Court, scarves and God's mighty hand!

So....it turns out we were submitted to court last Wednesday afterall!! We are just now waiting for a preliminary birth family court hearing to take place before we will be assigned a date to travel for court! We are getting so excited to meet our girl!! WOW!!!
Knowing that travel will be approaching soon, we are desperately trying to raise the FUNDS to get there!! If you feel led to donate to our adoption, there is a donate button to your right. Also, we are selling Chevron Infinity Scarves AND the ever so luxurious 1200 thread count sheets to help raise the funds.
Here is a link to our facebook event that has all of the information about ordering scarves and sheets.
Olsson Family Adoption Fundraiser Page

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or if you are not on facebook.... olssons@gmail.com
The scarves:

The sheets:

Another video!

We received another video from the agency last week. We got to watch her playing hopscotch with her friends. The quality wasn't the best, but it sure helped now that we know we will have a wait a little while given the license lapse issue. I wish we could share the videos/links here, but we have to keep all this stuff private until we pass court and officially become her parents.
-Sten

We got word today that our case wasn't submitted to court in Ethiopia prior to our agency's license lapsing...just praying now that it gets renewed really quickly. Ugh. Now the real waiting begins. (you can go ahead and picture a chubby little kid stomping their foot and crossing her arms.) Hmmmmph. 
I'm over it now.
Really.
I am not going to let myself be consumed by the process.

Catching up

In trying not to get way too far behind on my blog, I commit to stay up to date and so....here goes!!

We had an amazing connection become clear to us early last week when we learned that our good friend Amanda's son had lived in Ethiopia at Birhan orphanage in Addis for THREE years!! He was able to tell us lots about her. She is a good girl, smart, loves the babies, never gets in trouble with the nannies and he liked to play ball with her!!! We were also so thrilled to see a precious SIX SECONDS of video of Little Miss when Amanda and her husband, Michael traveled to Birhan in Aug of last year. She is AWESOME!!!! Happy, vibrant, silly and appeared pretty healthy!! We have such peace!!!
We are hoping that our documents were submitted to Federal Court in Addis during the night last night. Our agency's license is about to lapse (ET gov't is being more careful in relicensing and so it is taking a bit longer than usual.) The lapse could last 1-2 months and they cannot submit cases to the court during a lapse, so if we don't get submitted ASAP, we will be looking at a possible 2 month delay :((
Prayers appreciated!!
In lighter news, sheets sales continue!! We are continuing to pray that more and more people with try to get orders from family and friends for us. THAT is how we will continue to raise money through the sheets since so many of our friends have already ordered. If you read this and are interested in helping out, please email me at olssons@gmail.com. I still cannot believe how AMAZING these sheets are!!
Well, I gotta run. Phone conference with our agency about travel!
Until next time...
      

                                    PUZZLE PIECE RAFFLE!!!!!

We are doing a puzzle piece raffle to try to bring in the last bit of agency fees to be raised! We had a puzzle made from a picture of the Ethiopian countryside that I took when there last year. Added our most favorite verse and are now raffling off pieces of it!! 

                                         Yes, you could definitely use this!

Wall clock!

A signed copy of this incredible adventure book

Amharic "Family" sign and wooden stand

Gorgeous Hand Made baby quilt!

Your name will go on the back of the pieces purchased and we are doing drawings every 30 pieces sold. We have some really awesome prizes to give away!! 

And how about a $400 photography session with one very talented photographer?

Pieces are $10 each or 3/$25 and can be purchased by emailing me at olssons@gmail.com

SHEETS!!!! Who would ever think that God would provide through bed sheets? All you can do is laugh and praise Him!!!! We started selling bed sheets because an adoptive momma friend told us about this company that sells sheets to fundraising families. They made over $10,000 for their adoption!! So, I trusted God and said, "Why not us, too?" And then I started sharing it like crazy on FaceBook! And to date we have raised just under $4,000 selling bed sheets!! 

These aren't your everyday, Walmart bed sheets. Nope! These are 1200 thread count 100% Egyptian cotton/microfiber blend sheets that are honestly THE SOFTEST sheets I have ever felt! Available in Cal King, King, Queen, Full and Twin. Any size is ONLY $35. Flat and fitted sheets and two pillow cases are included. They have 16" deep pockets to accommodate your pillow-top mattresses, they come in a wide variety of vibrant colors. The sheets wash very well, no pilling, no fading, no shrinking and require no ironing like other high thread count linens. These are ahhhh-mazing sheets!! Some responses I have received after people have received their sheets: "Wow!! Rick and I will be racing to the bed tonight!" and "Got the sheets. I never want to get out of bed now!!" and "These are the best sheets I have ever slept on." Just to mention a few!!
So, how do you order? Simple. Email me at olssons@gmail.com and tell me the colors and sizes you want.  We are taking PayPal, credit card or checks for payment! Whichever is easiest for you!!!!
If you can collect orders from friends and family, 10 sets collected will earn you a free set! And, if those sets are all local to you, the company will ship them to you for free (orders of 12 sets or more)!!!
So, who wants luxurious sheets all the while helping to bring our next (did I mention super cute?) daughter home to her family? 
Operators are standing by to take your order :))

 

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!