The Winners and a Big Thank You

Thank You

To everyone who has supported use in our give-away

by either donating or sharing or praying for us.

I am not sure I can adequately express how 

grateful we really are for all the support and love we have received.

We were able to raise 

$2,560.50 during this give-away.

We will be traveling sometime

in late February or early March.

And now the winners

There were 677 entries in our give-away

and my neighbor used Random.org to generate the winners for me.

GIFT #1

Apple® - iPad® 2 with Wi-Fi - 16GB - Black or White

#571 donated on 12/18/2011

Kathy M

GIFT #2

$20 Amazon Gift Card

#63 donated on 11/28/2011

Yuliya G

GIFT#3

My memories Suite V3

Includes downloadable software and a $10 code for digital paper kits

#86 donated on 11/29/2011

Jennifer M

GIFT #4

$25 gift code to be used at 

My memories.com  on any beautiful kits you choose.

#616 Shared on FB

Briana J

GIFT #5

This beautiful interchangeable Watch Band and Watch Face 

from Beadit Online

#515 donated on 12/18/2011

Jessica R

GIFT #6

A $15 gift code to be used at 

Sassy Cassey's Fashions 

#469 donated on 12/15/2011

Jennifer S

GIFT #7

A $20 gift code to be used at

Sparkle In Pink

#284 donated on 12/07/2011

Jennifer S

GIFT #8

A $25 gift code to be used at
Story Time Felt and More

#644 donated on 12/19/2011

Jamie and James

I will be contacting the winners to get them their gifts ASAP
or they can contact me at
cans4carlene@yahoo.com

Thank you again to everyone who is helping to love our little girl home.

Gotcha Day Tradition

First I would like to say a big

THANK YOU 

to all who donated or shared our iPad 2 give-away so far.

It is still going on until December 15th and you can click here to enter and 

see all the great gifts you could receive with only a $5.00 donation 

or sharing on your blog or Facebook page.

But I also wanted to share with you a great opportunity

you have to make really cute scrapbook pages 

and cards by using this amazing software

My Memories Suite V3.

This new version  just came out last month 

and it is sooo fun to use.

Plus, if you purchase it using the code STMMMS69334 

you receive $10 off and a $10 coupon to use on digital paper kits 

and you receive 4 entries into our iPad give-away 

because every time the software is purchased using 

STMMMS69334

We receive $20 towards our adoption.

My Memories also has a fun Facebook page and blog

where they have challenges and contest.

This weeks contest is called Family Traditions

and I have entered our tradition of going to Disneyland every year 

on December 13th because that is Nevaeh's Gotcha Day.

If you would like to read more about this fun day that we had

you can go here .

The other thing I love about this company is you can use

the digital paper they offer for free or 

other kits you can find for free all over the internet.

Right now they have this free kit called Santa

Below you fill find some of the other

stuff I have been doing this past month while learning

to use this new program.

The layouts above our my first attempt

at making my very own personalized Christmas Cards.

Another plus is that I can upload these layouts to 

any of the popular printing companies:

Shutterful, Snapfish, Winkflash, Picaboo, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and on and on.

And at Costco I can print out a 12x12 page and stick it in a regular scrapbook.

I can even add embellishments after it is printed.

The list of possibilities are endless.

It would make my day if you would share

this wonderful opportunity with others.

Then they can become obsessed with digital scrapbooking too :)

All I Really Want For Christmas....

Today is National Adoption Day...

Today as you think about what your 

plans are for Thanksgiving and for Christmas...

Today think about what it might be like

if all you wanted was a family to 

eat Thanksgiving dinner with

or wake up to on Christmas morning...

Today give words of encouragement 

to those who have decided to 

add a new member to their family

instead of telling them how hard it will be...

Today find out how you can help 

those who have been abandoned by their families

or those who are trying to adopt or foster them...

Today as you think about how grateful you are

for everything you have....

Today go out and make a difference...

Because all they really want for Christmas
is a FAMILY

All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There's so much I could ask for, but there's just one thing I need


All I really want for Christmas is someone who'll be here
To sing me happy birthday for the next 100 years
And It's okay if they're not perfect or even if they're a little broken
That's alright, 'Cause so am I


Well, I guess I should go, it's almost time for bed
Maybe next time I write you I'll be at home


'Cause all I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
Tell me I'll never be alone, someone whose love will never end
Of all that I could ask for, well, there's just one thing I need


All I really want for Christmas



All I really want for Christmas

 is a family...... 

I am so grateful that this will
be the last Thanksgiving and Christmas that our little one
will have to spend in an institution.

Because all we want for Christmas is for her to part of our family

What's the Hold Up

When I first started this blog

I promised myself it wouldn't be one of those boring

blogs were all you got was an update of what was happening once of week

or where everyday I was hounding you to help us with a fundraiser.

But as we end our first trimester (yes it has now been over 3 months)

since starting on this journey

 I am finding it harder 

to share things with you that I think you will find uplifting or interesting.

I mean 

It seems silly for me to post

We all went to the doctors today to have physicals so check that off the list.

Or, the psychology reports came back but there was a mistake made on

it so we are waiting for it to be mailed again.

I could post

Had everything notarized today and it was $310

then I found out it was all notarized wrong.

See

Not very exciting.

But I do know that there are some of you 

who may be thinking

WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG?

Are they doing anything to get this poor little girl home?

Well

Yes and No.

We do our part as fast as we can

and then we wait, and wait and wait some more for

freed back to see what we need to do next.

Have I every mentioned that 

I HATE WAITING!

It really is not one of my better qualities. 

I was so excited because I thought

we were finally ready to move forward.

I found out that our homestudy was finally 

FINISHED.

That means we can go to Sacramento

and have everything apostilled 

(a fancy word for cost a lot of money to make sure your notary is legit)

I was planning on leaving on Wednesday afternoon 

and making the 8 hour drive to Sacramento

so that I would not have to wait about 2 weeks 

to get everything back.

Then I found out that my homestudy agency 

did not fill out all the extra paperwork 

that has to go with the homestudy :(

So now

I wait again.

They said they hope they will have it finished 

and ready by Tuesday morning 

but they can't promise anything.

The only thing that keeps me from going insane about this

is the fact that the region we are adopting from

is not accepting any dossiers (all those papers we have to have just right to get an appointment)

right now. 

Not sure why.

Rumor has it too many adoptions this year 

and they don't want to do more than last year

or 

change of authority in her region.

Who knows.

All I know is my hopes of 

traveling in December are quickly fading.

It will most likely be January at the earliest. 

That's just they way things roll 

in the international adoption world. 

So my giant fundraiser that I had planned 

starting Thanksgiving weekend in hopes

that during the fundraiser I would have cute pictures of us

with Carlene to post is not going to happen the way I planned.

So I am going to have to hope and pray it goes over well

anyway without new cute pictures of her.

 Because we do have about $10,000 to raise still before

April or May when we are hoping to bring her home. 

Speaking of fundraisers

Thanks to everyone who participated in the

last one. 

We made $166 from it :)

And if you do want to know more about the day to 

day happenings of our adoption

you should consider following along at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Operation-Orphan-No-More/148027775296415.

I post the boring updates there more frequently ;)

And because I can't stand when a post doesn't have pictures

here is one of Nevaeh and I from Halloween.

So even though it seems like forever

Remember that next Halloween

Our little one will be forced dressed up like us too.

And I'll have another creepy looking doll (according to my children)

for her too.

Anyone want to suggest what we all should be?

And the Winner is

I would like to thank everyone who

participated in our Feel the Love/Share the Love fundraiser.

I do not know the exact total we raised yet 

but I am very grateful to everyone who either purchase,

blogged or shared on FB for me.

And I hope that everyone who will now have this 

beautiful print hanging in their home

will know of the love I also have for them for 

helping to bring our little one home.

I was excited to find out that according to Random.org the 

winner is Jill who is adopting Tanner on Reece's Rainbow.

So Jill, if you would please email me

at cans4carlene@yahoo.com

with your address and which print you

would like for being the winner

I will be happy to get that sent out to you.

I would like to let all my blog followers know that 

I now have a Facebook page setup.

It is

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Operation-Orphan-No-More/148027775296415.

I will be announcing what we plan to name our little one and

why we chose it once I get 100 likes.

Right now I have 95.

I will not be announcing it on my blog

so if you want to know what we

are naming her make sure to go like my FB page.

Plus, you will be kept up-to-date on 

how the whole adoption process is going.

I hope everyone who reads this knows

how much your love and support means to us. 

We are so excited to get this sweet little girl home to her forever family.

Feel the Love/Share the Love

Tomorrow I will attend my first Buddy Walk.

What's a Buddy Walk?

An opportunity to spend the day

with an amazing group of individuals

that are made up of a little something extra :)

I will also be sharing 

Reece's Rainbow 

with all of 

these people and their families.

To help them truly understand the

impact Reece's Rainbow 

has had helping children with Down Syndrome get adopted

I put together a video to share at the Buddy Walk

and with all of you.

Tomorrow is also the first day you 

can order pictures 

for our fundraiser.

You can order the beautiful picture

at the end of the video

for just $9.95 for an 8x10

and when you put For Carlene in the comments

her account will receive 40% of every sale until Friday, October 21st.

But there are even more 

photos to choose from and you can view

some of them in this lovely video 

 And because I know many people have been visiting Carlene's blog 

but no one ever leaves a comment :(

I am going to tempt you by telling you if you leave me a comment 

stating that you shared my fundraiser on your blog

or on facebook

and then tell me which picture is your favorite
I will use random.org on Thursday morning to
pick a winner and send the winner
an 8x10 of your favorite picture.

If by chance you already purchased your favorite picture
for the fundraiser
I will just reimburse you if you are the lucky winner.

I would also love to see comments
about the first video I made with the Reece's Rainbow cuties.

Please tell me if you have followed any of their journeys
and how they have inspired and touched your lives.

I cannot wait to get Carlene home and watch her
blossom into the beautiful princess that
God has intended her to be.

Thank you so much for supporting us
and being apart of  her journey.

Please use this link when sharing our fundraiser :)
http://www.capturedmiracles.org/shoppingcart/products/Unconditional-Love-%252d-Available-for-a-limited-time.html

When God Wraps His Arms Around You - The Fundraiser

If you would like to a chance to win
one of these beautiful pictures
please read my new post.




Lately I have written a lot about how it

feels to have God Wrap His Arms Around You.

Now I would like to introduce you to some 

photos of what it might look like

if God were here physically today to wrap His arms around you.

Helen Thomas Robson

is a talented artist who has graciously said

her studio would donate 40% of 

all sales from October 15th to October 21st 

to our adoption fund. 

Below you will find some of my favorite 

pictures.

The first photo is how I found 

Helen's photos.

I was searching for a picture 

that should God's love for children with 

Down syndrome.

I asked Helen if I could purchase the 

print to sale at an on-line auction

and she told me that instead she wanted 

to do a fundraiser were people could have access to 

all of her work and she would donate

40% of the sales.

Once again 

I felt God Wrap His Arms Around Me

Please enjoy these photos

and make sure to visit her website.

Also invite all your friends

to share in God's love

and 

to help get our little one home

by blogging or sharing my blog on

Facebook or this link.

The poem "Footprints in the Sand"

Some pictures about those serving our country

Pictures and a book about those

who founded our country.

God's love for a birth family

and adoptive family

And how all children are

loved of God

even if their life started out rough.

You can also view her beautiful video

Remember that the fundraiser

starts on Saturday, October 15th

and goes until Friday Night, October 21st.

What an amazing Christmas gift 

these pictures would make

starting at just $9.95 for an 8x10.

So think of someone you know who

needs to have God Wrap His Arms Around them

and give them a beautiful picture

while helping Carlene to 

come home.

Our homestudy is being reviewed this week and
we should be traveling the first of December
but still need to raise about $15,000.

If you don't see a picture that interest you
but you would like to help with the cost
of our $40,000 adoption
 we have a $5.00 puzzle fundraiser
or a Digital Scrapbooking fundraiser going on too.