Hello everyone!

It's Alyssa here. I'm being forced to take over the blog today :)

My experience so far has been amazing! I love every moment here and I can't get enough of the children. I never want to leave!! School starting almost immediately after I get home doesn't make coming home sound appealing. :(

Yesterday, the Cochran girls and the Gouge girls had a nice day out together horse-back riding. We enjoyed lots and lots of laughs together while enjoying the company of our very ornery horses. Mary had warned us about a horse named PP who was pretty much on his last life that she had on a previous horse back riding trip. We were told he was extremely wide as well!! So when Lindsay got PP to ride, we had lots of laughs because he wouldn't walk without the instructor pulling him every step!!! Stephanie's horse decided he wanted to walk 20 feet behind us the whole time (not on the path but in the fields), and my horse decided it needed to stop for a snack every 3 minutes then run to catch up! I had to get used to that (somewhat) scary horse trotting very fast!

The boys had a day where they went fishing and had a fire cookout with B.A.M. (Bunch A Meat) as they liked to call it.  After, we had another great Gouge/Cochran movie night! One of my very favorite things to do here :)

Today, CLM is having a benefit night for people who have donated money to the orphanage and I will be doing a little "ballet" dance with some of the girls here! It will be very cute!!

Hope all is going well back at home! Miss you all :)

Day 9 in Brazil

Alyssa so happy Donei liked his outfit she bought for him!

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

This has been my scripture for Donei since starting the process to make him our family. Steve and I really think God is going to use Donei for some great things in his future. He is a great kid and fits into our family as God has designed him to be. Unfortunately this means Steph is now a middle child, but you know she has always had the middle child tendencies and now we know why! :)
The weather has been absolutely beautiful here this week..............its cooler like fall weather but the sun is out and it makes it a perfect day! The boys (Steve, Donei, Mike and Ben) are going fishing today and doing the "guy" thing while us girls are going horseback riding and having dinner together. Should be a great day.
Steve and Donei have been going into the colony every day to work out~ Me and the girls sleep in every day~ getting use to this life :)
Tomorrow is vaccinations and blood work day for Donei.............He just wants to get it over with! hahahah

Well thanks everyone for praying for Steph............She seemed to feel much better tonight after a whole day of sleeping and throwing up............She snapped back by late this evening and her appetite seemed to come back. We had movie marathon tonight with just our family. I don't even know what movies we watched :) all I cared about was that we were all together and rather close..........We don't have much furniture so Steve, Alyssa, myself and Donei all squeezed onto this very uncomfortable couch we have~ but again just loving being together. We made Steph sit on the chair....just in case!
As you can see I can't convince anyone in my family yet to write on this blog~!!

We've been reunited with our son for a whole week now! And what is so weird is that it feels like we've always been together..........I feel a little sad already not wanting the "feelings" to fade away of our first moments together at the airport...........God is good~
There was a song I listened to just about daily for a year and in this song there was a line that I held onto because I knew at the time we came back for our son it would be so true........It said, "Once you feel the wave of glory..........all your pain will turn to memories........."  Its so true! The months and months of my heart hurting to be with my son was agonizing and as you all know~ I cried a lot and prayed a lot for them~ Those memories have been fading fast this last week..

Our living room

Luana, Steve, Mary Cochran and Tammy out on a walk

Hellen with Donei~He loves her and she loves him

Luana and Alyssa

Stephanie is sick.............poor thing! She has been up all night throwing up and still can't keep anything down. We are having to force her to drink so she doesn't dehydrate.
Steve took Donei into the colony today to work out at their gym. At first I don't think Donei was over excited that his Dad wanted him to go, but when they returned home it appeared it was a good bonding time between them and now they are planning to join for the month.
We have been taking a lot of walks here because CLM is located on a big farm and there are many dirt roads that lead to different farms. Its funny because when you get ready to go on a walk here, ALL the dogs (maybe 7-8 dogs) all coming running to join us on our walk. Plus a few children start following you.
We had over the Cochran kids last night so Mike and Mary could enjoy a evening to themselves for awhile. They went out to dinner in the colony and then "Sneaked" back to their house for some alone time without kids. We entertained the children after dinner by making cupcakes and decorating them with all kinds of candy and toppings. Today we made some more cupcakes to donate to "snack time" here at CLM for the children.

Jenna and Lindsay Cochran

Missing you all back home!

Luana & Steph

Jessica, Alyssa, Steph and Luana

Its so good hearing from everyone! Keep the comments and emails coming! We love being in contact with all of you at home. Well, like you said Cindy~ One week down and 5 or so to go! :) You know for as much complaining we've done about the whole 6 week thing for the past year~ we actually are considering it a blessing that we have that time to spend with our son and bond before we have to return to life as normal. Since we missed out on his first years of life we are so thankful to have this quality time together now.
Today was a great day! We started the morning off with joining the CLM family at their "Progressive Dinner" each group went to a different house here on campus for a different part of the meal. It was all yummy food and just a lot of fun! After that the boys (including Steve!) played soccer. It was neat to see our boy in action on the soccer field. We then had our first sit down family dinner tonight with everyone helping by cooking, setting table, clean up etc.......After dinner we went to church this evening with the CLM family also.
After church we came back and played games..............great family bonding time at night with games....wish I would have brought more now!
About our only plans this week will include taking Donei for his blood test/vaccinations..........that is just so weird not having a million things on the calendar to do!
Tonight at dinner Alyssa made the comment that she could see herself working here at CLM~ Donei looked at her in shock and said, "Really?" It just made me laugh and made me realize that Alyssa and Donei have lived on completely different aspects of CLM...........Alyssa seeing the beauty and reward of caring for the Orphans and Donei wanting to leave the orphanage after all these years desiring to be adopted (He has been here for 7-8 years now).

Steve & Lu

We also had a GREAT day with Luana :) Steve and I were going to seek her out and get her to play with us like the rest of the children. We definitely broke the ice with her and now its completely melted.......melted into our arms! She has once again turned into our little cuddle bug and now we can't get her to leave our sides. Alyssa did her hair for church tonight. Gosh we love her and Alyssa has now seen why we fell in love with her. Luana came and sat with us tonight at church holding on to us tightly............its so hard to understand all this with Luana.........but again.............we will trust God through it.

Not going to give up hope........

So...I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not yet, but I love this boy!...........oh maybe I have a time or two..???
Another day of just relaxing around CLM with not a big agenda (so nice and refreshing from our fast pace life at home)
Donei was out with the boys playing soccer today for a hour or so and then went into the colony for soccer lessons with some of the other boys, so he was gone most of the day and it was killing me!!! I was missing my boy something awful. He loves playing soccer and is planning on playing back home. The soccer coach at GlenOak has already sent home paperwork for him MONTHS ago..........and kept asking Stephanie, "When is he getting here?"
At night everyone gets ready for bed and Donei always comes out and says, 'Goodnight Mum" and gives me a big hug.................loving it! He truly loves his sisters and they love him. Steve is  so proud to call him HIS son....

Luana~ Oh how our hearts are breaking about this little one. After the first day we saw her she has kinda been a staying a little distant from us. It hurts so bad...........She watches us from a distance always keeping her eyes on us and giving us her little smile but you can tell she is hurting. It breaks our hearts that we can't tell her WE DO WANT YOU!!!!! Things don't appear to look very hopeful for us to bring her home, but.......WE also know that God can do whatever he wants! We are trying to be very careful with how we treat Luana because we sure don't want her to suffer at all. She loves us and we love her that is for sure.
We feel that we need to focus on the blessing God has given us right now~ Donei ~ and let God be God with Luana. We won't stop praying for that little girl because regardless of how hopeless things looks....we still feel she is ours. We covet your prayers. "With God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!"
Maybe tomorrow I can get another one of the Gouge family to write something they are experiencing~!
Love you all!

Day 4 as our new family....

Besides the cool weather and rain the past few days, things are going wonderful! We are so happy! Our son sure has added a new dimension to the dynamics of our family..........We enjoy his beautiful smile, his funny personality and his kind loving spirit~ He is slowly coming out of his shell and we are seeing more and more of his personality. Brian Kieffer~ We haven't got him to sing yet.....Alyssa agreed to sing with him when he plays guitar so we are getting him ready!!!! :)
We are so glad that it worked out for the girls to be here with us. I can't imagine being here without them. Alyssa is falling in love with the children just like we did a year ago. She loves being covered with children. She especially has fallen in love with Jessica. Jessica is 5 years old but very, very small and has hearing/speaking difficulties. She lights up a room whenever she enters. She is always smiling, laughing and full of life......she needs a family..........any takers???? :)
We spent the day with the Cochran's again yesterday (I think I'll be writing that a lot!) we love being with them and our family's together. Went to dinner in the colony last night to a place that resembles a Panera bread but on a much lower scale.
We had to go into the colony yesterday to take Donei to the clinic for Dr exam and request a written script to have some vaccinations done in the city next week of shots Donei needs to enter the USA. Mary Gibson brought over his vaccination records and we all were looking at them and told Donei his blood type was O+ just like mine (Tammy) and he told Mary Cochran in portugeuse, "See....we were meant to be a family..." That melted my heart........................
We really  have nothing we have to do on a day to day basis so we keep laughing because we don't know what to do with ourselves yet. We are trying to get into a groove, but its taking some time.
It is really such a blessing to have Mike and Mary here we us~ Its not only great to see our friends and spend time with them, but bonding as family's has been also so special. I'm sure it also is helping Donei feel more comfortable in the transition.
Going to go for a walk......its finally a nice day and the sun is out!
Thanks for your prayers, love, support and commens! Love hearing from all of you!

Tammy

Our Cohabitation has started....

We went to the courthouse today after receiving our phone call to come and sign the paperwork to officially start our 30 day cohabitation that is required for Brazilian adoption. He is officially ours!!!! We did meet with the judge briefly but we didn't feel lead to bring up Luana at this point. We know God knows our hearts and desires and if she is to be ours.....she will~ Even it that means not "right now"
We finished up the paperwork at the courthouse and went to dinner with just Donei tonight. He loves playing the game "Trouble" so that has turned into our family time at night.
Things are going beautifully and we bonding more than I could have ever expected or hoped for. Thank you God! We looked at pictures from Donei's earlier years after coming to CLM.

All I can say is that Donei was meant to be our son.............He is precious and I just love and adore him so much!
To hear him say the words Mom & Dad (in his cute little accent) just melts our hearts. We had a great time tonight having dinner with The Cochran's then the children all played the game Trouble in the living room while us adults talked in the kitchen. Family time.
I can't stop hugging him...........I have so many hugs to make up for!
We are starting to settle in and get caught up on some things. Tomorrow we go to the courthouse to sign our papers that were prepared today.
Donei is very excited and ready to come to the United States. He says he is not scared about coming.

Isn't he handsome! Love him............

Chow chow!

Its A Boy!

Oi Everyone From Brazil!
It has been a crazy couple of days!
We left Cleveland Monday night with no problems really on any of our flights.....Thank God!
We arrived at the Curitiba airport around 2pm Tuesday when we were reunited with our son FINALLY! They call that "Gotcha Day" in the Adoption world~
The reality of what we were about to embark upon hit us when our plane landed ...........
Once we got off the plane to get our eight pieces of luggage~ it was time to round the corner into our son's arms. It was a time of rejoicing that God's timing had finally arrived and it was a very emotional time on all of us~
We had a four hour ride back to the orphanage but had several stops along the way and didn't arrive at CLM until around 10:30pm.......
We have a house here on the property of CLM with three bedrooms so we all fit very comfortably. When we arrived into our house it was dark inside............as we walked in we were "surprised" by our friends Mike and Mary with their new family & many of the CLM kids. :)We loved seeing everyone and  we got to give many hugs to familiar faces. Our house was decorated with balloons and signs and beautifully cleaned and decorated by the Cochran girls (Lindsay and Jenna).
Our guide and interrupter is Lino from Limiar Agency that our adoption agency works with. He also greeted us at the airport and said we would go to the courthouse first thing Wed morning~ We had NO idea where any of our clothes were since we had packed things so quickly at the last minute, so we had to get up and find our clothes, iron clothes and be out the doors by 8am.
Needless to say today we are all exhausted but having a wonderful time together. Our son is precious and we shared with him his new name of Donei Michael Gouge at the courthouse today. We named him Michael after our precious friends Mike (Michael) & Mary Cochran who live here at CLM. They are full-time missionaries here at CLM............so all of this is their fault! Because we came to CLM last year to "visit" Mike & Mary not knowing what God was going to call us to do. It was funny because Donei has always called Mike, Mike.
So when we told him we wanted to have his middle name as Michael he asked, 'like Michael Jordan?' Too cute! He is outside now playing basketball with Ben Cochran and Steve. He told us he would like to play basketball, soccer, baseball, and football when we get home. Oh boy! We're going to be spending a lot of time at games aren't we?
We were very nervous about seeing Luana for the first time. She was in bed when we arrived so we did not see her then, but we had that time today after returning from the courthouse. It was very emotional on all of us as she ran outside to run into our arms. She's not so light either! She tucked her little head right into our necks and just hugged us. It was hard and is still hard BUT we are trusting God with his plan.........
Sorry this was so long today but just wanted to catch everyone up.......
More to come~

...
"The test of faith doesn't really test anything unless it pushes you past the last test......"  unk

Thanks for checking in!
The Gouge Family is now FIVE 

Here we go.....

Well its finally official and we are headed to Brazil on Monday July 19th!!


As you all know its been a long, bumpy, and emotional road for us this last year.........but in God's timing we are finally going to start a new chapter in the Gouge Family. Thank you to all of you who have had to drive down this road with us many times........its amazing we still have any friends left! :)


We plan on posting daily happenings and pictures while we are there so follow along and watch how God unfolds His plan.
As many of you know we started this process in June of 2009 and for some reason thought "for sure" we would be getting both our children by the end of the year or into the very first of the year. Its July now......definitely not what "we" had planned, but trusting God's timing.
We have been approved for Donei for sure! He is our son now forever and the paperwork is done! Luana is a different story at the moment. We are not sure where she is "right now" in the adoption process (and really don't want to know at this moment.) But we have not been approved to bring her to the States.
For a little background on the Brazilian adoption~ Children who enter a orphanage in Brazil are either eventually returned to their families, or end up belonging to CEJA (Central Authority in Brazil who "owns" the children).
Donei has been in CEJA for several years, so he was available for adoption when we started this process. He went thru each step of the process by Brazilian law. Brazilians have first choice to adopt any children that become available. Once parent rights are taken away and severed the children are offered to waiting couples at a state level. If no one comes forward to adopt them then they are offered at country level. If still no one has adopted these children at a country level they then are placed on the list internationally for adoption.
All this to tell you that Luana is "somewhere" in this process, but not at the international level yet~ But we are praying for a miracle that God would move mountains to make it all happen to bring our precious little Lu home! She is going to have her 9th birthday in August while we are at CLM (Canaa Land Ministries Orphanage).
We fell in love with 34 children at CLM but God planted those two children in our hearts back when we first met them at CLM in March 2009, so we are trusting his will not only for Luana's life but our lives as well.
Donei will be coming to the Curitiba Airport in Brazil with Mary Gibson, director of CLM, to pick us up at the airport. We are so excited that we will finally be together with our son on Tuesday July 20th at 2pm! Yah!!!
We have been having fun emailing back and forth with Donei for about two months now since he was officially told we were adopting him. He is doing wonderful with his English~.....we are so impressed!
Donei is now 15 years old, soon to be 16. We were starting to get a little concerned when time kept ticking away and we still hadn't left because International adoption rules state that children MUST be adopted and on USA soil by their 16th birthday. Now with us leaving on 7/19 and then having to do our 6 week stay in Brazil, by the time we return on 9/6, we have exactly 11 days until Donei turns 16. Nothing like cutting it a little close!

"Faith does not question "why" when all His ways are hard to understand, but instead trusts and prays" ~Unk~
Thank you for taking the journey with us~
Steve, Tammy, Alyssa, Stephanie and Donei Gouge (and hopefully Luana!!!)