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!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Rough morning but great visit with our girl!

This morning has been a bit rough on all of us. We slept through our alarm and woke up about 15min before the driver was to arrive. We woke up extremely hot (cause the air-conditioning cant cool off the back rooms to the apartment) and felt all disoriented. Rostik our English speaking driver had a wedding to go to this morning so he called a cab for us and he told him over the phone where to take us. We sure missed Rostik and his air-conditioned car this morning :)

Once we got to the orphanage 2 people tried speaking to us in Ukrainian and we have absolutely no idea what they were trying to say. We just told them English is all we speak.

When we made it to Mina's room they had to take her in the back to get her dressed and ready for our visit. They left the door wide open and we saw all these precious babies laying on the floor, in playpens crying or just staring at us. One little girl was facing the wall banging her head into it for stimulation. It just broke our heart to see all these babies that are blessings and gifts from God in this situation. The caregivers I really believe care about these kids there are just so many kids to so few caregivers and they do the best they can. There is one little boy that every time we get there he practically runs out of the room to us and they always have to pull him back in the door. He is there little escapee :) Oh I pray and hope all these children have families that come for them.

Every time we go to the orphanage it is so hard to wrap our minds around it all. I have to fight back tears each visit.

Mina was cranky this morning. Her tummy felt really hard and bloated and she kept crying off and on at first. She has a spot on her back where the skin on her back is peeling. I'm not sure if it's from laying on her back or what. She has lots of mosquito bites all over her also.

She is really starting to recognize and getting excited to see us. On our way carrying her back to the room she started griping the top of my dress and it looked like she was trying to wave at Jim behind us. She is really changing a lot in just these few short visits. She is smiling more and more! We went outside to play this morning since it was a little cooler. Myla played on the merry go round and with the toys while we sat and played with Mina.

At 3:45 we will head back up to the orphanage for our 2nd visit.

Here's more pics from this mornings visit!

More loving & patting on her book.





























Daddy playing with Mina! She got upset at the end when he stopped. So cute!











Mina trying to take Myla's bottle from her! Funny! Glad she is reaching for things!


Pics of Myla playing outside!

















Aren't my purses so pretty?!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

It is so beautiful how responsive Mina is becoming with you guys. Annaliese votes for more videos of the girls. She loves them and has me play them OVER and OVER and OVER.

Rhonda Sloup said...

Wow!! I can see her changing before my eyes. She looks more alert and just happier. It brings tears to my eyes. My kids are also enjoying the videos. I love Mina going for Myla's bottle....so typical. I can get Hannah to eat things if she thinks it's her big brothers. Thanks for updating so much.

Rhonda

LIFE'S PEBBLES said...

I check for updates every morning and love seeing sweet Mina Bean's beautiful face. She is just too precious
Tammy

Devon said...

LOVING all the videos and pictures! She is just adorable and already so responsive to all of you. It is all so exciting to watch!
Devon

Anonymous said...

I can't believe how much your girls look like! They were meant to be sisters!

christy said...

You are killing me with no update today! i have checked a hundred times. :) i am so spoiled to seeing you post so much. I love you sister!