Aimee Gobel

Submitted by: Angela Schuler

I know so many great Moms, and every story submitted about these amazing women deserves to win them a makeover. Aimee was my roommate in college. She helped me through the terrible homesickness and became my best friend. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding 7 years ago. After that, life happened. Kids, jobs, relocating, and we lost touch. We found eachother again on Facebook and I learned that three years ago, Aimee and her husband adopted a baby boy after trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child. Eli came into their lives and changed their world for the better, as children are meant to do. Late last year, Aimee and Ryan decided to "throw their hat" back into the adoption pool, and were prepared to wait a year or more (as is standard with adoptions, she tells me) for a chance to have a second blessing. In December, a new mom in Hermiston made the heartbreaking decision to give her baby girl up for adoption on the day that she was born. Aimee and Ryan received a call that morning from the adoption agency asking if they would like to be considered. "Of course" was their reply. Only a few hours later, the agency called back and announced that they were chosen by the Mom to raise her precious girl. After an exhausting, but exhilerating drive to Hermiston from Tillamook, they were on their way home with Phoebe Rebecca Gobel. With less than 24 hours to prepare themselves and their home to go from a family of 3 to a family of 4, friends and family pitched in to help...with everything from assembling the crib, to pulling baby items from storage, and donating baby girl clothes (of which they had none.) I met Phoebe when she was 9 days old. She is absolutely perfect. Her big brother Eli likes to cover her up, and her Mom, although exhausted, is over the moon in love with her daughter.