More pics of Mina

Today has been a crazy all over the place day but it was so wonderful to finally get to meet our daughter. We left this morning around 5am on about 3 hrs of sleep and were exhausted. We attempted to sleep in the car during the 4 hr drive but of course Myla didn't want to go to sleep for the first couple hours cause she was wide awake bright eyed and ready to play. Jim and I both felt sick to our stomach this morning from lack of sleep but ended up getting a brief nap on the way. We went by the inspectors/ social workers office (I believe) and he road with us up to the orphanage. We got to meet with Mina right away once we got there. No questions or anything. The director was not yet there so they took us back to see her. We saw her for about 15 minutes and then had to go to the directors office (who is also the orphanage doctor.) She told us about Mina's history and all she new about her and asked if we are still willing to adopt her.

Of course we said yes.

The director told us that she lived with her parents until she was 6 months 1 week old and then was brought to the orphanage. They had no idea when she was born that she had down syndrome and it wasn't until around that time that her doctor started to notice and voice her concern to the parents. Once they realized that was in fact the case they put her in the orphanage. They said that they couldn't afford to care for her and were already struggling to get by in their apartment so they could not keep her.

That truly breaks my heart for so many reasons. The fact that I couldn't imagine having my child loving on her daily and then 6 months later giving her up, and also the fact that the resources for the care are not available here so parents feel they really have no other choice. What if they really wanted to keep her and just felt they couldn't give her the best care and she would be better off if she was adopted and had the care she needed to help her thrive in life. Or what if they found out and felt disgrace and shame and lack of care at that point. We have no way of knowing of course... it is just so sad to me.

Mina was her parents 3rd pregnancy and the other 2 were normal so she has brothers &/or sisters (not sure). They said at birth she had an 8 on her apgar score, weighed 2 Kilos 900 grams (I will have to figure out how much this is in lbs) and 50 cm long.

The orphanage director said that the genetical tests where done to prove she does in fact have DS and that she has an open oval window that last checked was closing and should be closed possibly by now. We will need to have that checked out by a cardiologist once we are home.

As I mentioned previously the parents have already signed documents releasing her to be adopted.

After visiting with her this morning we went to the notaries (much different then notaries back home because you actually have to have a degree to be a notary) we dropped off papers, ran across the street for some lunch while Marina (our amazing facilitator) ran all over the place getting everything done.

At the notaries office we actually met another family who is adopting from the same orphanage and same groupa as Mina and they are from Oklahoma also. It was so good to be able to talk to fellow Oklahomans. We actually saw them again tonight during the 2nd visitation for the day. Please pray for them because they are in the process of adopting 23 month old twins with FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) and they are having problems in court because they have a 10 yr old bro and 1 judge is saying he doesn't want them adopted out. Doesn't make much since though because the 10 yr old is not even in the orphanage and is not even available for adoption. Please pray for them and their process that it would go smoothly, quickly and that they would be able to go through with adopting their 2 little ones.

So after getting papers notarized we went back to the social workers office then back to the orphanage for some papers, back to social workers, by court and then by our apartment to drop off our luggage. We had been sandwiched in the back of the car with luggage all beside us most the day so it was so nice to get all that out of there.

We then got to go spend a couple hours with Mina while Marina met with the judge. Our time with Mina was great. We got to take her around the orphanage and outside in their stroller and Myla got to play on the playground.

Well Mina is definitely further behind then what we had invisioned cause last we heard back in February we thought she was able to sit up and was working on crawling. But there is definitely no way she is crawling at this time. She can't even sit up on her own. It doesn't matter because of course we are still bringing her home and she will still be apart of our family regardless. It is just really hard for Jim and I to see this little girl (18 months old) that feels and acts like a 3-6 month old. She is so tiny and basically didn't have a ton of interaction she just would sit there and stare. By the end of the visit she was gripping my finger and holding on tight and when we took her back when time was up she started crying. That of course was hard. I can't wait to see this precious girl smile!

We will get to visit her twice a day from 10-11:30 and again from 4-6.

Our court date could possibly be really quick. The judge is going out of town and flys out next Thursday. Marina said that they want to have our court date next Tuesday but she said it will take a miracle for all the paperwork to be finished through the SDA and ready that quickly. She said if that won't work out then the court date will be next Wednesday. Please pray for a miracle and that next Tuesday is our court date!!

Here's a few pics of Mina from today!












Myla wanted to push her sister ;)







Huge hole cut in the nipple of her fruit water bottle. She literally was choking on it it was dumping out so fast








Little hands....


Little feet...































Big sister being a big helper ;)




Mina loved her book