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!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Court date tomorrow morning! Awesome videos of Mina!

Oh goodness... I always have so many things on my mind... so many thoughts... and never know where to begin or end and always jump all over the place.

First things first OUR COURT DATE IS TOMORROW!!!! Marina called us this afternoon and said that by a miracle our court will be tomorrow. She said somehow our interpol clearance was lost so Serge had to go to the office in Kiev to try and get them to get a new one. They had told Marina that we wouldn't be able to have it tomorrow since they didn't have our interpol but thankful he was able to get them to take care of it right then so that we can have court tomorrow. She said that it was a huge blessing and miracle that court will be tomorrow so we are so thankful for that and for all your prayers.

Court will be in the morning at 11am. Myla will be coming with us because our court date was sooner than we thought so my friend that lives in Ukraine won't be able to make it to us... plus it was such short notice since we just found out for sure this evening. So we will be taking Myla to court with us. I already have her backpack packed with toys, snacks, suckers, and will bring her some milk... hopefully she will be on her best behavior!

Our afternoon visit with Mina was awesome!! She was such a little ham today and totally livened up. She was sticking her tongue out at her dad, making faces, talking up a storm, said mama several times, and even laughed uncontrollably. It was so precious and wonderful! The best part is we have videos to share.

These are my most favorite treasured videos yet!! Enjoy!





Sorry I moved the camera when I leaned in to kiss Mina. She still made adorable faces at her daddy though.
























This is the difference in size between an American 26 month old and an orphan 23 month old.





Myla was walking around this flower bed area outside of the orphanage when several kids ran up to the window and moved the curtains out of the way and started banging on the glass waiving, blowing kisses, and calling Jim papa and Dadda... So sad! It breaks my heart! Oh I want to bring them all home with me to love on them. They kept waiving at us and blowing kisses till we walked away.









It was raining today when we were leaving the orphanage and Myla was walking up the steps outside and slipped and fell into a thorny rose bush... and well the bush won. She has scrapes all over her hands, wrist, arms, legs, and her cheek. She about made her momma cry along with her. I felt so bad for my girl. We neosporin and bandaged her all up. Of course the day before court...










7 comments:

Alecia said...

Awe, I love her laugh and she's saying Mama!! YAY!! So precious!! I can't wait to love on her when she gets home! Praise God for another miracle!

Liz said...

love love love the laughing video!!!!

and toby is such a doll!! waaahhhh- i wish my husband would say yes!

Sarah said...

Wow! I am so happy to hear how quickly things are moving for you guys!! This is awesome! And Marina....doesn't she just rock? We loved her! The videos of Mina laughing are so precious...I really can't wait to see the child inside that body come to life!

heatherbrown said...

She is soooo beautiful and special. I cannot beleive how tiny!

Rhonda Sloup said...

I loved hearing Mina's laugh...so cute. The picture of her with her head on mommy or daddy's shoulder are beautiful. I can only imagine the joy you feel each day at the changes in Mina and the heartbreak looking at all the other little faces.

Myla seems to be doing great with her and she seems to be adjusting to her new surroundings. With the exception of the run in with the rose bush.

I'm praying for an uneventful day in court with positive results. She's going to be such a blessing to your family. I do hope to meet her when you get back home. Thanks for sharing your journey.

Holly said...

Congrats on passing court. Your daughters are both beautiful!! I was astounded at the difference in size...when they are so close in age...that speaks VOLUMES. I wanted to ask if I might have your permission to share the picture of your daughters on the railing (not showing their faces) on my blog when I advocate for my next Tuesday Treasure? Pictures really do grab hearts. God is doing a work in my heart right now and I am wondering if He might have a child with DS in our future?
Congrats again...I love RR :)

Jamie said...

My heart breaks over the size difference between Myla and Mina in that picture. I keep asking God "Why?" I am so grateful there are people out there that are following God's will in their lives like you two. I'm still praying for my husband to come around, )his family is from Russia, it's a huge taboo to adopt, esp special needs children) he is slowly working out his fears through prayer :) God is awesome! God Bless your family and keep you safe!