2015 HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.COM NOVEMBER 25, 2015 Page 9
It was still a big step of faith for the family.
Michael already worked two, sometimes three
jobs. The addition of three more children at once
would require sacrifice on all their parts, including
the children.
With the addition of the last three children it
brought the total to nine and imbalanced the ratio
again to five boys and four girls. Uh oh, now
what to do? Daughter Eva likes to say to anyone
pointing out the 5-4 count, “No, we have five
and five.” The family recently added a female
Labrador puppy and she’s been a big hit in the
family.
Suzanne says ‘Shep’ has a job to do, shepherd the
children. As the young pup whines from behind
the kitchen door, Michael comments, “Right now,
she isn’t carrying her weight.” They laugh together,
and Suzanne quickly counters, “She is little,” and
adds to the defense, “you know what, the kids
are putting their shoes away better than they ever
have.”
How have the children handled the additions to
the family?
One year before starting down the road of
adoptions, it was coming up on Thanksgiving time
and the Gowins wanted to create awareness that
would instill a sense of gratitude in their children.
Michael made a dunce hat naming it ‘the cone of
shame,’ after having watched the Disney movie
“Up.” If the children complained about something,
they wore the cone for a couple of minutes. It
turned out to be fun and it had the desired affect on
the kids.
Maybe that was a stepping stone toward their next
adventure.
What has aided the children most has been doing
things together as a family. Each of the ‘bio-
children’ would over the coming years be included
in one of the trips to bring home an adoption child.
The children saw first hand “that not everyone in
the world lives like they do,” Michael said. They
were able to experience some of the culture, seeing
people dance, houses in the community, how the
people live, where their new siblings had lived,
which would help them understand each other
when they got back home.
It helped their children to see that “in America we
have so much wealth. We don’t think we do, but
we do,” Suzanne said.
How have the adoptions changed their lives?
Michael said it could appear simple, but there was
a lot that went behind each decision. Just looking
at the family’s blogposts you will find years of
praying and processes that dealt with the financial
and logistical activities including extensive
paper work for the state of Illinois, home studies,
adoption agency processes, and court hearings in
Ethiopia. The couple asked themselves lots of
questions and did more preparation before each
adoption.
Today Michael says, just the running around, the
day-to-day stuff of getting kids where they need to
go is a challenge. While resources limit activities
the children can be involved in, they each do get to
enjoy their own outside activity.
Laughing, Michael says during the soccer season
when he has five kids at soccer practice, he has to
remember there are still four kids at home. He has
to think, how crazy is that?!
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