Treasures Among the "Rough"

Hello everyone!
     It's Marissa! So sorry that it has been so long since we have posted a blog! We hope to blog more frequently to keep everyone more updated.
     I first would like to start off by saying, God is good, and God is faithful. I know that we say that a lot, but it is SO TRUE, and we can't deny it.
     A lot has happened since we last blogged. God has been doing mighty works in our lives. I wanted to blog today to tell you a little bit about what God has been doing in my life lately. I am sorry it is so long, but I promise it will not be a waste of time!
     First, I changed the look of our blog this morning. I was in the mood for something fresh, and new, because I feel like God has brought (and is continuing to bring me) into a new way of life. I looked and looked for a new background for our blog, and couldn't find anything. Then, I stumbled across the background you now see. It looked a little busy and crazy, but it caught my eye. I thought, "this is perfect!", and I will tell you why. It's hard to see, but if you look beyond the beautiful jewels, you see what looks like a white, dried, cracked surface. This is what it looks like before I placed it on our blog:

     Isn't it beautiful? I wish it would show this whole image on our blog. What drew me to this image is that despite all the cracked, dried, peeling surface, there is something beautiful. This is EXACTLY the journey that has brought me to the place I am in right now.
     Let me tell you all about this journey. The last few months have been very difficult for me. A time of deep sadness and confusion. I was in a place where I wanted a child so bad, I could barely stand it anymore. I was sad almost all the time. I was/am constantly surrounded by people who have children, which made/makes my desire to be a mom that much more passionate. I couldn't understand why we had to go through so much work to adopt a child. Why we had to do all this training and paperwork, to just love a child that is in need, and to love a child that God has called us to love. I was wanting so bad to experience what it would be & feel like to be pregnant. I wanted to know and feel that God was creating LIFE inside of me. I was confused...I was at the point where I didn't care how a child came to us...I just wanted a child. I couldn't understand why God was withholding something from me that I wanted so bad. I asked him, "What am I doing wrong? Is there something I need to do before you make Josh and I parents? What are you waiting for? Is there a lesson you are trying to teach me that I'm not catching on to?" etc...the questions went on and on.
     I reached out to people, I was "seeking" God, but nothing seemed to satisfy me. I felt really stuck, and didn't know if I would ever come out. My life seemed like the white, cracked, dry, peeling surface that you see before you. There seemed to be NOTHING good or beautiful about the life I had. But then, things started to shift just a little bit. There was one time I met with a friend at Teaberry! She told me something that I believe was straight from the heart and mouth of God. She said, "Marissa, God is the BEST at giving gifts, and knows the PERFECT time to give them. It's worth the wait." That was the first "jewel" that appeared to be in my dry, peeling, cracked life. Something I could hold on to. The promise that God knows what he's doing :)

 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17 (NIV)

     After that moment, I had a roller coaster of a life. I would be happy in the life God had me, and then I would be sad, and felt stuck...but not as stuck as I was before, because of that one "treasure" of advice. God kept placing beautiful people in my life who encouraged me, and reassured me that everything was ok, and is in God's timing. People who truly were there for me, and truly empathized with me. What a blessing that was. The jewels continued to multiply. God continued to speak to me through his word. And then something so magnificent happened. You see, I was "seeking" God, but not in the way I should. I was seeking him, but was also frustrated with him, and mad at him (which is ok, because God can handle my emotions) BUT it was like I was telling God that I wasn't going to be happy until he granted me my wish; until he gave me what I wanted...because we all know that "I know what's best for me" (hint of sarcasm).

    

     I was crying to my husband one evening, because I had a rough day of struggling with these issues. I felt bad for him, because I felt like a broken record....I felt like someone who just couldn't move on. I felt embarrassed and ashamed that I wasn't seeking God the way I thought I should. My husband is so gracious, patient, loving and encouraging. He really told me what I and we needed to hear. I thought all this time that I was struggling with this issue by myself. I didn't think he struggled with it all. And then he told me that he also struggled with wanting to be a dad, and the wait that we have to endure. BUT here is the thing that has changed my life. I have heard it many times, but it really seemed to hit home this time. Josh told me that we needed to have joy. I at first was not very happy, because I didn't feel like being joyful. But, he was absolutely right. I read this quote once, "Joy is not the absence of troubles but the presence of Christ." That is SO TRUE. God did not promise us that our lives were going to be easy and without trials and suffering. But he did promise that He will never leave us, and that he knows what's best for our lives. HE is in control.

     I love my husband so much, and I thank him for telling me truths of God. What a blessing He is. Ever since that moment, even though I didn't feel like it, I told God that I was choosing to have joy, no matter what happens in life...I wanted to choose to have joy, that's all I could do. I decided that God's plan really is what is best for our lives. God is worth it...God is worth going through the suffering and trials. He endured the most painful thing anyone could ever endure. He suffered physical pain on the cross, but also suffered the heavy weight of all of our sins on the cross. And for that I am overwhelmed, and so thankful. Which makes me want to submit my life to him, and "Raise my white flag" as Chris Tomlin has sung in his newest song. I surrender to you Jesus...because that is the ONLY way to do this thing we call life. 

     I am so thankful that God is bringing us through this journey of adoption. I truly am HAPPY, and have JOY. I am happy with where we are in life right now, and am happy with waiting, because I know that it is worth the wait for whatever God has in store. I know we have a long way to go, and I am sure there is going to be many many more trials and suffering, but now I have so many more treasures of God to hold on to and to see. I can see the work he is doing in our lives, and I can read and see his promises in His word that are sweeter than honey, and are the most satisfying thing EVER. All the glory and honor goes to Him. I am nothing without Him, and I wouldn't be where I am in life today without Him. He is everything, and without Him I am nothing. Thank you to all of you who were there for me in those times I needed you the most, and for the encouragement that you shared. You were truly the hands and feet of Jesus in those times. I am sure I will be needing you again! lol 

     I am sure you are also wondering where we are at in the adoption process. We are still doing paperwork, but we see the end in sight! We have a little bit more of online training to do, half a book to read, and some joint paperwork and observations of our community/neighborhood to do, and then we will be done! (I hope) Our goal to have all of this paperwork done is the end of May! And then it will go through Immigration (which on average will take 3-4 months), and then we start waiting for a referral of a child! We still have about $16,000.00-$17,000.00 to raise. Please pray for God's will to be done in our lives. We know he will provide in His good time. God is good...all the time.

Love,

Marissa

We're Comin Along!

Since the last time we blogged, it feels like a lot has happened, when in all actuality, not much has happened in terms of the actual adoption process.

We received our paperwork for the Lifeline (our agency in Alabama that works directly with Uganda) homestudy. It's A LOT! When we first got it, it didn't seem like too much, because we thought we weren't going to have to do all of it since we already did a lot of the same things for our other homestudy at the Village here in Fargo. Then we got the news that we have to do all of the paperwork Lifeline sent us. There is A LOT! In all honesty, we became overwhelmed, and disheartened. And so, we took a break from doing paperwork.

Recently, in the last week or two, God has given us new gumption. Marissa struggled with being content in where God had her in life. She didn't want to wait for a long time to receive a child. She felt like she was scrambling to find the fastest way to get a child. She was then, by the grace of God, given advice from a friend who said, "Marissa, God knows how to give the PERFECT gift at the PERFECT time. He is good at that!" And that is something that she was able to hold on to and remember. Then, she came across a picture that touched her heart....a picture that was taken when she was in Africa in 2006.

This is Marissa's hand....it reminded her of why God wanted her and Josh to adopt...it reminded her of the lives over there that need help, and reminded her that somewhere over in Uganda their child is waiting for them, and they need to do whatever it takes to get to him or her, because God would and does whatever he can to get to us. Marissa is very thankful that God reminded her of this!

So now, we are working on our training for our homestudy. It involves a 10 hour online course for each of us about adopting from a "Hague country" which is a country that signed an agreement that gives rules for adoption (that's a BIG summary). Our goal is to get the online training done by March 14th (Dad, Grandma and Uncle Jerrys birthday! That will be a day of CELEBRATION!!). In addition to the online course, we have to read a book together, finish other paperwork, visit local events and observe the ethnic make up of the events, and interact with children the same age and race as our prospective child. So, there is still a lot left to do, but it's coming along!

We are pleased to say that we are up over $10,000.00 for adoption! To be exact, we are at $10,283.86! Praise the Lord for his faithfulness and provision! And thank YOU for your prayers and support!

We will continue to keep you posted!

Love,
Josh & Marissa Svaleson!

Which Way To Go?

Today was the end of the beginning of a really loooooong journey! It ends with figuring out where we are going to be adopting from, Lord willing!

Previously, we had thought that we would probably be adopting from Ethiopia. Obstacles arouse, and so we started to wonder if that was really where our child(ren) are coming from. So, we started looking into domestic adoption. One thing to note is that we did not see obstacles, necessarily, as something saying, "no, don't go!" but rather as something the Lord could simply overcome for us. With that, it lead us to implore the Lord about whether that was really where we were supposed to go. And so began a very interesting journey filled with lots of unknowns.

Ethiopia has virtually ceased adopting out children under the age of 3. And adoptions have slowed A LOT for children 3 and older as well. This is due to a lot of conflicts in Ethiopia currently. And our age range that we believe God has told us to pursue would be UNDER the age of 3. And so, as you can see, the situation in Ethiopia presents a problem OR an opportunity.

And so we looked at adopting African/American babies. We found an agency that we could use, and things looked like they would "fit" our life situation. This possibility was also rather exciting.

On Monday, January 9th, 2012, Marissa had her individual interview for our home study, and through that we began to see the urgency of knowing where it is our child(ren) are going to be coming from. And so began a rather intense time of prayer. We implored the Lord for two days of this intense time of prayer. We sought after the Lord, in particular seeking out an answer to our question of where our child(ren) would be coming from. Isn't funny how the Lord works? :) Through things that were seemingly unrelated to our question, God changed us in the way we were thinking to get us ready, and to test our faith for the answer he was about to give.

A major verse that fueled this change was Hosea 6:3 (NLT) "Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn, or the coming of rains in early spring." It says press on to know the Lord. PRESS ON to know the Lord! THAT was the purpose of this intense time of prayer. And so, though we continued to ask our question, we realized that the point was to press into the Lord, to know him, to seek him. You see, when we seek the Lord, we find his will. When we seek the Lord, he reveals to us who we are. The point of life is to seek the Lord.

In our family, the man is the head of the house hold, meaning all the decisions finally go through him. And so, with this as our reality, we knew that the Lord would confirm, through Josh, whatever decision would need to be made. With this in mind, this morning, Josh prayed that the Lord would reveal the place to Marissa, and that when Marissa would tell Josh the idea, Josh would whole heartedly agree. Thus, the revelation came through Marissa, and was confirmed by Josh.

This is what Marissa heard from God. She was prompted (by a friend) to look at a blog of a couple who had adopted from Uganda. After checking out this blog, she decided to look at possible agencies that worked with Uganda. She found an agency in which Josh and Marissa met all of the requirements! That was so exciting! She tried not to get too excited, but started thinking that this is possibly where God wanted us to adopt! While thinking about possibly adopting from Uganda, Marissa decided to read the Bible, hoping that the Word of God would help make this possibility clear to her. She came across these verses:

Psalm 29:1-5, 7-11

Honor the LORD, you heavenly beings;
      honor the LORD for his glory and strength.
 Honor the LORD for the glory of his name.
      Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

 The voice of the LORD echoes above the sea.
      The God of glory thunders.
      The LORD thunders over the mighty sea.
 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
      the voice of the LORD is majestic.
 The voice of the LORD splits the mighty cedars;
      the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

The voice of the LORD strikes
      with bolts of lightning. 

The voice of the LORD makes the barren wilderness quake;
      the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD twists mighty oaks
      and strips the forests bare.
   In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”

The LORD rules over the floodwaters. 

      The LORD reigns as king forever.
The LORD gives his people strength.
      The LORD blesses them with peace.

 Marissa thought, "I think God might be trying to tell me to listen to his voice, because it is powerful." After prayer, she was moved, and started crying and felt a peace she has never felt before. She thought, "This has to be where God wants us to adopt!" She was so excited that this is possibly where God wanted them to go! She told the whole story to Josh, and he got excited, for he had prayed for this to happen (that Marissa would get the revelation from God, and that she would end up telling him about it!) Josh prayed about it, and confirmed that this where He feels God leading us to adopt! The smiles on our faces were HUGE! It feels so good to know we are following God's plan in where he wants us to adopt from! So, Marissa called the agency we will be using, and told them we were going to go forward with Uganda!


The answer of Uganda is so funny. When we first got the call from the Lord that we are going to be adopting (in March of 2010), Uganda was where Josh really wanted to adopt from. It holds a special place in his heart for some reason. So, we looked into adopting from Uganda and found nothing that would work, very few agencies with programs and most of them were pilot programs that we were ineligible for. So, we stopped looking. And now here we are, almost 2 years later, after looking at so many other places and nearly completely forgetting about Uganda for adoption, God has brought it back. :) My friends, when we seek God, He changes our desires. And then, He gives us the desires of our hearts. Josh's desire was to adopt from Uganda. After disappointment and struggles for 22 months, it is good to know that God placed that desire there. :)


We now (while working on our homestudy at the Village) need to fill out applications for this networking agency, and fill out more paperwork, and do some trainings. We are excited to get going on this! God is moving, and it's so exciting! 


We still have a long journey ahead of us, and possibly a long wait. But we have to remember that we are on God's time. So he can make it go as long or as short as he wants! We are willing to follow him! We thank you for your prayers and support, and ask that you pray for us, as we move forward in this exciting adventure to Uganda! Pray for the child(ren) that God has for us there, and pray that we follow his plan! 


We love you all,
In Christ's love,
the Svaleson's

God is still moving!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to update you all! I wanted to say that God is still active in this process! The Forum (Fargo-Moorhead newspaper) contacted us, and wanted to do a story on our adoption journey! Oddly enough, the wonderful lady who interviewed us went to highschool with me! She is a year younger than me, and did a WONDERFUL job interviewing us! She is kind hearted, and very caring!

I just wanted to share the link with you all to check out the story she did! Thank you to God for still moving in our lives. We trust YOU with our lives, and everything in it!

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/345266/

Last of all, thank you to all of you for your continued support and prayers! It means so much to our family!
Love you all!

In Christ's love,
Josh & Marissa

T-shirt Update!! Please Check this Out! It's important!

We have a t-shirt update for you! There have been some difficult challenges with t-shirt orders! I will not make you read the whole story (if you want to know it just let me know! lol) We have run into some issues, but it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, thanks to a good friend! 

Here are the changes: 1. We are so sorry, but because of the changes, we will not be able to have them for you before Christmas. Last I heard, the latest they SHOULD be here is December 30th....BUUUUUT I am not going to say that for sure! We will email you again once they finally get in! 2. There had to be a slight change to the "flower" shirt. We can no longer have multiple color inks on the shirt. We had to change the design to all black ink. So instead of the flower petals being orange, and red, they will just be black. I'm so sorry for that change! If you do not want to purchase this t-shirt anymore just let me know, and we will refund you! I will be receiving proofs of the flower shirt once they have changed the ink color, and I will forward that on to all of you, so you can see what it will look like!

Those are the only changes. Please do not hesitate to ask questions if you have them! Marissa's cell number is: 701-388-1726, and Josh's number is 701-361-5136. 

Enjoy your day thoroughly!  And thank you for all of your support! We love you all!

In, for, and with Christ,

the Svaleson's

Svaleson Adoption Update!

Hello everyone!
It's been a while :)

So here's what's new! First, we have both completed our autobiographies!! (17 pages each!) Let us tell you, it was a JOYOUS day in our household!!!! Words cannot describe! Thank you God! We are now just finishing up the rest of our paperwork, hopefully this upcoming week. That means we will be able to "officially" start our home-study in just a few weeks. It's very exciting for us!

Here is an update on the "Clothe Yourself With Compassion" campaign. We sold 54 shirts which is awesome! Thank you everyone for supporting our adoption! We will keep you updated as far as when pick up will be (for those of you who live in the Fargo-Moorhead area). We are hoping they will be done the week before Christmas....it might be the week of Christmas, but we will keep you updated once we find out more information! It looks like we may have extra t-shirts available once we finally get them. We will let you know what shirts, sizes, and colors if and when we get them!

We also had something very exciting and UNEXPECTED happen! The local FOX news station asked to do a story on our adoption journey. They came over to our place and interviewed us regarding why, where, how and what we are doing! It was lots of fun! And, they did a great job on the story! They didn't take anything out of context which was really nice! :) So thank you, FOX news, and in particular, Candace! If you missed it, you can view it at this link!: http://youtu.be/2sbNQSPAVYI

Here is an update on the "Adoption for a dollar" campaign! Currently, God has provided for us $5,265.33 through people!!!! We are between 1/5 and 1/6 of the way there! WOOHOO!!! God is good! We have also, due to requests, begun setting up a bank account that people can deposit directly into, instead of directly mailing us the money (if they want to do that). It is still getting set up, so we will let you know when that account is ready, and how to deposit into that account.

We have a prayer request for you all. Please pray for the adoption situation in Ethiopia. Things are a lot more difficult than it has been in the past. Younger children are very rare to adopt now, and the placements take a lot longer than they used to. Things are very uncertain at this time in regards to adoptions out of Ethiopia. Please pray for our nerves, for God's hand to move in Ethiopia and/or that He would bring clarity to where we are to adopt if Ethiopia is out of the question.

Thank you for being supportive and invested in our family! God's blessing us richly through you. It is quite fun to be a recipient of so much grace and love. :)

Love,
the Svalesons

Some Updates!

Hello everyone! We just wanted to update you on some information! WE ARE EXTENDING THE T-SHIRT SALES TO NOVEMBER 27TH!!! We will be cashing checks shortly after the closing day, which is November 27th. We wanted to let you know that so you could plan ahead! Also, if you plan on writing a check, you can write it out to Josh & Marissa Svaleson. One more thing....you do not have to pay taxes on the shirts!! woohoo!!!

Also, God's story of adoption was covered by FOX news, and will be on THIS FRIDAY (November 18th) at 9:00 p.m.! God is good!

On a totally different note, God deposited $3,000.00 in our adoption account at the Village on November 7th through an anonymous person! This takes care of our HOMESTUDY! Which is the amount of money we were trying to raise for our "next step" in adoption!

God is good all the time, and provides for HIS children! Thank you all for you support, and THANK YOU GOD for providing for our every need, on your timing! :) We love you!

Love,
the Svaleson's