[an error occurred while processing this directive]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

By KELLY STARLING: The News & Observer

EDITOR’S NOTE: Theresa Johansson, a native of Moore County, was raised on a tobacco farm out between Pinehurst and Carthage. She now lives in Raleigh with her husband and four children. Their children are adopted from Russia and 3 of the adoptees are biological siblings. Her husband is a bluegrass musician from Sweden and together they have organized a fund-raising bluegrass festival in Raleigh.

The door opens and two tow-headed children say hello. They grin and gesture for you to enter.

"Papa!" beckons Katya, an 11-year-old girl wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.

Jan Johansson answers from a corner. Ten the whole brood appears.There's Masha, a playful brunette with blue barrettes. Katya, the blond beauty. Sveta, a shy girl with purple fingernails. And little Vova, the lone boy.

Jan's wife, Theresa, enters. There are children's videos underneath the TV, family photos around the room: It's hard to imagine that just four years ago, Jan and his wife lived here alone.

The couple adopted the children from Russian orphanages, opening their home to others. But in the process, they have seen their own lives transformed for the better.

"Sometimes I'll walk them to the bus stop," says Jan, 43. "When I watch them ahead of me, I can appreciate the blessing they are."

This weekend, the Johanssons will use music to spread the magic of family around at their Amazing Grace Bluegrass Festival in North Raleigh. Featuring some of the best bluegrass acts in the country, the festival benefits Russian orphans and adoptive families in North Carolina.

"God put it on our hearts to do this," says the veteran bluegrass musician and instructor. "It's the only way I could think of to generate money."

Jan started playing bluegrass as a teen in his native Sweden. He heard the album "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and was hooked. He taught himself fiddle and formed a band. He met his wife at a North Carolina bluegrass festival one summer. They camped out next to each other. Theresa fed him an egg salad sandwich and it was over. Jan went back to Sweden, but Theresa never left his mind.

The couple married in 1989.

Unable to have children of their own, the Johanssons decided to adopt. They

considered adopting domestically, but ruled that out because of the wait. Instead,

they searched for children in Sweden and the Baltics. When they struck out, the couple -- inspired by a friend and a TV program on orphans -- considered Russia.

In 1997 they met Katya, then 7 years old. The couple agreed to host the child for a week. It wasn't easy: Katya spoke no English; the Johanssons spoke no Russian. They relied on universal sign language -- pointing and smiles. By the time Katya left Cary, the couple's minds were made up: They wanted her for their daughter.

Four months later, Jan and Theresa were in Russia. They entered the orphanage and children swarmed around them, vying for a touch of their hands, hugs. Katya saw them and cried.

Back in Raleigh, Theresa tried to put her new daughter at ease. But at bedtime, Katya huddled beneath a desk. Unable to coax her out, Theresa gave her a book, flashlight and a blanket.

"In a few minutes, I heard this little voice say, 'Mama,'" she remembers, smiling. "I gestured to the bed. She nodded and climbed in with me."

One is not enough

The next summer, they agreed to host another child. Enter Masha. They decided

to adopt her too. On each visit to Russia, the couple learned more about the condition of Russian

orphanages. Katya and Masha came from two of the nicer ones -- humble, but safe. Others lived in terrible conditions: No toys. Little food. Harsh discipline.

One fall day two years ago, Jan awoke with a vision: a bluegrass festival that would benefit Russian orphans. His wife agreed that it would be a great idea.

Foreign adoptions aren't cheap. Each one costs between $15,000 and $30,000, Jan estimates. He began calling in favors and enlisted the help of Steve Dilling, a friend who plays for IIIrd Tyme Out, a renowned bluegrass band.

Meanwhile, life continued at the Johanssons'. Then Katya began telling her dad about a sister, Sveta, who was still in Russia. The Johanssons called to check on her.

"It was not our intent to adopt again," Jan says. "We just wanted to make sure she was well and she was safe."

But after they heard about the condition of Sveta's boarding school, they decided to adopt her. When they went to Russia to get her, Sveta mentioned her and Katya's younger brother, Vova. They opened their hearts and welcomed him too. Sveta and Vova joined the family last August.

Taking care of Mama

Everything seemed wonderful. It was just a few months until the festival. Their house was full of love. Then in January, Theresa found a lump in her breast. "When I found out it was cancer, my heart dropped into my stomach," she says. "I thought, 'Will this be terminal?' What about the kids? What about Jan?' "

She prayed and started chemotherapy.

The kids took it hard. Sveta broke out in tears during school. "It's frightening for these children," Theresa says. "They've been abandoned before. Finally, they have some stability and overnight, it's shaken."

Since then, the family has learned more about the illness. Theresa vows to be a fighter. On her bald head, she sports a stylish cream-colored hat with a scarf tied around the brim.

Her positive outlook has made her feel better. The kids got a boost too. Sveta shared that her head was shaved when she ran away from boarding school. Masha offered that when her mom's hair grows back, maybe it won't have any gray.

"When I'm not feeling well, they help keep up the house," says Theresa, who works in a biological sciences lab at N.C. State University. "They bring me food." These days, it's all about the festival. The kids tell friends and post fliers. Jan fields calls and e-mail messages from around the world. With the event just days away, Jan says it's madness. But it's exciting.

Besides IIIrd Tyme Out, the festival will feature the acclaimed Nashville Bluegrass Band. Signs of the event's mission will be everywhere. A slide show will display images from Russian orphanages. The Johansson kids will sing in a gospel choir with other adopted children. Jan and Theresa will share their testimony of how adoption touched their lives.

Proceeds will go to a crisis center and three orphanages in the Saratov region of Russia, the homeland of the Johansson children, and Amazing Grace Adoptions, a child-placement agency based in Raleigh.

"I really want to use this festival to glorify God," Jan says. "It's not my festival or anybody's festival. He planted the seed in my heart and I want to help people understand."

[an error occurred while processing this directive]