The Gowin Family

Saying “yes” to the referral

Jul 27

Posted by Michael in Adoption, Family, Us | 3 Comments

As Suzanne wrote the other day, we received our adoption referral from AWAA at the end of last week. Yesterday we signed the referral acceptance to say, “yes, we will accept these children into our family.”

Suzanne put together a “care package” last night for the kids as well. Another AWAA couple is making their way to Ethiopia soon and they will bring the gifts over for us. Included are some small toys and things plus a note from us for each of the kids.

We were also blessed yesterday when Suzanne’s friend Bethany stopped over with a couple of balloons to help us celebrate. Thanks, Bethany, for your thoughtfulness.

Family Trip to Oklahoma

Jul 25

Posted by Michael in Family, Us | No Comments

Each summer we visit Suzanne’s family in Oklahoma. This year, we mixed it up a bit by attending a few days at a family camp at New Life Ranch in Colcord, OK. Suz worked there one summer in college and signed us up for the first time as family campers. Since the trip would take close to nine hours from our home in Illinois, we spent a night in Springfield, Missouri, where we swam at the hotel, ate at Lambert’s Cafe (where they throw food at diners), visited the Bass Pro Shops headquarters, and were nearly eaten alive by wild camels at a safari animal park.

We all had a great time at New Life Ranch. I believe there were about 50 families there during our camp, and each family was assigned a staff member to help however the family needed assistance. The first morning of our stay, for example, Suzanne and I took a trail ride on horseback into the hills for breakfast, so our staff assistant, Mr. Luke, took the kids to breakfast at the dining hall and had them ready to go for the rest of the day when we returned. Sweet.

Each day began with a brief group worship time after which the kids went off to age-appropriate Bible lessons and activities while the adults spent time learning about parenting. Our speaker was Chip Jackson from Fellowship Northwest Arkansas church–he was terrific. Suz and I came away encouraged and with some good things to help us continue in our parenting journey. After lunch, we had the afternoon free to explore the camp’s numerous activities and facilities: ropes course, climbing walls, swimming pool, waterfront with huge slides, mountain biking, horseback riding, rifle/shotgun ranges, and more. Evenings involved more teaching time and group activities. Although we spent only two and a half days there, we were all exhausted from late nights, early mornings, and full days.

From Colcord, we went on to visit Suzanne’s family. We’ve posted a few photos from our trip here, and there’s a video below of Suz and I going down the zip line at the ranch. Although we signed up everybody to ride the zip line, only mom and dad were brave enough to climb to poles and go down.

Referral!!!!!

Jul 25

Posted by Suzanne in Adoption, Events, Family | 9 Comments

Yes, we received our referral call on Friday!! What a surprise! We didn’t think it would come that soon! AWAA called to offer us siblings: a boy-4 years old and baby girl-3 months old! God had put almost those exact ages on our hearts when we applied! They are beautiful—”button cute” as Michael says! We can’t post pictures or any more information yet till we pass court and they officially belong to US!

Because of Ethiopian court closures in August and September during the rainy season, we probably won’t get a court date till about mid-October. But my good friend, Deanne Mott, is already over there with her girls for a month, so she can love on them for us while we wait! And I have been to the Transition Home and have seen how well the nannies care for and love on the children, so I am confident of our babies’ care until we can bring them home. After we pass court (which is not always on the first try), then it will take another 1-3 months while they gather paperwork for the Embassy and we go back and bring them home. We are hopeful to have them home before Christmas! (What a cold winter welcome they will receive!! )

We have a lot to do between now and then, including me (Suzanne) trying to finish a 75-page MA thesis on God’s Heart for the Fatherless in Scripture. Please pray for 3 things: diligence and supernatural quickness on the research and writing, health and emotional comfort for our kids while they wait, and funds to continue to come in for the rest of the adoption. We are amazed at God’s grace and intimate hand on our lives through this whole process, and we pray He is glorified through it all!

Here is a picture of us showing our other 3 kids the photos of our new additions:

Puzzle update, family trip, & 4th of July

Jul 5

Posted by Suzanne in Adoption, Events, Family, Fundraising, Puzzle Updates | No Comments

We met our match! Lifesong for Orphans had offered us a matching grant up to $2000 and we have received more than that in donations, so Lifesong will be granting us an extra $2000! Thanks so much to all who are supporting and praying and to Lifesong’s generosity! Here is our updated puzzle….do you see it starting to take shape??

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We won’t be updating the puzzle for another 2 weeks because we will be going on a family trip to OK. The first part of our trip will be 4 days at New Life Ranch’s Family Camp. We are excited to spend some time at the camp I worked at one summer almost 20 years ago! (Hard to believe I’m that old, I know!) There are ropes courses, zip lines into the river, archery, horseback riding, hiking, as well as family worship times and a late night outdoor movie. We are looking forward to some family bonding time away from Wi-Fi and cell service! Soon, when our other kids come home from Ethiopia, Erin, Liam, and Maura know that there will be a bit more attention on our new kids as we bond and learn to communicate with them. So we thought it would be a good idea to spend some quality time with them now as extra reassurance of our love for them and each other. After family camp, we will go on to visit my family in OK for a few days and then head back home to Lincoln.

We hope you all had a blessed 4th of July! The kids had a great time decorating their bikes and riding in our local parade, ending with the fire truck hose down, of course! These are great memories to savor! (Please excuse the iphone photo! And, shhh, don’t tell photographer Michael–he would be appalled! Be sure to notice the hero cape on our youngest–she FLEW that day!)

Shhh! It’s Liam’s Birthday

Jun 24

Posted by Michael in Family, Friends | 2 Comments

We have had a history of having themes for each of the kids’ birthdays. For Liam’s birthday this year, we did a “secret agent birthday bandit” theme. It was rumored that the Birthday Bandit had been lurking in the neighborhood, stealing presents from birthday parties. Sure enough, while we were outside playing with Liam and his guests, the Birthday Bandit found our house and stole the presents. Fortunately we found enough clues hidden around the house to recover the gifts and unmask the thief. Here are a few photos from the preparations and day of the party.

Father’s Day and Puzzle Update

Jun 20

Posted by Suzanne in Adoption, Events, Family, Fundraising, Puzzle Updates | No Comments

We had a great Father’s Day today! Among other things, we celebrated with Frosty’s at Wendy’s because they were donating $0.50 to the Dave Thomas Foundation for every Frosty purchased this Father’s Day weekend! Dave Thomas started Wendy’s and has a great organization that helps find permanent loving homes for children in foster care.

Here’s Michael’s new adoption/Africa t-shirt purchased through Ryan and Ashlie Fulmer’s adoption fundraiser. (Pic taken with iphone ) Ashlie is in Ethiopia right now with her baby boy Easton!

And here is our weekly puzzle update! Every piece of the puzzle represents $10 that has been donated toward our adoption since we sent letters out in May. Getting closer to Africa…..!! (Click on the puzzle button at top right of the blog to see past updates.)

6-20-10

Puzzle Updates

Jun 15

Posted by Suzanne in Fundraising, Puzzle Updates | 3 Comments

For those of you searching to see how our puzzle fundraiser is going, I apologize for taking so long to update our blog. I have begun work on my thesis for my MA that I started 15 years ago, which has taken a bit of my time the last couple weeks. I will blog more about the thesis at a later date, but please pray for inspiration and perseverance as I write. I am researching and writing an exegetical study on God’s heart for the fatherless. It will be a long process, but one that I feel God has convicted me to do, and one that I am excited about! If it is truly His idea, then I believe He will see me through for His glory!

I am checking in with Lifesong weekly to get updates on the fundraising, and here are the first 2 weeks’ puzzle pictures (Each puzzle piece represents a $10 gift toward adoption expenses — Michael):

6-6-10

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It may be hard to see but we have Ethiopia done! The kids are really enjoying being involved in this as well. Thanks so much for those of you who have donated!

Fundraising–the first pieces to our puzzle!

May 25

Posted by Suzanne in Adoption, Family, Fundraising, Puzzle Updates | No Comments

We are in the fundraising portion of our adoption. There are several ways to help us out–something for everyone! We are selling coffee, naming puzzle pieces, and working with Lifesong for Orphans to meet their match offer of $2000! Click here to read more details on our fundraising options. If you did not receive a letter from us in the mail, you may view our letter here as well as the official Lifesong letter that goes with it.

I wanted to highlight here our first puzzle pieces that you can see on the right of our site. For every $10 donated towards our adoption, we will write your name on the back of a puzzle piece. Our kids were eager to get started on the puzzle and eager to help with our adoption, so they each donated half of their birthday money to help bring their siblings home.

Our “bio kids,” as they are called in adoption world, are ages 6, 8, and 10. They have been so excited all along the way about our adoption! Liam talks about when “my boy” will be here. Maura, the youngest, often suggests that she has “outgrown” a certain toy or clothing item, but that we should save it for “our baby” coming. And of course our firstborn, Erin, has offered multiple times to “help take care of the kids”! There has never been a moment where we sensed that they were hesitant or concerned about our changing family structure. Now, granted, they are young and don’t truly realize what all will change–none of us do, for that matter! And we have tried to be honest and explain that when the kids come, there will need to be extra attention paid to our new children to assimilate them into our family and our culture and even our language. But we have promised to make an effort to spend some special times with each of our children individually. In fact, we are going to an adventure camp this summer called New Life Ranch down in OK for some extra family bonding time before our family as we know it changes forever!

We are so proud of our kids! It is obvious that God has put adoption on their hearts as much as on ours! God is weaving our family into a beautiful multi-colored tapestry and we can’t wait to experience “even more than we can ask or imagine”!

A Thought on Vaccinations and Travel

May 12

Posted by Michael in Adoption | No Comments

In preparation for our (eventual) travel to Ethiopia, I had to get immunized today: meningitis, yellow fever, hepatitis (A&B), typhoid, and polio. Yes, that was five vaccinations–two in the right arm, three in the left. The doctor also wrote me a prescription for an antimalarial drug and an antibiotic for bacterial diarrhea. If you get diarrhea while traveling, it’s the result of having eaten something you shouldn’t have. The doc recommended I get the H1N1 flu vaccine and a pertussis (whooping cough) booster as well.

I was also given a TRAVAX Traveler Health Report that details most if not all of the potential health risks and immunizations a traveler to Ethiopia should consider. The report contains a “travel advisory” as well, compiled from sources like the US Department of State, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The report lists a number of threats and warnings for visitors, including:

“the presence of land mines, civil unrest, and the threat of terrorism”
“the highest rate of traffic fatalities per vehicle in the world”
“highway banditry and armed carjacking” outside major cities
“small bombings and explosions”
“pickpocketing, bag and jewelry snatching”
lots of other things

To summarize, I’ve received immunizations for diseases to which, under most circumstances, I’d never be exposed at home and been warned that Ethiopia may be a frighteningly dangerous place for visitors, especially those from the West.

Adventure anyone?

Erin’s Tenth Birthday Party

May 2