Operation Orphan No More

These books below are not homeschool related and are adult
Murder Suspense Books.

If you know of anyone who loves to read these
types of books please send them here and just tell them they are all listed at the bottom
for $1.00 each minimum $5.00 order plus shipping.

James Patterson Books:

Kill Me if you Can

Kill Alex Cross

Robert Parker Books:

Michael Connelly Books:

Iris Johansen books:

Eve

In the Still of the Night

If you have any questions please contact me at

cans4carlene@yahoo.com

Thanks again for support us with your purchase.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Thank You. We Won!

We did it.

We won.

Thanks to your help we were able to

stay in the top 10

and will be receiving a $500 Visa Card

to help with the cost of our adoption.

This picture was taken the day we

finalized Nevaeh's adoption.

If you would like to read more about that day

you are welcome to do so here.

It has been almost 2 years now and if you would have told me

on that day that I would be crazy enough to endure

even more heartache and pain by

venturing out into International Adoption

I probably would have thrown up on you.

But here we are.

Smack dab in the middle of turbulent seas once again.

I started out thinking this adoption would be so much easier.

That somehow it would be faster and I would be able

to enjoy the process more.

But nothing worthwhile has every come easy for me.

So right now we just wait and pray

and rejoice in the fact that we have made wonderful friends

on this journey and have learned so much about

learning patience and having faith.

Apparently I didn't do a very good job at that the last time

so I guess I am trying to see if I can do better this time.

I promise as soon as I hear anything I will let you all know.

Until then please pray that she will feel safe and loved

and that whatever changes need to be made to allow us to go

and bring her home will be done swiftly.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Consignment Sale

I have been so busy with life in general lately

that I haven't had much time to blog.

I am sure many of you have heard that

adoptions in a certain country in

Easter Europe have stopped.

What is interesting is that it is not ALL

of that country.

But it just so happens to be the region we are trying to adopt from.

Not unusual for this region.

So right now things are just taking longer

than what we had hoped.

So for now we are working on raising the last of

our adoption funds.

We have enough money for trips 1 and 2

but are about $9,000 short for trip 3.

So I signed up to do a consignment sale.

I had most of the clothes ready and then I got this

brilliant idea.

If I sold the items on-line I could earn all of the money

and not have to give away 30% of it to the consignment people.

I didn't even finish posting pictures last night on

our FB page when people were popping up and buying things.

Last night I sold $150 worth :)

Today $62.50 more.

I still have lots of clothes to go through but

was exhausted after spending 12 hour yesterday ironing, hanging,

taking pictures and inputting the clothes into the computer.

Not much left in the little girls clothes but

lots of little boys clothes.

So if you know of anyone in need of some

really cute boy stuff 18 months and smaller please come

and take a look and pass the info along.

I will be posting more stuff as I find more treasures.

Boys Clothes 6 months to 18 months

Girl's Clothes 3 months to 24 months

Girl's Clothes 2T and 3T

Girl's Clothes 4T

Girl's 6-7

Hats and Baby Bjorn

If you would like to make a purchase

just leave a comment on the FB page and message me your address

so I can figure out shipping.

If you don't have a FB account just email me at

cans4carlene@yahoo.com

I want to thank everyone again for all the support

you have given us during this time.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Please help us win $500 for our adoption

This week has not been the best week for me.

I am never, ever sick.

I can't even remember the last time I was sick.

So I guess I am making up for it this week.

Sore throat, cough, fever, achy body.

Not getting a whole lot accomplished as far as getting ready

for my consignment sale in March.

So,

today I found a new way to help us raise $500.

Yep,

It's another one of those photo contest.

I really think we could win this one.

You can vote everyday until March 22nd.

They will choose the top 10 as winners.

Just click on the link below.

Check it out here - http://family.go.com/i-heart-my-family-contest/favorite-family-photo/adoption-day-83469/

You do have to sign up and you need to click the VOTE button.

Then you can click the LIKE button and share on FB for us.

The photo I choose is from our Adoption Day.

We were at Disneyland the day we got the phone call that

Nevaeh needed a home and so we went to celebrate at Disneyland

on her adoption day.

As far as this adoption goes,

we are sitting in limbo once again.

We were submitted on January 26th and were hoping for a traveling date

around February 20th.

But we have now been told we will not be getting a date until

at least February 27th with a March travel date.

That is if all works out well with this region.

Sometimes I am sad that they are so picky

but I know that they just have the best interest of the children at heart.

So we continue to wait and give them any extra information they want.

I will be posting in a few days about how you can help another family

that is having court in a few days with their expenses.

I am scrapbooking pictures of their trip with the digital

scrapbooking software that I make $20 off anytime someone purchases it.

I will be donated all proceeds to Kelly and Charlotte this month

along with any money I make off of Amazon.

Next month I will choose a new family in need.

That's right.

Go to the top of my blog and click on the link and shop at Amazon

and Kelly and Charlotte will get whatever money I make off of it this month.

Hopefully by Monday I will have the adorable pictures of Charlotte up.

But for now I am taking some serious medicine and

going back to bed.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go Dear Lord

I'll go where you want me to go,

dear Lord

Over mountain or plain or sea;

I'll say what you want me to say,

dear Lord;

I'll be what you want me to be.

Since we started out on this journey in July we have

had many people question us as to why we are not adopting

a child that lives right here in the USA.

As we all know there are many children

in the US foster care system available for adoption.

And it wouldn't cost $40,000 to adopt them.

I have many reasons that I could list as to

why we have chosen to adopt internationally

but ultimately the most important answer I have

is because we are going

where God wants us to go.

I can assure you that if you had asked me 2 years ago

if I would ever adopt internationally I would have laughed at you.

I would have told you how God had asked us to

adopt right here from the good ole US of A.

And He had.

And we listened.

Some of you may already know this but

many of you may not.

Almost 5 years ago we signed up to be

foster care parents.

We had 2 short placements.

One for 5 days and one for 1 month.

And then she was placed with us.

She was 2 1/2 months old and weighed 8 pounds.

She had been shaken and neglected.

For 19 months we gave her a safe place to live.

We loved her and struggled with how we would feel when she was

returned to 2 people that also loved her but had hurt her

and were struggling with narcotic issues.

After 19 months of doing supervised visits with her parents

we were told it was now time to allow them to do weekend visits

and to prepare for her to go back to live with them full time.

Oh how our hearts broke can't even begin to describe

the pain we were feeling.

We knew this was always supposed to be the ultimate goal for her.

But somehow she had grown to be such a big part of our family.

Just try to love a child for almost 2 years and not

cringe at what they are going back to or believe that somehow

you could offer them more.

Below you can watch two videos that I made

to try and explain the way we were feeling.

This first one I made right before she started doing weekend

visits with her parents.

This second one is the one I made right before trial where it

would be determined if her parents could have full custody of her again.

We had been told by her social worker that there was a very good chance

she would be going back even though they felt like she

would most likely end up in the foster care system again.

I guess you could say that our story had a miraculous ending.

The weekend before court her parents called and said

that if we were willing to adopt her they would

relinquish their rights.

Words cannot express the feelings we had that day.

We knew her parents loved her dearly but

really were not capable of raising her.

What do you say to someone who just granted your ultimate dream

while dashing theirs?

We determined the best thing would be to have an open adoption.

While this has not been an easy task at all

we still feel it has been the right decision.

So on April 22, 2010

Nevaeh became an official member of our family.

In telling you this story I am not trying to say

that foster adopt is too hard and that no one should do it.

I would do it all again even if the outcome

would have turned out differently.

Because I know it is what God wanted me to do.

And we actually tried to do it again.

And God said NO.

I looked at the online photo listing for children in the USA.

And God said NO.

I guess the point of this post is that

there are so many different places you could go.

Where does God want you to go?

It doesn't even have to have anything to do with adoption.

Maybe God needs you to go help in an orphanage.

Maybe He needs you to help fight cancer.

Maybe there are homeless shelters you need to volunteer at.

Maybe you need to be a foster parent.

Or maybe He is sending you across the sea to adopt a child with special needs.

The thing that irritates me the most is when other people

try and tell us where it is God wants us to go.

Don't listen to those people.

Listen to God.

Because He does not send us all to the same places.

I'll go where you want me to go,

dear Lord

Over mountain or plain or sea;

I'll say what you want me to say,

dear Lord;

I'll be what you want me to be.

Lara Johnson

Songs of Every Lasting Joy

Thursday, December 29, 2011

One Whole Year

I was reading over old emails last week and found

one I wrote one year ago today to Heather (Anya's mom).

You may remember that one year ago

Heather's family had just met Anya and were

trying to raise the last of the funds they needed to bring her home.

So I got this great idea to enter my daughter's picture

in one of those Parent Magazine Cute Kids Contest.

The goal was to get enough people to vote for her that we

would win the $250 prize and then be able to donate it

to Anya's Adoption Account.

I mean, who wouldn't want to vote for my adorable daughter

to help bring home another adorable child.

But we didn't win that prize.

Instead it set us on a whole new path.

Here is my email to Heather last year:

Hi Heather,

I'm sorry the contest didn't happen the way I had hoped. But I think something bigger is going on here and I want to ignore it because it scares me and I'm not sure how to tell my husband.

I have been searching Reeces website more and more. I can't seem to go to bed at night without doing so. I have read more blogs written by amazing families that are in the process or have already adopted one of these precious children.

The child I keep being lead to is Carlene. I just googled her name and found a blog where someone is asking that people raise money for her. I then saw your name in the blog. Did you meet Carlene?

I can't even begin to tell you have confused I am right now. I don't know if this is what Heavenly Father wants of me or if I am just feeling compassion for these little ones. I feel so overwhelmed with life as it is right now and I can't even imagine raising that much money.

Anyway, I'm not sure why I am writing this email accept that I am sure you can relate. I read an incredible blog today. I don't know if you have read it before but here is the link. If you have any information on Carlene or more pictures please let me know. I am scared to death on what all this means.

Thanks for listening and I apologize again the our fund raiser didn't work out so well.

Katrina

The blog that I was referring to was written by Julia

and she titled it "A Whisper"

When I read the words she had written I felt as if I could have written them

myself. They were exactly how I was feeling.

Then a picture. A smiling face. A helpless child. The Holy Spirit whisper becomes a scream.

This child. In that country. GO. Now. Say yes. Despite the bank account. Despite the schedule. Despite the arguments. Despite it all. GO.

A few days after I wrote this email and read this blog

Carlene got a family.

But the feeling still wouldn't go away.

I thought after she got a family I could go back to my normal happy life

and just forget the feelings I had been having.

But they didn't go away.

They just grew stronger.

Talk to your husband anyway.

Plant the seed.

It will need time to grow in him.

And it did need time to grow.

About 6 months to be exact.

But that is when Carlene became available again.

So even though we have only been at this for 6 months

Carlene has been in my hear for a year now.

Soon sweet girl.

Soon it will be your turn.

Until then here is a song from when I was a child

that is heard on the movie The Rescuers.

This is my song to my sweet Carlene.

And so this year as you read "A Whisper"
And as you listen to Someone's Waiting for You
Ask yourself if one of these sweet little girls who still need a family could be your daughter.

This is Celine She was just recently moved to the same Institution that Carlene is at.
She has a warrior named Leah who has been working so hard to raise money for Celine so that she can have a family too.
As of today, Celine has just over $7,500 in her grant account to help towards the cost of her adoption.

This is Megan
Megan is one of the little cuties we considered when we thought Carlene had a family already.
She is the same age as Carlene and is in the same region as her.
Megan has over $16,000 in her grant account to help a family with the cost of her adoption.
So if that whisper that you have been trying to ignore is growing louder it maybe that your time is drawing near.
These girls have all had to be brave for far too long.
It is time for them to have a family.
It is time for them to be loved by a mom and a dad, not just taken care of by overworked caregivers that change swifts frequently.
So the next time you hear that Whisper or Yell ask yourself
Am I the Someone who is waiting to love them?

Saturday, December 24, 2011

My Christmas Miracle

Last Christmas I made a video of one of my all time favorite Christmas songs.

The song comes from an album called "The Forgotten Carols"

and has this beautiful song on it about a little shepherd boy that

fell asleep and didn't get to go and see the Christ child

but how he still believed the story even without seeing it.

I love this song because it shows the miracle that Christmas really is.
It shows that a lot of times you have to trust and believe in things
even when you can't see them.
And it shows that there are miracles that still happen today.
Sometimes
these miracles do not happen the way we think they should.
And sometimes we do not take notice of them
because they do not seem spectacular.
But there are so many miracles that happen all around us
if we just take the time to notice.
This Christmas I did not get the miracle I had been praying for.
And a few nights ago I was really sad that things were not
progressing the way I thought they should.
I was feeling sad and depressed about not knowing more about our little girl.
So I started searching for anything that might help me feel closer to her.
And I found it in the strangest place.
And once again I felt God wrap his arms around me and
remind me that He's got this.
And that miracles come in His time and in His way.
And I wish so much that I could share my
Christmas Miracle with all of you.
But now is not the time.
And it might not even seems miraculous to you.
But to me
It was a Christmas miracle and a hug for God.

Merry Christmas
Praying that next year she will get to be home celebrating with us.

Pages

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Curriculum and Book Sale