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!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Pics promised from Yesterday!

Notice Mina's new bites on her face.




Mina is trying to lean forward and sit up in daddy's lap at the beginning! Yay!

This is when she fell asleep on momma in the am when we were walking around outside.



Precious girl!




Some of the caregivers were painting outside and the kids were all standing around watching.




Mina reaching for the boxes of toys!! This is a huge accomplishment for her!!




Reach, reach, reach and grab toys with success!!!




Here's my toys I got momma!



Tea anyone?




Here's the huge gift bag of clothes, blankets, bibs, hats, mittens, etc. we took them yesterday. We actually saw 2 kids today in Mina's groupa wearing some of the clothes we brought!!!! Glad they can use them and the little kiddos look so much cuter in them :) Thank you to all those who donated through our blankets for orphans fundraiser. They were so grateful of all the things we brought and they will definitely be able to use them.






This is the precious little boy that is in Mina's groupa. He is the one I have been telling you all about that always greets us at the door and the one pictured through the glass. He is so sweet!!! I just love him! He was out for a walk with one of the caretakers and I asked her if I could take his pic. His name is pronounced Vol-die-ya not sure how that would be spelled. I so hope & pray a family comes for him! Notice his flowers in his hand :)












Couch time with sister!







Kisses... Myla loves to give sister lots of hugs and kisses.




Myla thought she should lay down in her little sisters lap. Mina didn't mind but it sure looks a little awkward with a big girl in a little babies lap :) LOL




This is the mall area we went yesterday by the supermarket. The supermarket was just a bit further up the street from that.








Headed to the Supermarket!


3 comments:

Julia said...

What is the age difference between the girls??? I think the picture of the two girls together (size difference) speaks a thousand words on why adoption saves lives!!

nicole said...

the precious pics are wonderful..she looks just like any other baby thats melted into momma for snuggles..soon shell be reaching for her own dollies and she must think wow someone heard me and sent me a momma and daddy..p.s do you wonder if the bug bites maybe bedbugs??

the Gower Fam said...

Julia, The girls are 6 months apart. Myla actually wears size 12-18 and 18-24 so she is actually still smaller than a lot of kids her age but yet she looks HUGE next to Mina or any other orphans here. She is about the size of a 4 year old here. Mina is wearing size 3-6 months. It's so crazy to me and so sad!

Nicole, It could possibly be bedbugs. We thought about that too. Lots of the children are just covered in these little bits, it almost looks like a rash. I can't wait till we get to take her out of there and not have to worry about her getting covered in bites any longer! It's so hard when there is absolutely nothing you can do about it!