Thursday, November 15, 2012

Because we are called.....

We  have come to know so many wonderful people throughout this adoption process and one of them is Stacy Richards. She is a passionate adoptive momma of SEVEN and has an amazing talent making jewelry. She offered to make a piece for us that represents our current adoption to be used as a fundraiser!! This is our piece! One of my favorite Bible verses is Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

If you would like to purchase this necklace you can do so here . $14 from every order goes directly to our adoption fund. THANK YOU!

Friday, November 9, 2012

Gratefully yours

People, really? Did you witness God in all His infinite awesomeness just take hold of this one adoption fundraiser and blow it up? Honestly, if that is not proof that He is absolutely brokenhearted for these little children and wants them to have mommies and daddies, then tell me what it is!!! I am so completely humbled by the outpouring of love and support during our first fundraiser that I can barely express it. THANK YOU.
Each and everyone of you who took time and donated what you could and then some. You are now forever part of this little girls story. Eternal footprints. That is what we want to lay. Eternal footprints in this kingdom that we are trusted to care for and nourish to the glory of God!

Live like that!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfosSggwQS0

~Gratefully yours,
                  Amy

Blankets, sheets and more..... Just in time for Christmas!!

When we were in Ethiopia the first time, July 2011, to meet Marra, we were so touched by the love and attention that the children received from the nannies at the orphanage. I will always cherish the time we spent with them. One thing they did with the kids that I, being a maternity nurse and having spent my career teaching new parents to about SIDS, was astonished that they slept all the babies on their tummies AND put blankets over their heads when they slept. And I'm not talking about light weight receiving blankets either. Big comforters!!! YIKES! Well, as we spent more time there, I realized that the blankets were a way to provide some kind of a quiet cocoon for the babies. (still didn't agree, but I got it)
When we finally brought Marra home, one thing she would always do at bedtime was to pull the blankets up over her head. Me, so eager to attach properly, tried so hard to not let that make me sad. That it was ok that Marra didn't prefer to gaze longingly into my eyes as I rocked her to sleep:) I knew that would come in time! I was just glad she let me rock her!!
Over the past few months, in keeping tune with turning 2, she has been grappling with wanting to show independence, when for the first several months home, all we did was encourage dependence (=attachment). She started really wanting that blanket up over her face when she was falling asleep....like ritualistically. Get me into my cocoon where I know everything is just as it should be.....
Well, just a few nights ago, while rocking Marra, she lifted the blanket and peeked up and me and said "Mommy, IN!" Oh, did I ever throw that blanket over my head in a split second and get in her cocoon as fast as I could! She was inviting me into her most secure and secret place. A serious BREAKTHROUGH!!!!!! Tears. Lots of em!
This little story is so significant because it is an answer to a strange and silly opportunity that has been given us. We were directed to a fundraiser by a fellow adoptive mom who has been very successful in raising funds to bring home her two daughters from Ethiopia. Get this: She is selling SHEETS. Yes, bed sheets!!!!
I thought, now God, what in the world does bed sheets have to do with orphans and how in the world will I tie these two together in my mind and make this work? Literally, the next day, I share this beautiful moment with Marra and her blanket cocoon! That's it!!
the bridge here is this: Since I have committed my life to Christ, I have felt as though he is covering me. Protecting me with his love and guidance. Mercy and grace. Trust and faithfulness. They are like blankets, or sheets over me. The same way Marra uses her blanket. To over peacefulness, quietude, security, the same way we use God's word. Like a blanket on our hearts! Anyhow, that is my connection.
Now, SHEETS!!!!
The Sanders Collection is a company that offers THE SOFTEST sheets ever, for an unbeatable price! They are 1200 thread count Egyptian cotton/micofiber blend and are offered in every bed size (twin, full, queen, king, and california king) and in just about every single color imaginable! (see attached order form here ) All sets are 16' deep and accommodate pillow-top mattresses. They are said to be "high-end luxury at less than Walmart pricing"!! Each four piece set is only $35!!!!!!

Here's what  you do:
*You choose what you want (size, color and quantity),
*Multiply the number of sets by $35
*Then mail me a check (written to me, Amy Olsson) for the amount (tax is included) with a note as to what you are ordering. [Address 2905 Kling Ct. Frederick, MD 21703]

 I will place an order every time I get 12 sets ordered. It takes about three days for the sheets to be sent to me....if you are local I will deliver them to you. If you are not local, I will mail them to you for $5 per set. Then, you sleep like a king or queen in your new sheets knowing you helped another orphan make it to her forever family!!!

How's that for a win-win? :)))

We WILL get the funds to bring our next daughter home. And we will Thank each of you for helping us!!!
~Amy


Saturday, November 3, 2012

And so another Olsson comes to be....

On the heels of yesterday's post, I continue to share my heart. 
During these three years of complete and radical transformation in our family, I learned something. I learned that on my own, without Christ right here, I am nothing. Christ has revealed things in me that have left me with no choice but to trust Him. Give over all of my control and simply obey and trust. They really do go hand in hand. Obey His commands, trust His love, trust His plan.

During my long stay in Ethiopia last December, I had the true pleasure of spending time with two little girls who were living at the transition home. They were 7 and 9. So sweet. So loving. Though we did not speak each other's language, we played together, we laughed.  There was a moment when I was rocking Marra and singing a lullaby to her on the stairs at the edge of the courtyard. She fell asleep and I took her to the nanny to be put to bed. I went back to sit on the stairs and one of the little girls was sitting there. I sat down, smiled at her and was prepared to get out my ipad and work on some documents. To my great surprise, this little girl took my hand. She sat there, holding my hand for a moment, when I instinctively started singing the same lullaby I had been singing to Marra. Her face beamed! It was in that moment that God planted a seed. Not even home with Marra yet, and something was stirring in me.

After we were home about six weeks with Marra, through talking with friends and experiencing their joy and pain in welcoming older waiting children into their families, I decided to take a look at the list of waiting children in Ethiopia. Just scrolling through reading each child's story, one little girl's picture grabbed my attention. I inquired about her. The agency sent me a picture and some basic information about her. I knew it was WAY too early to start even thinking about bringing another child home. I spent many many days thinking and praying about this little girl. God, what are you doing here? Is this child supposed to be in our family? I showed her picture to Sten. He, being the rational one, said we needed to wait a bit. But that it was something we could maybe consider later. OK. 
So I prayed some more. God, when the time is right, let it be through Sten that you tell me. Let him be the one you speak to. That is how I will know. 
During Sten's last trip to Kazakhstan, he texted me and asked (out of the blue) if I had done anything to start our home study!! Where did that come from? Ha!
For the past few months, we have spent many tearful nights in prayer for our children, for our marriage, for our hearts, for the world. We knew God intended to continue to grow our family, but how? Was I to bear children again? Should we pursue adoption again? God, please speak boldly to us.
Then, we received an email about the very same girl I had inquired about in late February. "Were we interested and did we have a home study?" (Of course that immediately translated in my eyes to "Will you obey?") 

So, here we are. Up to our necks in paperwork and checklists. Doing all that is needed to bring this itty bitty girl into our family. We are trusting that God will provide all we need to make this happen. We are celebrating His love for the fatherless. His faithful and unwavering love for us, His children. I am in awe of what He has done with my life and how He is using us to give hope and love to orphans. 

Tomorrow is Orphan Sunday. Join us in stirring hearts for the fatherless. Consider your own life and how you can make a difference in the life of even one child. Let us all join together to glorify God through taking care of the children in this world who have no mommy or daddy to love them. Love them as Jesus loves us. Unselfishly. When we go beyond what is comfortable for us while serving God, THAT is when we are blessed. 

Skip your Saturday night out, your trip to the outlet mall, your daily Starbucks and give, to whatever orphan ministry you feel led. Look beyond this world and do something that will have an eternal impact.

Humbly, we thank you. For listening. For considering all of the orphans in this world. For giving.

~Amy and Sten


If you wish to donate to our adoption fund, click on the link below and be sure to add our names "Sten and Amy Olsson" to the purpose line.
 

http://www.westsandsadoption.org/ws/donate/
 





 

Friday, November 2, 2012

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" Romans 12:2

What is good and acceptable and perfect? For so long I was convinced that loving the Lord and going to church and 'being a good person' was good and acceptable and perfect. And I even was certain that because I was doing those things that God had 'blessed' me with a wonderful husband, healthy children, financial abundance, a beautiful home, etc......How nice of Him. After some serious reflection (spawned by a mirror which revealed some serious ugliness in me) I realized that this 'kingdom' I had built was upside down. I prayed. Like, really prayed. Until it hurt. So difficult to realize how gross we are when we conform to this world. 
I asked God to tear me down. To show me what He intended for my life. God, He's pretty clever. He didn't do it all at once. Oh, no. That would've freaked me right the heck out. This process is one of growth, change and sanctification.  As it is written in 2 Corinthians  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" Now, does this mean that if we are with the Holy Spirit that we are automatically perfect? No. That is too easy. You see, the enemy, our flesh and selfish ways are always trying to lead us from Christ. Convince us of a better way. That is when you turn to God and ask Him for the path of righteousness. And boy, did he ever speak to me. ADOPT. 
There are so many facets to adoption. It is God's creation. WE are ALL His adopted sons and daughters.
Romans 8:14-16 -For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.
So, I read all of the passages in the Bible where God tells us that adoption is what he considers pure and faultless religion, being father to the fatherless.... Great, I'll be obedient and adopt. Sten, you're on board, right? Sure. 
Ha! How feeble is my understanding? Little did I know that God didn't intend to build me up through the process of adopting Marra Frehiwet, but rather TEAR ME DOWN... what? Does He do that? 
Through our journey to adopt Marra, we experienced trials like no other. A supernatural virus that attacked my body and landed me in the hospital for a cumulative 40 days. A neck injury that I am still in physical therapy for and then, to round it out, a battle for Marra's US visa that could've been written for a Lifetime movie. 
We learned that in trusting God, you remove yourself from the equation. You can no longer consider how all of the pieces will fall into place. You just act on your knowledge that God will never desert you. He will never lead us to it without leading us through it. Got it? Yup. 
Explain that to a mama and daddy who, already two months late in bringing their precious daughter home from Ethiopia then get a big, fat, scary email from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services stating that the facts of your daughter's case don't add up and that you must do the following before they allow you to come get her: Find her birth mom. yeh. Find her birth father. uh huh. and prove that they cannot or will not parent her. suuuuure. Then, change ALL of the documents in the court system that have thus far been provided to them to reflect the true facts of the case. gotcha. WHAT? How in the name of all that we believe in are we supposed to do that? Day 1 after the letter, the agency we hired to DO ALL OF THIS from the start and failed are now slithering like snakes under the nearest rock! Ugh. 
Well, here's what we did. We laid on our living room floor and bawled our eyes out. And then we prayed.  God spoke to me to clearly in those days. Go and trust me..... And then we hired a kick-butt attorney (Thank you, Kelly Enslin!) and I hopped on a plane to Ethiopia with the phone number of a private investigator in my pocket and set out to do what was asked of us. Find Marra's birth mom. 
That private investigator turned out to be one of the most godly men I have ever had the blessing of meeting. Ephrim knew everything about everything. We prayed. We shared. God opened every stinking door we came to. Literally. Need eyewitnesses, boom, one approached us in the hospital court yard, he knew exactly why this white lady was there. He knew. Another God-loving man. Need documents, bam! Here they are! Oh, you need to meet her birth mom, whoa, what a coincidence, she just happened to show up here today after being missing for weeks. God, you are so clever! In three short days in a town of 88,000 ppl with no internet, shoddy cell service and few of the conveniences known to investigators here,  we gathered every piece of evidence we needed to prove Marra's orphan status. It was there all along. God just knew we needed to know about all of if. You see, prior to getting that scary letter from USCIS, our child's story was blank. She had no story. Now she does. Had it all gone through smooth and we brought her home when WE PLANNED, Marra would never see the face of the woman who cared so much about her that she offered her a better life than she could give. Now we have pictures. I held her birth mom in my arms and together we cried. Tears pass by all language barriers. We understood each other. It was the most raw moment of my life. I am so thankful for the pain we endured by trusting God's plan. 
It is not easy to remove your expectations from your own life. Think about it. Giving your life totally over to God's will. It is scary. In the past year, since I have committed myself to His will, I have quit my job which I loved so dearly, I pulled two of my kids from school to home school them (something I NEVER imagined I would ever do!) and have spent the past ten months learning, yes learning to love a child who we fought so hard to bring into our family. Adoption is not at all about what you see (the child's face surrounded by a mom, dad and siblings) but rather about everything you DONT see. The pain that exists in the spirit of a one year old from being abandoned at 6 weeks of age. That's real. Overcoming that pain is where adoption defines beautiful. Marra grieves in ways she can't even express. We have come so far with her. She now actually recognizes when she has hurt herself, she cries, she comes to us for kisses to make it better. When she first came home, pain didn't register. Why should it? No one to make it all better. THIS is when we stand back in awe of God's plan for adoption. redemption. healing.  A child that had to learn to snuggle. It wrecks you the day your child, who you love beyond explanation, finally snuggles into you to be rocked instead of diving for her crib. THAT is what it is all about. Rebuilding. Restoration. God's love.
Thanks for allowing me to share my heart. We are continuing to trust God's plan for our family.
~Amy