I can’t believe it is our 6th year of retreats!!! And this year…was another sweet one!
Only the Lord could keep this going as we are all busy mom (youngish…ha!) mommas (okay…with youngish children!) mommas who often–like you–feel like we are with you in the trenches. We started Created for Care 6 years ago feeling like we were home with little ones from hard places–not sure always…or most of the time…how to help their hearts heal. From the beginning I have been amazed how the Lord has provided through every detail…from volunteers to breakout speakers to main speakers…to our incredible band. For all those who pour in to run with us and love the 450 moms who come to each retreat–THANK YOU.
If you have never been to one of our retreats–we are just foster and adoptive mommas pouring into other foster and adoptive moms. We are so blessed to have found AMAZING speakers to partner with us through the years as we are right there with you too! Our TEAM is made up of all kinds of moms–and this is what I love…we are also made up of moms who are not called to foster or adopt–moms who feel called to support moms who are called to grow in this way! THIS my friends is a BEAUTIFUL thing and such a picture of the body of Christ! We believe that foster care and adoption are such beautiful pictures of the redemptive acts of the gospel–but not everyone is not called to foster or adopt…we all play a different part each so beautiful as we follow His calling for us individually. And oh my GRACIOUS…we couldn’t run this retreat like we do without these moms who feel called simply serve in this way. (Every one of the dear moms behind the counter in our store may not be foster or adoptive moms–but they come to SERVE us…and I hold my tears away as I watch each of them encourage moms to keep going and each year they come back to serve again! SO THANKFUL!)
We have had the same worship team for several years–and I can’t say enough about this sweet team. If you have been to a retreat then you know how gifted they are in their ministry–how beautifully they pave the way for tired mommas to get to be still and worship. And they are loud;). So that’s helpful when you can’t sing like me;)! You can sing as loud as you want–because I think that’s beautiful to the Lord–but if you are standing beside me and if you could hear me you may not think so! Thank you Amber and Jared Humphries, Candi and Jonathon Shelton and this year Brendan Trinkle for leading us so well to thrones of worship. Oh my. It was sweet! AND…they were BRAVE ENOUGH to take on our ridiculous challenge to ALSO be our country band for Western night! THEY. ROCKED. IT.
Moms need to kick back and have a little fun too…I was so proud of these mommas for attempting country line dance lessons! By the end of the night the ballroom floor was FULL and it was a JOY to see and hear them laughing together!
We always have main speaker sessions each night and in the morning. This year our main speaker is Pam Parrish. Get ready March mommas…you will LOVE Pam! Pam shares this year through her own personal experience in foster and adoption addressing so many things we struggle with as mommas! From anxiety to being surrounded by negativity…and she encourages us how to combat those joy stealers with the Lord’s help and His Word. It’s good stuff…so GET READY!
On Friday we have 1 breakout and on Saturday 2 breakout sessions. Attendees choose which session to go to, but if they have a hard time choosing we record the sessions so they can buy the one they missed! Recording sessions has also been really good for moms who are unable to come OR for moms to take home to encourage their own community with–OR to donate or have available to your church library for foster and adoption mom resources!
In between all the serious–we also like to make sure we bring in silly and fun for our mommas. Life ya’ll–can just be tough. We compare…some times we feel beat up by just the day to day of being a mom…and goodness knows…we need to remember to LAUGH too. I’m so thankful for our team who are willing to do anything to make these moms smile…and convincing them all to sport their PJs during skits or whatever–they are always game if it means letting moms exhale and have fun. Thankful for this team…ALL VOLUNTEERS…who give up so much of their time to serve and love big on many…
Okay–okay. So they are ALSO gifted and incredible prayer warriors who can be serious too! One of the sweetest times at C4C is the Creative Quiet Time. Moms sign up for a 1 hour time to be still and just rest before the Lord. There are different stations for them to go to…where they can leave prayer requests, pray over other requests, pray over the nations, think about scripture and just spend time with the Lord. So thankful for our volunteers who run this sweet, sacred space!
We ended our year this year after Pam’s Sunday message on “Apprehending Discontent” as we dug through Philippians 4. More good stuff March mommas!! After her talk, we had the SWEETEST commissioning time at the end of our retreat…where they all sent these mommas off to love big no matter what!!
It was truly a SWEET, SWEET retreat!! So thankful for every person that poured in to volunteering to decorate tables to gifts for the birth mom ministry we wanted to support this year…to every single volunteer and detail! Every year would also NOT be complete without our awesome exhibitors!! Each year we have 3 sponsors and a room full of exhibitors that ALL support foster, adoption or orphan care in some capacity!
Please feel free to check out the websites of our amazing sponsors and exhibitors below!! I will link each of their websites so you can learn more about the incredible things they are doing to shine HIS light to the world!
Our Sponsors…
ALL EMBRACE, BRING LOVE IN, ORDINARY HERO
Our Exhibitors…
Wiphan Care, 3 Seams, Three Strands, MKI Travel, Solo Hope, DunlapLove, Scarlet Threads, 107 Market, Project 143, Grace Klein Community, Proclaim Promo, All God’s Children International, Ellilta Women at Risk/Parker Clay, Just One Africa, Project Tesfa
WOW to a wonderful February!! We are so excited for what MARCH holds!! Thank you to all our volunteers, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and…THANK YOU to our mommas who came and encouraged in the hallways…spoke words of LIFE and TRUTH and JOY into the hearts of moms sitting beside you, at your dinner tables and in the halls. YOU ARE LOVED!!!
Registration for both the February or March Foster/Adoption Mom retreat is always on August 15th at midnight EST. We would LOVE to have you join us…that is–if we are brave enough to go for another year!! SHINE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!!
Love,
The Created for Care Team
