What can you do?

"No one can do everything but everyone can do something"

I love to hear how people are reaching out in their communities and across the world. I would love for you to share how you "do something" for others - it will give others ideas on how to give back and ways they can be involved in a positive way for others.

When we do presentations about adoption or Two Homes One Heart we find most people just don't know how to help - if we give them ideas or information on ways to get involved they are more than happy to.

Local food banks - In PEI, there is always a need for people to recieve items, stock shelves and hand out monthly groceries to clients

Local Soup Kitchens - in PEI meals are served in Charlottetown Monday - Friday at lunch time and supper time. They are always looking for volunteers to help with this. On the weekends, meals are provided by community groups and churches.

Schools - lots of schools need people to volunteer. Volunteers can help in the library, breakfast programs, reading with children, resource work and more!

In every province there are TONS of great charities that help with a variety of different causes - children, families, animals, schools, diseases, etc...

There are also TONS of great charities set up to help children and families in other countries -

There is NO EXCUSE to be doing nothing!!!

Please share your ideas and your favorite charities and inspire my blog readers!!

Tammy

Finally, some news!

We have been waiting anxiously to hear our dossier was sent to China. We found out our agency sent it to our Province LAST Thursday. PEI is one of the very few provinces who insist on sending all dossiers themselves to the country of adoption. Most provinces just allow the agencies to send them. So...our dossier has once again been sitting on the desk of the Provincial Adoption Coordinator since last Thursday. We were told by the Provincial Adoption Coordinator and many families here on PEI that the turnaround time for sending a dossier was 24 hours! This would mean, once a dossier is sent back to PEI from the agency, PEI sends the file to the country (in our case, China) within 24 hours. Well...it's now Wednesday the NEXT week and our dossier was not sent this morning. Yes, that would make it 5 business days that it has been sitting on a desk when it should have been sent within 24 hours! I honestly do not understand why this is allowed to happen. We have already written a letter of complaint to the Deputy Minister, the Director of Child Welfare and the Premier. We were assured by the Deputy Minister that this would NOT happen to us again and yet here we are again waiting, and losing, another week in getting our dossier to China.

I sent an email to our Adoptions office here in PEI this morning asking why our dossier still had not been sent. I mentioned that we had been told by them (the adoptions office) that our dossier would be sent within 24 hours and I also mentioned all other families confirmed with us their files had been sent within 24 hours. So why not ours?????

I finally recieved an email from the Provincial Adoption Coordinator tonight at 5:17 pm saying OUR DOSSIER HAS BEEN SENT TO CHINA!!!! Can you say relieved???? In the email, the Provincial Adoption Coordinator said if I wished to call her tomorrow she would explain the "delay" to me. HmmmHmmm.

So, big big big news for us!!! Once CCAA recieves our dossier they will begin working on it, approving it and then sending us a Letter Seeking Confirmation that we want to still adopt Evan. Our agency has assured us this shouldn't take very long at all (about 1 month) and then another month after that we will get an invitation to travel to China to see our sweet boy!!! So, please keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers that we can be with Evan SOONER rather than LATER!

I was also talking with our agency on Monday night and they said they had put in a request to get an update on Evan about 2 weeks ago so HOPEFULLY we will have new pictures and a new report on him in the next couple of weeks.

I honestly cannot express how happy and relieved I am to know our dossier is going to China and is done with PEI!!!!!

Feeling pretty happy...

All for you sweet boy!

Is he REAL?

My agency director called me last night...she is my only connection to our little Evan so hearing from her helps me remember this is REAL, little Evan is real and this adoption IS progressing. Some days I think about Evan and it's hard to imagine he is real and alive and waiting for us. I have a picture but really, what does it mean? It could be any child, any where in the whole world. Is it really my son?

My director told me that they had delivered our care package to Evan. Just to warn you, I'm a basketcase when it comes to this adoption, so...when she told me he had received our care package it made me very emotional. I made a large scrapbook photo album for him and I had it lamanated so he could use it like a storybook. One page for each of us (dad, mom, big brother Caleb, big brother Dylan and little sister Alyssa and one page of him) We also included some candy, a spiderman T-shirt, 2 disposable cameras, coloring book and markers and a few other small items.

I try to imagine what he would feel or think when he opened the book and saw his new "family". Would he hate it and throw the book, would he look at the photos and dream of his new life, would we just be pictures and not something he could comprehend as a family? How do we look to him? It's such a different experience when our child is older and not a baby...

What would his foster mother feel? Is she devastated? Relieved? Happy for him but sad?

We may never know...although I do hope we get to meet with his foster parents when we are in China.

Sometimes...I just feel like he isn't real, it's just a dream with no end in sight.

Wow...time is definitely slipping away from me...I haven't updated in a week. We are just doing all the usual things that come with having a house full of children...busyness!

I was hoping to hear today that our authenticated dossier was being sent to CCAA (China Center of Adoptions Affairs)...this is what we need to have done!!! We can't move ahead with our adoption until CCAA gets our paperwork!!! It has been more than 1.5 months since we submitted our papers to our province and it STILL has not been sent to CCAA. Ugg!!! What is the hold up!

And the wait continues...

Busy and tired!

Well, it's been a very crazy busy couple of weeks! We've had a 5 year old foster girl living with us and she's really terrific. She's also very, very busy and FULL of questions. Between her and Alyssa there seriously is not one quiet moment in the house. Then the 2 boys get home at 3:00 and it's even more loud, more chaotic, more arguing, more rowidness, more of everything!!!

I am supposed to fill in at a school - as the secretary - for the next 3 weeks. It's full time hours -8:00-4:00 every day and I'm really beginning to wonder how I can manage it. My husband leaves for work at about 6:45 am so he's never here in the morning to help with the crew. Hmmm...I'm a tad stressed about it...

Is this what our life will be like in a few months when our little Evan comes home? Or is the chaos, drama, and non-stop talking a "girl" thing? Alyssa and the little foster girl get along really great sometimes and other times it's pull-my-hair out bickering between the two of them. They are either running around the house holding hands yelling "sister, sister, come on sister" or they are constantly running up to me yelling, "sister did this to me, sister won't let me play with the barbies, sister isn't being nice" and on, and on, and on...
(Both girls find it hard to say the other girl's name so they both call each other "sister")

Then throw 2 "older" boys into that mix and they are constanly telling the girls to be quiet, to get out the way, to stop bossing them around...I swear, some days I want to leave and never come back! :-)

Now I'm starting to panic - is this what my life will be like for the next 10 years or so or will we get adjusted into a routine and have some sanity???????

And no, I'm not regretting adopting a 4th child, I'm just getting a reality check and it's a tad scary!

Take a peek...

For all of you who were able to help with the China weather crisis fundraiser I did a couple of weeks back there are now pictures posted on our Charity blog. The Dao Orphanage in Hunan, China received our donation $$ and was able to buy LOTS of great things for the children.

No news on our China adoption so far...just waiting to hear our file is in China!

Below is a picture from Dao Orphanage - sent yesterday - of some of the babies wearing their new, warm outfits!!!

Adoption Facts...

I was reading this on a friend's blog and wanted to post a few of the quotes that I really liked. Everyone who knows me knows I talk non stop about adoption and about children around the world needing families. These are so true....

You know you're an adoptive parent (or should be!) when...

*The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.

*You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family

*You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide

*You believe God's heart is for adoption

*You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth

*You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life

In case you didn't know - I Love Adoption!!!

Tammy

Our Dossier is heading to China!

We met with our Provincial Adoption Coordinator on Thursday and we signed our Letter of Intent which says "YES" we accept the referral of Liu YangJun!!!! Our dossier will now be sent to China (CCAA) and they will review it and hopefully approve it very quickly so we can make travel plans!

From this point on, all we do is WAIT - yes, the dreaded word, wait. CCAA could have our Letter Seeking Confirmation sent to us in 1 month or it could take them 3-4 months to send it. Our agency is very confident it will be sent sooner rather than later so we are praying it comes quickly! If the "letter" doesn't come quickly, we will have to wait to travel until OCTOBER - we definitely don't want to wait that long!

We had a crazy busy week and weekend so I didn't get a chance to post. Finally, today is a day we can have some down time with the kids (yes, I took a few mintues to post!).

For anyone who's interested, you can read a bit about our Valentine's Dinner Fundraiser here. We had the event on Saturday night and it was a lot of fun!

Thank You!

First, we would like say a huge THANK YOU to all of you for your many heartfelt and supportive emails and comments left on the blog! It is so exciting to be able to share this joy with all of you!

I still find it hard to believe we are actually adopting another child! I feel like I've been waiting so long and didn't really believe we would ever be at this point...with a picture of our new child and waiting to travel. God is so good!

We talked with our agency yesterday and unfortunately they weren't able to get an update for us about Evan. They were supposed to visit him personally while they were in China but due to the weatherstorms they were not able to get to his province, Guangxi. They have told us, though, that we will get an update via email THIS MONTH including some information on his speech issues and some general information on how he is doing. And, more pictures! I can't wait to see them!

Chris and I going in to sign our letter of acceptance for Evan's referral this week and then all our paperwork will be sent to China. Then, we wait....

We need to wait for China to review our dossier and approve us and then CCAA will send us a Letter Seeking Confirmation which we sign saying "YES, we do confirm we want to adopt this child!" Waiting for this letter has been what's taking so long for families to travel. It can take up to 5 months to get from China. Eeek!

Once we recieve our Letter Seeking Confirmation, sign it and send it back, we wait for China to send us an Invitation to Travel. As soon as we receive our invitation we can go to China! Kind of like knowing your child's visa has arrived in the Ethiopian adoption process!

Our agency is confident it won't take the 5 months and are still hoping we can travel by June.

Our family went to the Chinese New Year Celebration yesterday and we had a lot of fun. It was a very busy spot with over 500 people there! The food was awesome and we enjoyed some Chinese entertainment and were able to mingle with lots of other families with children from China as well as some friends from the Chinese community!

Year of the Mouse

Introducing....Evan Jun MacKinnon

Finally, after months of being in the process of adoption we finally have a son! Although our journey has taken some very different and amazing turns over the last month, we are so thrilled to introduce our son ~ Evan Jun MacKinnon.

He will be 5 years old THIS Sunday, Feb 10th. He is from Guangxi Province (Luizhou City). His profile says he is active, gets along well with others and his favorite things to do are play games, ride his bike, play with toys and pistols - YUP, sounds like he'll fit in just perfectly here!

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His "special need" is repaired cleft lip and palate.

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His Chinese name is YangJun and we will call him Evan Jun (prounounced June) - probably Jun Jun for awhile as that is what he is called by his foster family.

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We just think he is so amazingly special and absolutely gorgeous!

When???

UPDATE: We just got "The Call". I am going to go pick up our referral in just a few minutes! Later today we will have pictures to post! YAY!

Okay, so I know PEI has our referral now. We had the tracking # for our dossier when it was sent to Family Outreach. We heard from our agency that they recieved our dossier and they sent our referral expresspost on Tuesday. So, we know how long it takes a package to get here so we are pretty confident our referral arrived yesterday (Wednesday) but we haven't received a call from the Adoption Coordinator's office yet. So, we are really keeping our fingers crossed for today!!!! I'm not sure what they have to do with the referral before they call us but whatever it is, hopefully it doesn't take days to do!!!

Our dossier is in Ottawa getting authenticated right now so that will be done next week and then we send the whole package to China! Next, we wait to hear when we travel. Exciting times!!!

Our Valentine's Dinner Fundraiser is coming up for Two Homes One Heart - we are really excited about it but we still have lots of tickets to sell!!!! Let me know if you want tickets! We have had artwork donated from all over the world for our Art Auction so we need lots of people to come and bid!

Caleb loves to draw and has donated one of his drawings for the Auction as well...I have posted pictures below...it is now framed and looks so amazing. I know the pictures don't do it justice but I thought I'd show him off a bit :-)

Pictures coming soon!!!

Thank you to all of you who helped with our 24 hour crisis fundraising!!! Incredible how much we can do for others when we work together!!!

Our dossier has landed at our agency's office and they sent our official referral to PEI - so you know what that means!!! PICTURES and information on our little guy!

We are hoping to get the call tomorrow to go pick up our referral so keep checking to see if we have pictures to post!

Tammy

Orphanage needs our help!!

In 24 hours we all raised $2660.00 for Dao orphanage! How fantastic is that!!!

THANK YOU to all of you for your kindess and generosity!!!

Inside Dao Orphanage

As most of you know, our family has a charity called Two Homes One Heart...I emailed our contact in China to see if the orphanages we support in Yongzhou City, Hunan were hurt by the terrible storms and weather affecting China right now. We have heard that 2 of our orphanges were without power for several days but now have it back and are doing okay. One of our orphanages is in desperate need and they have asked us to PLEASE help them with warm clothing and food for their children. Due to the storm and the huge need, food is hard to buy so the prices are much higher now. We are trying to raise $1000 in the next 24 hours so I can wire it to our contact in China. She will make sure the orphanage is supplied with baby formula, food for the older children and WARM clothing. Weather reports say this is going to continue for several more days so it's very important that we move quickly to help these vulnerable children and the wonderful nannies who care for them!!!

We need 100 people to donate $10 in the next 24 hours to help these children!!! Please go to here and click on the "Donate" button. If we raise more than the $1000, it will still go to the many needs of the orphanages.

Please post this on your blogs so we can get the money raised in the next 24 hours!!!!!

Thank you!!!

**Time of original post: 9:36 pm
**10:15 pm - $100 has been donated so far!
**11:04 pm - we're up to $192 - I'm heading off to bed BUT keep the donations coming and I'll update more tomorrow...thank you!!
This MORNING
**9:36am - $525 donated already! Keep it up - we are 1/2 way there! Thank you!!
**10:56 am - $710 donated!!

**11:39 am - $955.oo - WooHoo!

**2:29 pm -WE ARE AT $1643!!!!

**6:00 pm - $2041.00 raised - 4 hours to go!

**10:00 pm - $2660.00 WOW

Blog Make-Over!

Don't you love the new blog makeover??? It was done by Nikki over at Blogs for a Cause- please contact her if you would like yours done - she only charges $20 and 100% of that goes to charity causes - her mission trip to Dominican and sponsoring children of Mayan Families (Guatemala). She's a very committed young lady with a huge heart for the children in Dominican!!

I didn't leave our letters to the gov't up too long on the blog because I'm a bit paranoid about who can read everything.

I CAN'T WAIT to finally have pictures of our son to share and to finally learn more information about him and his needs!!!!! Hopefully next week...then we can finally fill that empty box up in our new blog header! :-)