ABOUT MINA:

Mina is a precious little girl recently rescued from an orphanage in Eastern Europe who is now finally home with her forever family! She had been without a mother or father to love her & care for her each day. No one to rock her, kiss her gently or tell her she's loved. She is blessed with an extra chromosome known as Down syndrome, which for her that meant a life of being viewed as worthless in the country she was born into & a life without hope. Because of this her parents gave her up at the age of 6 months when they found out the diagnosis & from there her life progressivly went down hill. We are the Gower family residing in OKC who recently adopted this little angel. She was extremely malnourished and unable to do just about anything when we first met her. She will be 2 in January & is the size of a 3-6 month old weighing 14lbs. She continues to amaze us at how quickly she is progressing with love and nutrition. She has learned to sit up, roll over, feed herself finger foods, hold her own bottle and loves to interact with toys and other children. Her life has changed so much in such a short period of time and will forever be changed! Thank you Lord for putting a burden on our hearts to rescue this little blessing and making her apart of our family!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

LIKE SCENTSY? 25% of your purchase goes towards Mina's adoption!

If you like Scentsy products or know anyone that does we are selling Scentsy products for a fundraiser and 25% of the sales will be going towards Mina's adoption!!


Here's a few pics of some of the products (lots to choose from:)



Go check it out & scroll through my open parties on the left side below consultant information on the home page & select Melissa Gower's party.


http://www.doitwickless.com/



You can place your order on line & have it shipped directly to your house & know that 25% of your purchase went towards us bringing Mina home!! The consultant said that shipping is really reasonable. I believe she said it was like 10% of the purchase price so if you spend $30 the shipping will be around $3.


Please pass the word on for us to anyone you know!!!!
Thank you all so much!!

Homestudy OFF to USCIS!!! YAY!!

We are so excited!! Finally it feels like we are really actually getting somewhere!!

Yesterday I met our social worker to get our homestudy notarized and was handed over this joyous packet of paperwork that is our first big step towards bringing Mina home!!

We took it by the Post office and mailed it to USCIS and they should have it by Wednesday!

Please pray we get a quick fingerprint date so that our approval letter (i-171h form) can be processing so we can get that and get our dossier sent out quickly!!

Mina~ We are getting closer to coming for you! Your big sister asks about you everyday and wants you home so badly! We are constantly thinking about you and pray for you each day! Oh precious girl we can't wait to meet you!!

Friday, April 16, 2010

A little story...............

Dazed and confused, Sarah and Mike of Eastern Europe, took one look at their newborn baby with a special need and immediately asked to place the baby up for adoption. Don't get me wrong, they loved this baby they so desperately wanted. However, this baby with the special need of Down Syndrome, will be viewed as worthless and dumb in their country. This baby will now sit in an orphanage waiting for a family to rescue them from a life in a crib. They will not experience being rocked, loved, kissed gently, having their teeth brushed daily, boasted upon, a decorated nursery, family holidays, the outdoors, and most importantly Jesus. No one will care when they first roll over, their first tooth, or first babble. This child will sit in a dirty diaper with a rash developing, will develop sensory issues due to lack of stimulation, will hunger, will learn crying will get them nothing, and silence will eerily become a part of their life amongst the rails of their crib due to the ratio of workers verses orphans.

Not all children come from hard places like the one described above. There are orphanages with great support and theraputic services for orphans in some countries. However, adoptive families must be prepared for the emotional/behavioral scarring that comes along with this beautiful child you have adopted. We have a heart for the hurt child. We understand the risk factors and outcomes of adopting an orphan. We have adjusted our expectations and are prepared for this child. Everyone has a passion about something and this is our passion. God has lead us to this point. Please consider supporting us with our efforts. We hope you enjoy following our journey. Thank you.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Update on our progress towards Mina!!

Sorry it’s been a while since I last posted.


My husband’s sister passed away and things have been a little crazy and emotional. Our home study will hopefully be done this week so then we’ll be waiting on getting our fingerprints. I’m praying the wait won’t be to terribly long. Ready to get that out of the way so we’ll just be waiting on our final document i-171h and off our dossier will be. Yippy!

Myla is getting more and more anxious to meet Mina. She asks about her everyday and continues to say Mina home. Still don’t know where she got that from…. But she seems to be fully aware that she will have a sister and she will be here with us soon. Myla prays for her every night before bed~ it’s so precious! We bought Myla a toddler “big girl” bed so she is now sleeping there so the crib can be converted back to a crib for Mina. We’ve decided for now that we are going to have them in the same room and we’ll see how it goes. We thought for Mina she would probably feel more comfortable being in a room with someone since she sleeps in a room full of other kids. Who knows, she may even be in our room for a little bit. We’ll just have to see when that time comes.

Some exciting news is that we received our check in the mail from the JBF Sale and we made $1,003 in sales so that is awesome. So far we’ve raised about $1,213 so we still have a long ways to go, but are so thankful for what the Lord has already provided. We have also had several people donate things that we will be having a garage sale for in the middle of May (date should be officially announced soon.)

More exciting news is that we actually got to talk to a few people who adopted from the same orphanage Mina is in. It was so wonderful to hear stories and read blogs from people who have been in the exact same orphanage we will be going to. They said that the orphanage caregivers are wonderful there and that they really do seem to love and care for the children~ so that was wonderful news. Of course it’s nothing like having your own family but I am thankful that she seems to be in a good orphanage.

Can’t wait till the day we get to bring our little girl home!!!