Waiting to Exhale

It has been an exhausting couple of weeks. After waiting and waiting to hear if our loan went through, they call us Thursday (day before the close) to tell us its not approved and we will not be closing. I am devasted. We had already given notice at our current dwelling so this posed a huge problem since they had already re-rented for this Saturday move in. Ok, we are not beaten yet. Knowing we would be homeless for who knew how long, we rented a penske truck and yesterday Brian and 1 friend (the moving gods must be mad at us b/c no one else showed up to help) loaded the whole truck. Thank God for Shawn. We then stuffed both our cars as full as they would allow, left the rest in the garage and headed to our pastor's house where we were welcomed with open arms. Thank God for Hal and Sandy. With no news of when we will be closing I am at work unable to concentrate wondering what I am supposed to be learning from all of this...............NEWS FLASH.................as I was typing this the man called and said we just got the go ahead to close tomorrow at 3pm, THANK YOU JESUS!!!!! Please pray for great weather and lots of help. We'll post some pics at a MUCH later date when I have gotten over my nervous breakdown. Love you guys!!

One step closer to Saving Grace

Yesterday Brian, Jared (our oldest), and I went and met with the contractor for the walk thru of our new home. Last I had seen the house there was no carpet or applianaces and things were still pretty messy. It was so exciting to walk in and see the carpet done and the house cleaned up. As we walked around pointing out all the things that needed to be touched up (the joys of buying a brand new house vs. one that is already built) I got really excited thinking about moving in and giving it the Maciaszek touch. Well, the female side anyway. When we talk about bedrooms we have already designated which one will be for Grace and have already decided we will decorate it right away in preparation for her home coming. We also know how far away this feels and have felt so much encouragement from all of you we hope you will stick with us and stay to the end. Anyway, back to the walk thru. We finished and scheduled another one for next Friday at 9am, then we will close at 11am. Talk about a full day. We are thrilled. Once we are in we will give you the grand tour via video and post it on here. I hope wherever you are you will pray for a smooth closing and also celebrate with us as we are now one step closer to bringing our baby home. Thank you for your comments and emails of encouragement, we cannot walk this road without you!

Seeing His faithfulness...already

I realize I have already fallen short with this blog however, since there hasn't been anything going on with the adoption per se I haven't felt there was much to say. Well, now that I sit and think about it that couldn't be further from the truth. Here's the deal. When we started this whole thing our attitude was we would fill out all the application stuff and even though we lived in a townhouse in the middle of an apartment community we would go ahead and do the home study here with faith that one day soon before Grace gets here God would some how help us afford a house since with 3 boys already she would have to have her own room and a 3 bedroom townhouse won't cut it. WOW that sentence was way too long and probably not grammatically correct. Anyway, with the way the housing market is here and how expensive they are in comparison to where we used to live it can be overwhelming. All I can say is this...God's ideas are always about timing. 4 weeks ago we weren't even considering buying a house and had our application ready to submit. Now, we are waiting to close on a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath with a loft 2000+ sqaure foot house that isn't even finished yet. Oh wow the goodness of God. Now the part regarding the adoption. We were going to submit the app anyway since we had the new address but they also want photos of where you live. They want one of the outside and 3 of your choice from the inside. So, we are waiting to move to take pics of the house b/c that is where Grace will come home to. At first I felt somewhat frustrated b/c all I could think is...one more month to really get going but then I realized...THIS NEW HOUSE!!! That is our beginning. I cannot begin to tell you what it means to be where we are. I see so much of God's hand in this already it blows my mind. If He can provide a house when we thought there was no possibility, we have nothing to worry about with regards to the money for Grace. She will be here in no time. Soon after we move we plan to get her room ready and just keep on towards the finish line. As we walk this road we have already received so much support and encouragement from people its just crazy. However, when it comes down to plain old inspiration, hands down it comes from Carlos and Heather Whittaker. They are couple from Cali whom we have never met who just recently brought their own little bundle home from a foreign country and Carlos has THE most amazing videos of their journey on his blog. I watch those repeatedly to keep my head above water and to be reminded it will be a reality for us too. Anyway, thanks for being with us on this journey and please send any messages whenever you have time but most of all please just pray for baby Grace. Love you all!

THE GIFT THAT KEEEPS ON GIVING

This is the gift I get every year that reminds me what Christmas is all about!


I love my wife!

A PROUD MOMENT!

OK THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ADOPTING AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH OUR FAMILY. JUST WANTED TO SHARE MY FIRST VIDEO PRODUCTION, SO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK? SUFFICE IT TO SAY THIS WAS A PROUD MOMENT FOR BOTH RACHEL AND I. IT IS NICE TO SEE THAT AFTER 13 YEARS OF SOWING YOU DO REAP. I DID NOT PUT THE CAMERA ON US CAUSE THE CAMERA WOULD OF HAD A GREATER CHANCE OF GETTING WET TOWARDS US THAN AT THE HUGE BAPTISMAL. ENJOY!

WHY?

Some may ask why and that is understandable. We think the why of God birthing this in our hearts is sometimes something we don't even understand. However, when we saw this clip of a family bringing their baby home after a 2 year process it all clicked and we knew this was all God and His perfeect timing. All I would ask is for you to take a moment and watch this video and that should answer all your questions as to why. Also, if you can watch this without bawling like a baby then I would have to say you might want to check to see if you have a pulse!
P.S. Application and step by step packet is on it's way to us. A small first step but a start.





Want to see more? Go to RAGAMUFFIN

IN THE BEGINNING

Welcome to our website dedicated to realizing our dream of adopting a little girl from China. This all started for me 3 and a half years ago when I lost my mother, Nita after her 3 and a half year battle with cancer. My mother was my everything, she was my best friend, confidant and mentor. When I lost her I felt as though I lost a part of myself. I really began to search and seek God earnestly since it was the only thing I could do to relieve the insurmountable pain I was in. As I began to go deeper with God and pray about next steps in my life and the life of my family I really began to desire to have another baby. However, there was a little snag, since having a hysterectomy 4 years ago and Brian having undergone the BIG "V" and I am not talking about Venezuela, it was a physical impossibility. Anyway, my desire grew and grew and I began to consider adopting and immediately thought of China, mainly b/c my Grandfather has an adoption agency in St. Louis. (See sidebar) So, I called him and talked at length about what was involved. I have to admit, I was very overwhelmed and began to pray God's timing would be everything and if this was not His will my desire would diminish.

I missed my mother so desperately and longed to have that again. There is something so precious about a mother-daughter relationship and my mother and I had such a great one. Anyway, time passed and Brian and I just kind of stopped talking about it. It never really left me but I just believed God's timing was everything.

Since uprooting our lives 15 months ago and moving to another state there have been a number of exciting changes in our lives and now is the time. About 12 months ago my passion and desire to have another baby was once again heightened and this time I just knew it was right. Brian and I even sat down and talked to the boys (we have 3) about how they would feel if we had another baby. They were so excited about it and started talking about diapers and bottles and taking care of a little sister. It was so cute. We started to pray and researched adopting over seas and of course talked at length. About a month ago we decided it was the right thing to do and both of us have such passion about rescuing a child and giving her a life she wouldn't otherwise have.

We really wanted to name her b/c we had already been praying for her so long and we wanted to be able to pray for her by name. So one day I was sharing with my friend Alexis about how we had decided to pursue adopting a baby girl from China and how we were going to raise the money first by asking for donations via a website. Without hesitation she said "What about Grace? Saving Grace." I was just like oh my gosh, it's perfect. After talking to Brian and praying about it, it just made sense. Grace is so multi-faceted. I mean, look at what God's grace did for us and how His grace makes it possible for us to do things like this.

Won't you please join us on our journey to bring our daughter home. We don't, at this point have any information about her or if she is even born. Most of this process is simply having patience while we raise the money needed to fulfill this dream. There are several ways which you can support us. The first is to join us in praying for Grace. The second is to send us emails or leave comments of encouragement and support. The third, if you feel so led is financial. I can assure you the money is deposited into a secure interest bearing account for the sole purpose of this adoption and as money is raised we will publicly display how. We will be back regularly to update you on our progress and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for joining with us. God bless.