't make that up!  It was amazing!!!!!!!!!   11 years it took!  His paperwork was all kinds of ways messed up but he is now a citizen!!!

Little Italy





We had to keep up our strength!

Empire State Building

Brooklyn in the back ground





You know I love libraries!

Steve and Sam walking towards our hotel from the parking lot






We also spent a day going to our old haunts!

Brooklyn Teen Challenge





The Chapel







the building with the blue door we lived in
first we lived in the top right apartment.
Later we moved to the bottom left




The stairs to our old apartment right side




 front door




our neighborhood

The Men's home where my husband worked

In 1986 I did an internship at Metro Church in the Bed-Sty section of Brooklyn

the store I got my 7-Up from every morning

the apartment I lived in 3 rd floor walk up




Brooklyn Bridge

What a LONG trip we were so very glad to get home.  On the way home, in North Carolina a truck lost its' ladder in front of us, it was a miracle we were not killed!   Our oldest son was driving and he handled it well but it was very scary!!!!



Tomorrow I'll blog the 3rd part of our summer:)

Summer 2017 Part 1 Cuba Cruise

Yes we are alive!!!!
I'm so sorry I've not been posting-I had a grand scheme to post weekly but .....it didn't happen!


What a summer we've had-lots of trips!

We finished up home school with Shad finishing all his 8th grade work so technically he is in high school now! (he should just be entering 8th grade this fall school is a year ahead)  Sam and Sarah worked on their goals and meet many of them in Lifeshkills and Communication.  Steve got home from his sophomore year of college-he made the Dean's List again:)

Jon and I headed off on a cruise to CUBA!
first we stopped at Key West....Oh Lord it was so HOT!

Then on to CUBA
Havana at sunrise

We found an Russian Orthodox Church there.

yes there were old cars everywhere

Cuba was bleak and oh so hot.......
I left the country with a feeling of sadness for the people.
We are still very interested in doing something to help special needs orphans in Cuba.  If you have any connections please email me at theclanton5@aol.com



A neighbor had two pregnant cats come up and each cat had 5 kittens LOL  We helped find one a home and then Shad begged me for another kitten to love ....of course I am such a loser and said yes!  So now we have 5 outside cats and 2 inside, Pumpkin Spice is her name and  she is sweet.  She stays on Steve's lap if he sits down I told him he'd have to take her to college with him!

I will write more about our summer this week-I promise!  I really am going to start blogging again!!!!

Country Living

So I've been walking like a fiend trying to always meet my base goal of 10,000 steps but really trying to hit 15,000 steps a day.  Some days it gets tedious in the heat so I've been taking my good camera to give me something to do that is more enjoyable than just walking.  Here's a few of my recent favorites!

I followed this fellow for awhile as he glided down stream with a fish in his mouth

Kia followed me one day

some neighbors

a few more

few more neighbors

I just love this picture.  this is a neighborhood dog.  He was a stray but now everyone on that end takes care of him.

This view just soothes my soul.

True story...
recently I was walking down the road literally thanking God that we live in the country where we have space and peace....everything is safe...and I hear a crack so I ran and the corner of this branch just grazed my shoulder.....LOL  I started cracking up!  Not sure how safe I am!  BTW this branch is about 6 feet long or longer  I moved it off the road and it was heavy/cumbersome   I'm glad I ran!

So my average daily steps for the past two weeks have been over 11,000 and in 14 days I walked 77 miles!   Having the Fitbit keeps me more active-for sure.


Summer is on- our oldest is home from college.  Homeschool is done for the year except for ONE MORE Math book for Shad.

Speaking of Shad he FINALLY got his US Citizenship after 11 years!!!!!!  We've had so much trouble since my husband did not travel with me Shad came in on a Legal Immigrant status.  (the girls had no issue since Jon was with me and had their Certificate of Citizenship in weeks after coming to the US)  So with Shad there was one thing after another....everything was messed up.  Even his readoption in the US got messed up on a local level....   In the end I had to contact Senator Marco Rubio's office and with their help we finally were told the paperwork was done and on it's way to us.  Thank you Sen Rubio!!!!  Once it is in our hands we are going to throw Shad a party!

Hope you enjoy my pictures!

Fitbit

Who has a Fitbit or some other brand of exercise watch?
Jon and I do & it has changed our lives....
If you see either or us walking aimlessly around our yard or on the street you know we are trying to hit that 10,000th step!  My basic goal is 10,000 steps a day but I really want to hit 15,000 a day!  I can get about 6,000 with no real effort but to go over that requires some walking time.  

Jon has only had one for a week- we found out on Sundays after TWO services he had walked about 6,000 steps.  Yes he is one of "those" type preachers who can not be still while he is preaching.  His average is usually over 15,000 steps a day because he walks so much at work.








I've been doing a lot of walking in the parks lately.  It's so hot and dry that I try and go early but can't always do that!

We recommend getting some type of sports watch - it will make you think about moving more than not having one!!  So far this year I've lost 8 pounds that has stayed off:)




Our oldest is home from college and I've just about wrappped up homeschool for this year.  Shad is still a year ahead in his studies ( we use a curriculum) but it's been a hard year being his teacher and mom.  He is very smart but he is also very lazy!  Because everything comes so easy to him- it seems he doesn't want to put any effort into things.  Next year I'm thinking of using Florida Virtual School so he is obligated to a teacher instead of me!  

Sam and Sarah are both doing good with Lifeskills. We've seen some big improvements. Sarah is saying Daddy all the time now.  She really uses it at night time to get one more kiss or prayer from Daddy...he can't resist her!  

I've missed blogging but I've been so busy and it seems so much work to get the old laptop out!  But I'm going to try and do better:)

Five Years ago

Today is officially FIVE years since we got home with Sarah and Selah!

These pictures mean so much to me- after 4 months of fund raising and paperwork- 6 weeks in Ukraine-a long plane ride ....we were HOME!  I finally could put them in clean PJ's and a in to their new beds.

Sarah used to always sleep on her tummy curled up. (not anymore! she owns her bed)








Sweet Selah



We are all doing great and I promise to update more soon!

I just could not let this 5 year anniversary go past me!

Spring pictures

Finally a new family picture.....in fact we have hundreds of new pictures LOL thanks to my dear friend Kandi from Kandi's Kandids  http://kandiskandids.com/

We had a fun time and I love family pictures.


Everything is going good with us.  No one has been sick and everything is going smooth- I LIKE smooth!  Hope you are having a great springtime!

Remembering God's Faithfulness!

This video posted by a friend reminded me of our life.



It's hard for me to share things about THE accident especially in this unforgiving, jump on the  parents, world that we live in....but here goes a little piece of my heart.



The first words out of my mouth when I saw my husband was "it's ok - I don't blame you"  I didn't even know what had actually happened at that time.  The cop that was with me, told his mother that he'd been to many accidents involving family members and he had never seen a reaction like mine.  His mom volunteered for Ronald McDonald House and she shared it with me later.  It really touched him.



But no matter what had happened- I KNEW my husband-I knew his character and his life.



But God gave me the words to say



I'm not known as a calm/peaceful person.  I react to things quickly & from my emotions-I have a short fuse.  But in that moment God gave me grace in a major way.



There was a night soon after the accident happened that I went down to the Erie Canal, alone.  Yea I know it wasn't the smartest thing to do but believe me no mugger or even murderer would have messed with me that night.  I wept loudly and had a Garden of Gethsemane moment where I begged God to change everything back.  But mostly I prayed for strength for what was ahead.



I'm a realist and by that time I knew without a major miracle Selah was gone away from us.  The future was absolutely terrifying.  It's one thing to be a mom to special needs children who require help as if they were toddlers....it's another to have a child who depends on you for her airway to stay clear!  I knew our life was forever changed.  When I say the future was terrifying....OH MY GOD there are no words!



In the midst of all the pain was the fear of losing my family.  HOW would we deal with this?   How could I meet all the kids' needs?  How would I have any sort of life?  How would this affect Jon and my marriage?



I can tell you the absolute truth.  God met me on the side of the Erie Canal.  An atheist friend wanted to talk to me about this once and he told me that I just found the strength inside of me....NOPE!  There was not that much strength inside me to face this tragedy.  There is not the slightest bit of doubt in my mind that God is real.  He gave me strength to move on.



We sat down with the kids and told them that everything was going to be ok.  We were honest and told them we didn't know HOW things would work out but we were all still a family and we were going to make it.  And we have....4.5 years later we are stronger than ever.  We trust God more than ever and we've seen God open the way for us when we didn't know where to go or what to do.





This video clip tells a story of loss and forgiveness.  It really touched me and brought back to my mind our situation.













Then this song.....Just say AMEN....  I can barely watch it without bawling.  God is faithful!

I have found Him faithful- I know He is able I've seen His power and brought through the fire!  I've found joy in the midst of sorrow- peace in the storm- hope for tomorrow.....

I laugh and say I could just stand there with one cardboard sign after another.....

Listen to it

https://youtu.be/rk5PcSEh4kg?list=LLLao5V7m_diK5H0go5GF7jQ