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 23, 2010

Feeding Mina today!!

Mina was so excited to see daddy when we showed up at the door this morning but once she saw her bottle of juice her whole body froze and her little hands started shaking and she clenched up.  The first 10 minutes of our visit was spent with her downing 3/4 of her bottle and after that she was a happy girl.  Makes me so sad that she was so thirsty.  My best guess is that she didn't get much fluids yesterday if any and so she felt extremely dehydrated.  She looked like she had a little buddha belly after drinking that much but she was happy!

We had a wonderful morning visit with her and she sure livens up more and more each day and is getting so playful.  She absolutely loves her sister and it is so precious to watch the two of them together.  Myla adores her and can't wait till she can come home with us.  She is ready for Mina to fly back home with her and asks everyday when that gets to happen.  Very soon, very soon!! Tomorrow is our last visiting day with Mina!! Yay Praise the Lord! Wednesday we will get to go get birth certificate, passport paperwork completed, and bring our precious girl back to our apartment with us while we wait out the 4-5 days for the passport process and then head back to Kiev for about 2 days to finish things up to come home!! So we should be home hopefully within about 1 week if all goes well!

Today we got to feed Mina lunch.  That was so exciting! The other couple got to feed their kiddos yesterday and today so when we took Mina back I asked them if we could feed Mina too and they let us! They don't give much time for feedings just about 15 minutes and then they come out and grab the children regardless of if they are done, strip them down to change their clothes, and put them to bed for nap.  Mina ate so well! She ate her entire lunch. I wish I could tell you what it was but not quite sure... lets just say I wouldn't want to try it but it had meat, rice, potatoes, shredded carrots, and some sort of gravy.  When the caregivers feed the children they just line them all up and go down the line with one bowl of food & 1 spoon (blah) and feed each child one bite then go back down the line.  Mina pushes a lot of food out of her mouth with her tongue so it takes her a bit more attention to eat so that makes me think she doesn't get a whole lot to eat since they would then just start back down the line.  I was shocked she was able to eat her whole bowl of food and that her little tummy could hold it all. Her tummy was sure bloated.

This is right after she set up from downing her bottle. Happy & Full!



 
Adoring Daddy!



 
Yes we are sitting on a blanket (to prevent infertility :)  You aren't allowed to sit on the ground unless you are sitting on a blanket or rug because they believe that will make you infertile and that the floor is a place for walking and not sitting. It's kinda confusing though cause the kids sit & roll all over the bare floor in their groupa and that seems to be okay.  Oh well... just do what they ask to make them happy! :)



 
Loving on sister!



 
Myla was holding Mina's hand and counting her fingers! :)







Lunch time!! She is all ready & excited to eat!!






 
Bon apetit! This is what Mina got to eat









 
All done!!







What a precious girl she is!! After our afternoon visit we went to lunch with Rob, Darla, and Julia to the awesome Ukrainian restaraunt we went the other day.  The borscht there is wonderful and we tried some potato pancakes with meat, and Jim had a jug of meat, potatoes, and vegatables.  It was yummy!

Daddy went and spent the afternoon with his girl and he said that she was so squirmy and playful this afternoon!! He got some adorable pics of her on our camera today I will have to try to upload and see if I can post any if our internet connection will be quick enough to do so.

Thank you all for following along!! We are so excited that very soon our little angel will be with us forever!

7 comments:

Lindsey said...

Your daughters are beautiful! Thank you for sharing your journey! Praying for you guys!

Sarah said...

That is so gross and unsanitary how they all use the same spoon! They def. didn't do that at Zoya's orphanage....but I remember thinking the same thing...that there was no way she ate as much as we fed her during times we weren't there! I always thought that when we were there they gave her extra portions to make it look like she was well taken care of (and it was A LOT!)...seeing your post I'm thinking now maybe they just didn't have time to feed her as much. I know she definitely didn't eat as much when we weren't there because from the time we met her until our physical apt. at the embassy Zoya gained 4 lbs!!!

Can't wait until Mina is home and you can let her drink until she pees buckets and eat until her belly is full and fat!!

She already looks so much more alive and way happier. And I always thought your referral pic of Mina looked like Myla and now in a few of your recent pics she looks soooo much like your hubby! God is amazing how he works these things out :) Just a reminder that this was HIS plan way before you ever could have imagined!!!

christy said...

oooh every day she looks better and better. A week!! what a celebration that will be!

Rhonda Sloup said...

Aww...she gets cuter every day. No wonder she's so tiny. She doesn't get enough to eat. I can't wait to see her after you get her home and fatten her up.

You'll change her life and she'll bless yours. God is good.

Alecia said...

that makes me sad - the eating part and her bottle - it's horrible how they treat our babies there. Can't wait till you are home with her and we can get our boy - I hope this helps raise awareness of what is going on in orphanages all around the world and that others will follow God's Call to care for them.

Tracey Sharp said...

Oh Melissa. I just love seeing all the new pics! Mina sure looks wonderful . I cant wait till you guys are all home and will be praying its in only a week!!

Marianne said...

Both your girls are just precious! I can't believe the size difference though, and can't wait to see pictures of Mina as she blossoms once she's home with you!