A Request For Prayer

Thursday, May 2nd is the National Day of Prayer. On this day we gather together as Americans to pray for our leaders, our country and our people.  And we need to. Like never before.

Many of you know that our children, Clint and Jennifer have been in the process of adopting two children from Haiti. It has been a while since it all began and every day is getting longer. I realize that  God's timing is perfect. I know He has the perfect plan for Betchina and John and their "gotcha day".  I also know that God desires that we are faithful in our prayer life. 

So, on Thursday as we are praying for our country, I am asking family and friends, and maybe friends of friends, to pray. 

*Pray that Betchina and John will continue to grow and be healthy.  They have their wonderful Mrs.Sue who is seeing to all of their needs, both physically and emotionally. 

*Pray that the paperwork will get into the right hands, get signed, move along and anything else that is needed.  

*Pray that the Passports will come in a very short time.

*Pray that anything standing in the way of the adoption being processed will come to light and be able to be fixed.

*Pray that Noah, Ruthe, Isaiah and Moses' hearts are being prepared for their new sister and brother. 

*Pray that Betchina and John will settle in quickly to their new home when the time comes and realize that they have always belonged there. 

*Pray that Clint and Jennifer will have the wisdom to know what is needed and be able to show their great love for these children while they are still far away.

This is my prayer for my children:

"They are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who delight to fear Your name, and give success to Your servant today..."  

Nehemiah 1:10-11

Please join us in praying. God is honored through our prayers. Pray for our country to seek God and His ways, not ours. I also ask you, humbly, to pray for these two children. They have stolen my heart and I wait in anticipation of the day they step foot in our great country.

Thank you for lifting this adoption process to our Father. Thank you for caring enough to take the time and consider these children and their family. I am praying blessings upon blessings on all those who join us in the time of prayer and petition.

On behalf of the Clifton family: Clint, Jennifer, Noah, Ruthe, Isaiah, Betchina, John and Moses-

God Bless You.


p.s.--when they get here I will have to do all the "Nan" things.  I can't wait!  :)

A Name Like No Other

It's that time of year around here. The time when we get out the notebooks, the pens, and the discipline that's required.

It's time for Bible study.

I love women's Bible study. I love the closeness it brings. I love the camaraderie that is shared. I love the joy and the tears that bind us together like no other time can. It's people being Jesus to each other and learning how this Christian life is lived out in the trenches,

I'm somewhat of a nerd when it comes to preparing for this event. I have to get all the supplies in order to be ready. I may not be organized in any other area of my life, but I am in this one.  I need the structure of orderliness. And the coffee. You can't have Bible study without coffee, right? :)

Here are a few things that are an absolute must for me:

The notebooks are vital. Where else can you take notes and draw pictures  diagrams?  Not only do they contain thoughts and idea's, but when my children are looking for journals of my life, this is where they need to look.  It's all in there--prayer requests, prayer groanings, life-changing decisions, etc. 

Oh, how I love these! I use them in my Bible and everywhere else. They don't bleed through the pages. And the Treasures like them, also.

And last, but certainly not least,

These are my  "go to" pens. They have a fine point and I just adore them. All colors.

Pardon my weird seriousness about this subject. I look at Bible study as vital to my personal life. Nothing else prepares me for church or service like this. When I look into God's Word and He looks into my heart and see's me for what I really am, there are bound to be changes. I have invested years into this process and I have still have miles to go. However, every time I spend time in studying a subject or a book in the Bible, it never comes without conviction of the soul and a life-changing impression deep in the core.  

This time we are studying the names of God. I first took this particular study eons ago in 1996 led by my personal friend that I adore.  She introduced me to Precept Ministries and I have never studied the Bible the same way since.  She often said, "We don't study the Bible just to study. We study the Bible to be changed by it." Counsel well taken.  "Lord, I Want to Know You" is our choice of study this time. 

In this study I found out Who God is. His names tell us everything we need to live life on this planet. The holy names tell of His character, His nature and His ways.  His names also tell us of His great love for us.  I fell more deeply in love with God. I learned that the more I know Him, the more I trust Him. And in this world of sin and lack of control, I think we need that.  If we trust God, our faith should be deepening. 

I hope our collective prayer is "Lord, I Want to Know You". In knowing Him,  we can say:

The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runs into it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

Come join us...the coffee pot will be on. :)

Friends to the End

Chuck Swindoll says, "I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun."

I wholeheartedly agree. 

I believe that God placed in our hearts and minds a spot that only a true friend can fit in. I am not discounting husbands as our friends. However, the friendship of women is a need we all have. We "get" each other. We can feel what the other one is feeling without having to say it.  We are connected.

Women talk. We can go back and forth from conversation to conversation, again and again, and still find something new in it.  Women are fiercely protective of each other when it comes to one of ours being hurt.  We can sit and be quiet or talk so much and so loud no one can stand to be in the room with us. 

From a table in the back of a coffee shop that is reeling with laughter, to a car ride that turns into the grand adventure, you can find girlfriends doing what they know to do: communicating.  We do our best communicating when we run together, and figure out where the day went wrong. When we are pushing strollers or just taking a walk around the practice field. When something tragic is going on in our lives to the birth of a new idea, women need to talk it through. 

                                         And if it involves coffee and cupcakes, that's a bonus.

Girlfriends are vital for women. These friendships are who we find our "getaway" moments with. 

It's a girls night out/shopping day mentality.

                                            

It's the moments of planning birthdays, going to church,

or simply having fun.

We need these moments. We need the girlfriends. 

They are the ones who:

Listen to our stories

When we crack jokes, they laugh

Loan us good books

Show up at our house with Starbucks

Hold our arms up, when we can't

Shower us with grace, sometimes unmeasured

Don't compare us to each other

Don't compare our children to each other

Cheer us on when we  cannot do it for ourselves

Tell us that we "can" even if we are in our pajama's

Go for long rides, for no specific reason. Maybe just because we want cupcakes

Reminds us that God is for us

Tell us when our tags are hanging out, for crying out loud

Laugh and cry with us, sometimes within minutes of each other

Challenge us

Commiserate with us

Believe the best about us and give us the full benefit of a doubt.

Helen Keller said, " Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."

In 1 Thessalonians 2:8, Paul said,

"We loved you dearly.  Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did."

The idea here is to "long after, to have a strong affection for."  Paul was so intensely attached to these people that he would have been willing to lay down his life for them. His most important job was to give them the Gospel, but after doing that he completely gave his heart over to them, also. 

Sounds like another Friend I know. 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."  John 15:12-13


Jesus is the best Friend. And then He allows us the privilege of other friends. 

Be the kind of friend that God can use. Be the friend that others look to for comfort and acceptance. Be the friend who tells the truth and loves just the same. 

And have some fun. I think Jesus had fun with his disciple friends. Why don't we? 

Be the friend that gives "your whole heart".  It's worth it.













Priorities of the Sand and Sun.

There are times when you can look back at a single moment in time and realize that it shaped and helped define the rest of your life.

I had one of those moments when I was 17.  At that time I was consumed with two things: a certain baseball player and going to the beach.  We went to the beach on a regular basis in our house. Most every weekend and holiday involved the salt and the sand more often that not.

We loved the beach. The water, the sand, the chairs in the sand, and everything else that goes along with a great day.  The seaside, for us, became a place of soul-soothing moments that we grew to crave. There is still no other place like it.

On a particular Saturday morning, we packed up and headed to our happy place for the day.  We would go early in the morning and stay until the late afternoon.  We lathered ourselves with sunscreen  baby oil...horrors upon horrors...and waited the day out.  We didn't wear hats or sunglasses. Who needed them?

The next morning upon getting out of bed, I looked in the mirror and saw fire-engine red skin and very swollen eyes. Well, I knew I couldn't go to church looking like this, so I proceeded to find my mother and discuss this matter with her.  In our house, church wasn't on the optional activities list. It was always a given that we were going and normally I was ready. Not that day, though. It would be a tad bit embarrassing to walk in SS looking like that.

I found her and began my tale of woe."Look at me," I said. "I just can't go to church this morning.". I was sure I would receive the grace and mercy of a totally understanding mother. However what I got was, " Oh, you are going to church." She then proceeded to tell me that it was the Lord's day and that her worship of Him was the most important thing in her life. Even more important than me.

Insert my life-defining moment.  My mother's worship of God came first and foremost. She didn't always get it right, but she knew where the Anchor was.  I learned that day my mother loved me so much that in that teachable moment she put my priorities where they should be.  To her dying day, I am convinced that my mother  never stopped worshipping her Savior.

I want to be like her when I grow up.

Happy Birthday, Mom. We miss you.

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,  for You, O Lord have not forsaken those who seek you.    Psalm 9:10

Reflections on Haiti

To say that we had a "good trip" to Haiti would be like saying, "I had a good day"....too generic.

So here is my list of things we saw, heard and experienced:

The airline we flew needs to check their thermostat. However, we didn't remember that the cold air was the last bit of coolness we would be a part of for a week. Hindsight is always 20/20.

My luggage which looked fine as I waved it good bye in Ft. Lauderdale came to me in Haiti beat up and filthy.

Port au Prince---what else can you say about no traffic rules, horns blaring, smells that haven't a name, wandering animals and people bathing, washing and "what can't be mentioned" in the same puddle of water.  Not to mention all the devastation from the earthquake.

Our first sight of Christianville was telling. We were anticipating such joy and happiness. And that is exactly what we received. The hospitality there was welcoming.

Mrs. Sue is a modern day Mother Theresa, or as Noah called her "Sister Theresa". For him to recognize  that was insightful for his 11 yrs, and he is absolutely correct. Any woman who moves to a 4th world country, saves children and uses her life savings to do it, along with God's leading deserves the title. She is a straight-talking, no non-sense kind of woman that children and adults love.  She has my respect and unending love for what she is giving her life for.

Christianville is a 25 acre ministry that is doing amazing things for the Lord and His work.  They are making a huge difference in their area and the people that live there.

Rats and tarantulas run freely.

The children we were with all have their own stories that would astound you, yet they all love with a heart that is open to everyone.

Of course, the two reasons we went: John and Betchina. My heart was meshed with theirs immediately. It was as if they were always ours... (I say "ours"...but I mean Clint and Jennifer's..I think :))...for their whole lives. I found there is no distinction of the heart. They belong with this family. Their hugs and smiles just seem to fit.

We had a room with three beds and a bathroom light that worked only in the daytime, a cold shower and a tin roof that when it rained sounded like we were being run over by a train, but our accommodations were very pleasant. When you are in Haiti you find out just  how spoiled and picky that you really are. The Lord seems to say, "Ha! I've been telling you all along" in those moments. I hope I listened.

The next time I go to the doctor and have to wait, I won't grumble about it. We went to a clinic that had a tent full of people sitting and waiting in the heat and I suspect it was an all day affair.

Worshipping with those you don't speak the same language with is, without sounding weird, a pure joy.  When you are worshipping in song and the only words you recognize are "Jesu" and "Papa",  you know that somewhere in the lyrics they worship the same God you do.  Anytime the song mentions "Jesus and Lord" you can count on hearts turned towards heaven. We also had Squirrely, the dog join us in worship that morning. He needed Jesus, too. :)

We took a walk to a near-by village where a well is in the center of it and people were bringing 5 gallon buckets to fill it up. There were little stands set up selling everything from Lotto tickets to mango's on the side.  Children ran freely, houses were being worked on and life went on in a world that we know very little about.

All this and more happened while we were gone. We spent seven days in a place almost completely opposite than where we live and yet, in many ways it was very much the same.  They are people trying to make a living, feed their families and get by. They want more for their children than what they have and do what they need to so it can happen.  They love Jesus...probably in a deeper way than we do.

My first born, the oldest Treasure and I left our homes and went to a small place in the sea and saw that God was working in very miraculous ways, in big ways.  I seemed to see things clearer there. I'm asking God for that same kind of clarity now that we are home.

May our eyes and hearts be open to see where God is working and to join Him in what He is doing.  I'll be going back soon to this island....and my heart is yearning already.

Mwen p'ap kite nou pou kont nou

Mwen p'ap kite nou pou kont nou

I will not leave you as orphans...John 14:18



Tomorrow begins a journey. It has been a long time coming and greatly anticipated.  In the wee hours of the morning, three generations will leave this land that we call home and fly to an island in the sea.  Waiting there are two children, whose names will soon change. I'm very sure that when our feet touch that ground our hearts will be eagerly waiting for moment we see the two that we are longing to hug.  God has granted us this time.  May we not waste one second.

Remembering....

Seconds  turn to minutes. Minutes turn into days and days into months.  Before we could blink, a year has passed, and our hearts are still remembering with thankfulness.

He is still the "Birthday present she couldn't return"

A good day with G'ma

She loved these.....

and the great grands .....

and most of all these. 

We are thankful we were hers and she was ours. And we are better for it.