Our Journey to Macie Grace
The Dammeyer Family
Russia is a country that we hold near and dear to our hearts. Back in 2003 after many years of trying to conceive, we decided to turn our efforts towards adoption. A short 4 ½ months later, we came home with the most beautiful baby boy named Matthew Andrey. Our four + years together have just flown by with so many wonderful memories. We always knew that we wanted a daughter and Matthew truly wanted a baby sister, so we decided that it was time to start our journey to find her in 2007.
We initially signed with another agency quickly to learn that we weren’t able to work with them for various reasons but the main being that we were told that “we were asking too many questions and it was throwing up red-flags.” We quickly decided that we couldn’t work with such an agency and began researching other agencies. We researched Adoption Ark in the beginning but thought that it would just be “safer” to go with a larger agency. Boy were we wrong! We were paperwork ready with our completed home study and initial dossier with just having to do a few new documents and off to Kemerovo it went. We knew that we had God’s blessing because when we started this journey we had no idea what region we would travel to and didn’t have any specifications. We just wanted a healthy baby girl. We decided that we would be going to Novokuznetsk, a region just outside of Kemerovo, our hearts just melted. Our children would share the same birth city. We couldn’t have asked for more and couldn’t wait to go back to that familiar place that brought us so much joy and happiness.
We traveled to Novokuznetsk to meet our child in mid-September 2007. This trip was much easier this time around since we had already experienced. We met a child and soon realized that she had too many medical issues that we weren’t able to take on. It was the absolute hardest decision of our lives but we had to decline her. The director of the baby house told us that she knew that we were wonderful parents and wanted us to be happy. We’ll never forget the moment we laid eyes on our daughter. When they brought her into the director’s office, she looked like a porcelain doll….absolutely perfect! She was healthy and we knew from that moment on that she was the child that God meant for us. We returned to court 10 weeks later and officially became the parents to our baby girl, Macie Grace on November 27, 2007.
Macie Grace is simply amazing! She adjusted and bonded instantly with us and fits in perfectly with our family. Her brother Matthew loves her so much and is so happy that she is finally home. We waited a long time for her and we couldn’t have asked for someone more perfect in our lives. She is healthy and developmentally on track for her age. She is very smart and her smile could light up a room.
Without our wonderful caseworker or the help of the entire Adoption Ark staff, we would have never found our Macie Grace. We could never thank you enough for all of your guidance and talks during those times of waiting when it was so difficult and we thought we’d never find our child. We owe it all to God and Adoption Ark because without the both of you, it would have not been possible. We will continue to spread the word about Adoption Ark because there are so many beautiful children who need Forever Families and their mission is truly to find homes for each and every one of them.
Thank you Adoption Ark from the bottom of our hearts!!!
With much love,
The Dammeyer Family
Brian, Tina, Matthew, and Macie
Houston, Texas