Open House!

Well, thanks again all of you who came to the Extending Hands Open House on Friday!  We sold a lot of jewelry!  It was a very exciting day as we also got our EIN (employee identification number)! We were then able to open a checking account for Extending Hands (it's the little things).  We have a lot of things that we are working on for the new year.  Watch for announcements via your emails, on this blog and fb.
 
I hope and pray that all of you have a meaningful Christmas and can relish in the true peace that only God can give.  Peace not manufactured by politicians or governments, peace not promised by mere humans but real peace that is found in our souls despite the external circumstances that surround us. Let us also remember to pray for those in Zambia.  Those widows and vulnerable women who are struggling to provide for their families and dealing with hurts and pain in their own lives.  That the peace given to us in a virgin birth over 2000 years ago would be experienced by those who need it most. Luke 2:14-"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Extending Hands would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Surrender

Advent...this word evokes memories for some of us about candles, Christmas time, church and warm feelings.  This year my church is stirring the pot on all of that.  What if there was an advent conspiracy?  A conspiracy to reconsider how we "do" Christmas; how we spend our time, our resources, our energy; what our focus is? What if we "unplug" from what is not important and "plug into" what truly is.  That is what our series is this  month, "Unplugged, and the Advent Conspiracy".

My husband and I were asked to share this Sunday for Advent on re-surrender.  At first I thought, oh, I have many stories I could share, but God wanted me on my knees before Him in a present, fresh moment of surrender, not sharing an old one. 

Once again (I always seem to need new lessons on this) God had called me to Him and Him alone as I laid down and surrendered my security, my goals, my marriage, Extending Hands and all that goes along with the possibility of an uncertain future.  I had no idea that I would be on my knees AGAIN, in complete helplessness before God going into this season, but that is where I am.  Living a life of uncertainty and having to completely surrender and trust Him regardless of the fact that the circumstances of the future could or could not change.  Then, God reminded me that everyone in the Christmas story lived lives of uncertainty as well.  They all had their lives turned upside down and inside out as their own futures were dangerously shadowed by the "what ifs" they could have asked. My prayer is that of Mary's words in Luke 1:38- "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered.  "May it be to me as you have said."  Then the angel left her. - Mary submitted and surrendered her whole life to God at that moment without knowing if anyone else would stand with her, let alone believe her, including her husband to be.  I want to live like that...to accept whatever has been "said" or ordained for me in heaven.  To answer "come what may", despite the pit in my stomach, the questions I want to ask, the demands I want to lay out (To make sure God understands my limits!), and the fear and doubt that can grip us.  I was given a great quote by my cousin that is worth repeating-Someday I will wrestle with circumstances that are beyond my control; some sort of suffering will pin me to the cold hard ground.  When that happens, help me to realize that the victories of heaven are the defeats of the human soul and that my strength is not found in how courageously I struggle, but in how completely I SURRENDER.

So many of us have things we are uncertain about as we head into the New Year.  I hope we all can walk in the peace that passes all understanding into an unknown future, yet again.  Let us surrender our stuff, our relationships, our jobs, our health, our kids, our marriages, our status and our comfort to the only One who cares. For He and He alone is our resting place. 

Living Life on the Edge

A young male lion at a safari reservation in Lusaka

 

  Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

Chase the lion.

By-Mark Batterson

I first heard this from Pastor Len a couple years ago in a sermon at our church.  It so struck me as I was in the midst of total uncertainty in knowing why I was being called to "something bigger" in Zambia.  And being scared to death as to the what, how, who, when and where.  All those questions.  Though one of the biggest issues was NOT questioning who God had called me to be.  Allowing God to use me for who I already was in His eyes.
The Lion Chasers Manifesto is perched on my kitchen window sill to this day, almost 2 1/2 years later.  I read it again this morning as I was doing dishes and was reminded of how crazy, wild and exciting living that way can be.  Though it is by experience now that those words permeate my life and my soul as each phrase quickens my heart as I think about the journey from that Sunday in church till now.  It definitely is quite a ride.

The 31 Party/Extending Hands Fundraiser

My friend Angie, a 31 consultant

What a fun night!  Thank you Angie for offering to give back 20% of the proceeds of the 31 party to Extending Hands!  We had a good time and lots of us bought some fun stuff.  It is exciting to see things coming together for you, Angie and Extending Hands. 

I was able to have some of my new jewelry out on display as well.  It had just arrived via Bob and Mary Sendgikoski straight from Zambia!  I had dinner with them the night before as they were in town briefly.  A huge "Thank you" to Bob and Mary for carrying it over with them!  The jewelry was a hit too and I am very thankful to my girls for helping me get it cataloged, and priced before the show.  Thanks girls! 

So many good things going on right now, we are in the process of filing all our paperwork and will soon be an official 501(c)(3)!  Next on the list is getting back to Zambia in November or so.  I want to spend some quality time with the widows and work on some of the finer details of things. 

Please be in prayer that I am able to go back and I would listen to what God would have me focusing on while over there.  I need a lot of things to fall into place for this to all happen BUT nothing is too difficult for my God. 

You can still be apart of this fundraiser until Wed. Oct. 13th by going to angieolson31@yahoo.com   Thanks all!







some of the fun products 



Just Today

Last night we had our first Extending Hands, Inc. board meeting!  Now, I know this does not seem very exciting to most but it was momentous for me as I have waited a long time for this to actually come together.  I was a little giddy!

We have four people on the board as of right now (we missed you Carrie) and are praying about the fifth person to join us.  Bob Barnett is the pastor of Woodstock Bible Church and a trusted friend and confidant.  He has a passion for Africa and a heart for the broken and hurting not only here but in Zambia.  Sandy Woznicki is a professional counselor and is gifted at what she does.  Her heart for women and her desire for wholeness and healing in women's lives is what brings her "to the table".  My wonderful husband Ben is number three and has been a part of all things Africa since I first went, to backing my vision for Extending Hands, to doing all the boring paperwork and filing of things.  He has put a lot of time and energy into this already and I can't wait for him to go some day and see the people that are affected by him doing all the ho hum necessities of starting a non-profit.  Thank you honey!  Then there is little ole me.  I still don't know why God is using me for His plan but I know that it stirs my soul and is the desire that God has placed in my heart.  It still blows my mind when I think about what has happened and how God has moved in my life throughout the past few years to finally get to this point. 

I was reading through my journal yesterday as I was getting ready for our meeting and I read a page from May 21st of this year.  It was written about 38,000 feet up in the air after leaving Zambia.  I will give you a portion of it-"In between landing in Chicago and just yesterday being in Zambia,  I feel torn between the two.  I am overwhelmed with emotions as I sit here and contemplate getting off this plane. What will it mean when I get off?  I am scared to death at the thought of what I have taken on, the depth of it.  The things that have to happen, have to 'go right'.....I do not know what the future will bring.  Lord, help me follow You just today."- It was the 'just today' part that grabbed me and I thought about how this whole process has been hundreds of 'just today's'.  Just today I will listen to You, Lord.  Just today I will follow You even though I don't know where we are going.  Just today I will do and move on what You ask of me because that is all I have to give.....just today. 

Subsequently, I am reminding myself that the hours of today are not my own, my house is not my own, my strength definitely is not my own and that God has given me today to love others and love Him and glorify Him first and foremost.  The simplicity and complexity of that statement weaves it's self throughout my mind in moments of clarity of spirit and selfishness of heart.  It is simple when I am truly focused on God but it is hard when my own humanness and selfish pride decide to intersect.  How easy it is to go about my day with what I think God wants me to do, as opposed to truly what God would have for me in this 24 hour period.  Last night while sitting around that table, we looked at the needs of the future while looking back at how God has taken all those 'today's' and strung them together to take us to where we are now.  For our God is the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Thank you Bob, Sandy and Ben for taking time out to engage in this endeavor of love to the widows and women of Zambia.  I have a feeling it is going to be quite a ride!

Zambia Video 2

This is Zambia video 2.  I am enjoying putting together different videos with different music. When I put all the pictures in and look at the people in those pictures, it reminds me why I am doing this, why I was called to Zambia and how very much all of them need our prayer.  Please be in prayer for the widows and orphans of Zambia and those affected and infected with HIV/AIDS.  Song by Switch Foot, Dare you to move.

Summer is almost over....

I have just returned from summer vacation in Door County, WI.  I have to say it was a much needed retreat for mind, body and soul.  It is nice to get away and not think about emails, returning phone calls and how dirty my house is getting.  My only concerns were the whereabouts of my book and where we were getting ice cream that evening.

In the morning I would run from our cottage down into Fish Creek in the dense humidity that is August in the Mid-West.  It was my time to think and pray about many things including Extending Hands.  I have struggled this summer with feeling a little distant from God.  But I have come to expect this after I come back from Africa, as my dependence and walk with Him there is like nothing I experience anywhere else.  There was a point in my run though, where I felt as if God was giving me a gift, a picture of my walk with him.  At the end of my run when I was almost down into town, the bay would open up to my right through the haze with it's still water cradling the shore. God was reminding me that at the end of the day He is there, through the foggy haze of life when things seem unclear and uncertain.  We need to look beyond our circumstances, or in my case beyond the passing pavement beneath my feet stuck in the heaviness of the air around me. God has given us the knowledge that He is out there in front of us, waiting to show us the view, though sometimes slightly hazy, if we would only look up and out to a future unexplained to us but known by Him.  That is security enough for me.

With fall fast approaching and school starting I ponder this next season.  The next season for my marriage, my family, and Extending Hands.  I am excited to see what God has in store for us and for what He is already doing.  I will remember that He is ahead of me and will clear the way when I might not be so sure what is beyond the curve.

Hebrews 12:1,2-Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.