One of the first couples we met when moving to Saint Joseph, MI we met while we were in Iowa and they were in the Ukranie.

Four days before Ella was born, Sergei & Gillian Marchenko delivered their youngest daughter Polly in a hospital in the Ukraine.  We both learned at their births that our daughters have Down syndrome.  We “met” online through the Michiana Down Syndrome Support group.  Having another family who had a new daughter with Down syndrome was such a great blessing to Kirk and I when we moved, and we are so thankful for their support and friendship, and we discovered after moving that we were attending the same church!

Well, our amazing friends, who are now in Chicago where Sergi pastors a church in the Wrigleyville area, are adopting another little girl with Down syndrome from Eastern Europe.  Their newest little angel will be named, upon adoption, Evangeline¹. 

Evangeline turned two in October.  She is living in an orphanage and we hear she has grown to be a healthy, sweet, social little girl. Her adoptive paternal grandmother recently visited little Evangeline and I hear is enamored with her.

Children with DS in her country typically transition from the orphanage to an institution when they are four years old.  Devistatingly, a staggering number of children who are institutionalized in her country do not make it to adulthood².

Sergei and Gillian share that as soon as they saw Evangeline’s sweet face they knew she was meant to be their daughter. Their older daughters Elaina and Zoya are very excited about having another sister to love - even volunteering to do without Christmas presents to help bring Evangeline home to them!

International adoption is a huge financial obligation and the Marchenko’s have recently started a “fund raiser” asking those who can to donate $10 (or more) to Evangeline for Christmas.

I know money is tight and you all don’t know Sergei and Gillian personally, but this small gift will be the world to our friends, their family and little Evangeline.   If you would like to help bring Evangeline home to her new family you can donate online here through Reece’s Rainbow. Reece’s Rainbow has received their 501(3)c tax deductable status, so these contributions are deductable³.  See their website for more information. Alternatively, you can send a check⁴ to them at:

The Marchenko Family
c/o Reece’s Rainbow
PO Box 2055
Dacula, GA 30019

Whether you can or not donate, please keep this family and future newest member in your prayers!  Follow their adoption process at Expective Evangeline.

Gob Bless,
Kirk and Bonnie

1. Evangeline is Greek for “Angel”
2. Yes, I am intentionalmly being vague on the country to avoid potentially upsetting the country who’s controlling this adoption process
3. They qualify as a public charity under IRS code 170(b)(a)(A)(vi)
4. and save the Paypal fees

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Kirk and I are amazed everyday at the extraordinary addition she has been to our family, and we can’t wait to see what joy her new little brother will bring to us all!

I doubt Ella truly knows how her life is about to change… right now she’s all about hugging, kissing and raspberrying the baby in Mama’s tummy. She loves to listen to the “thumpa thumpa” (she taps her chest) on the heart monitor we rented, and she laughs whenever we ask her about her little brother. I wonder how she’ll do with crying, sharing, and stinky diapers that aren’t her own…?

So for all of you who love our family and are watching us grow, here is an image of Ella’s little brother from our recent 3D ultrasound. If you click on the image of our newest Goodwin it will get you a little bigger picture of the cute face that is about to join the world!

Sending love, smiles and blessings to all of you!

P.S. for those who haven’t yet heard or seen it for themselves, Ella is officially a walker - she’s all about doing it herself (no more need for mom and dad’s fingers!), and she is picking up the pace every day! I’m hoping to get some movies of her soon!

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The walk helps to raise funds for the Michiana Down Syndrome Family Support and Advocacy Group. This group welcomed our family when we moved to MI and their goal is to improve the lives of individuals with Down syndrome. They provide education, awareness, medical need assistance, and family support to families throughout Michiana and the surrounding areas.

Please take time to check out Ella’s donation website where you can donate with your credit cards, or Kirk and I are happy to accept cash and checks (made out to Michiana Buddy Walk).

We know that there a lot of charities out there asking for your money so please know that if all you can send us are your prayers that we thank you for those as well!

http://www.firstgiving.com/ellagoodwin

And of course, if you’d like to join us for the walk please do!

Here’s the schedule:

Event Schedule
We will walk rain or shine.
10:00 - 11:30 - Register and turn in your donations.
(T-shirt for each walker that raises $50- while supplies last)
10:00 - 11:30 Silent Auction Open
10:00 - 1:30 Vendor Tables Open
10:00 - 1:30 Fun & Activities with ND Athletes
12:00 Walk / Followed by Lunch
Entertainment
10:00 - 10:30 Dads Band
10:30 - 11:30 Leonardo
11:30 Speech / Slide Show
12:30 - 1:30 Leonardo

And here’s the directions to the Stepan Center (on Stepan Drive) on the Notre Dame Campus

Directions:

Go west on Douglas Road ½ block past roundabout turn South on Wilson Drive then west on Stepan Drive.  You can also find it through Google Maps. Or for those with a GPS the coordinates are 41.706270, -86.234349. A map can be found below.

View Larger Map

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Ella had her eye surgery on August 14th and everything went very well - the doctor saw her the day after and was pleased with how straight her eyes looked. And, while sleeping in arm restraints and having drops & greasy gel put into her eyes made her extremely unhappy at first, she has been a trooper as usual and by the end was even allowing dad to put the medicine in without mom having to sit on her! We have finished all her meds and only have a couple days left of the arm restraints and we’ll be all done.

The procedure was called a bi-lateral medial rectus recession. It involved making an incision on the white part of her eyes - on the sides so there should be no visible scaring. From that point the doctor detached the muscles (nearest her nose) and re-attached them further back on the eye. They used dissolving sutures and she did not have any bandages or patches over her eyes when they were finished.

We have a follow up appointment at the end of September to check the true outcome of the surgery. In the meantime, she’ll continue to wear her current glasses prescription with the potential of outgrowing her far-sightedness (kids often do). However, there is a good chance that as she grows she will move into being near-sighted like dad, so she’ll probably continue needing glasses regardless, but we’ll see.

Thank you to everyone for all the supoprt you always provide to us!

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We needed to change Ella’s bandages which was coupled with a lot of crying and screaming.  So much so that we had to put the arm restraints and “lock her in” behind the tray on her chair.

Of course this didn’t make her happy but it did allow us to get the bandages and headware on Ella.  After we were done I put a similar hat on her dolly which seemed to make her very happy.  I also topped the hat with one of the plastic tubes we use with Ella which seemed to make her extra happy.

The really good news is that Ella’s tube only has pretty clear “drips” in it which means hopefully our friend from our church can come over and help take the drainage tube out this weekend  After that we won’t have to put on anymore headware or bandages!

Bonnie says Ella had a very good day otherwise!

We’ll keep you updated!

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She had a nice nap and was in good spirits when I got home from work around 6:00.  Bonnie was able to get to her Bible Study in time and Ella and I had a chance to play and play and play.

She played the piano, and didn’t let her dolly leave her side, or her dad.  She colored and drew, even though she was very, very tired.

There are a few more pictures up at ellagoodwin.com.   Bonnie is home now and we need to give Ella some more medicine so I’ll end this here.  God Bless and thanks for your continued prayers.

1. Hopefully she’ll stay down

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Had an OK night last night.  A lot of fussing and crying from Ella before she finally went down, but slept soundly after finally going down.  In fact she was actually happy to go down when we put her down for the last time.

She woke up around 6 AM reasonably happy, but turned angry fairly quickly.  We gave her medicine, drink and food and she calmed down. We then got all the sheets, towels, etc washed so we could check out per the Ronald McDonald House requirements, got our car out of the hospital’s parking ramp, loaded up, checked out and finally got on the road around 9:30 CDT and headed for St. Joe.

We stopped at a McDonald’s drive through on the way and Ella gobbled down six chicken nuggets while on the road.  This is a great sign as she has never eaten more than four before.

We got home around 12:45 EDT, changed out Ella’s bandages,¹ gave her a present for being such a big girl,² replaced the tube connected to her drainage tube, and got her and her mommy off to a nap.

I got showered³ and made it into work around 2:00.

I think we’re over the hump.  Her drainage tube might be able to come out as early as Friday, but at least by Monday so we won’t need to due the daily head bandage changes after that!

We’ll see Dr. Bauer at least once more in Chicago to remove her sutures and possible go in before that⁴ to let him check her out.

I’ve got to cut this short now, but I’ll try to get a more detailed update⁵ up later tonight.

God Bless

1. She hates when we mess with her head bandages and expressed that emotion like a consummate professional today
2. A Little People farm set
3. I’m sure my colleagues will thank me for that as I was a bit ripe
4. Probably next week
5. And maybe pictures too?

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Ella is drinking her juice and eating her Cheerios.

Bonnie and I will likely order pizza.  Too bad Chicago isn’t known for its pizza….

We will be staying in Chicago tonight.  Just need to decide if it’s with Ella in the hospital or if we’ll take her back to the Ronald McDonald House as we can’t check out after 8 PM.

But it looks like we’ll be back in St. Joseph tomorrow.  Hopefully with a happy girl!

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She’s now back fast asleep.  Hopefully it will last a while.  Of course I just had to take a picture or two of her.

I made the executive decision that a nightmare wake up didn’t count as actually waking up so I didn’t call Bonnie.  So please keep me in your prayer when she finds out.

We still are waiting to decide if we are leaving or not tonight, but leaning toward staying in Chicago.

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