What a Weekend!

This weekend my friend Kelly and I went to Created for Care.  It's a retreat for adoptive moms at a beautiful lake resort in Georgia.  We couldn't have asked for a better weekend!!  Both of us felt that it was the best retreat we'd ever gone to!  I was surprised at how spiritually restorative this weekend was.  When I went to a music teachers' convention I learned a lot about teaching music.  When I went to a homeschooling convention, I learned a lot about homeschooling.  When Heath and I went to a marriage conference it did wonders for our marriage.  So you'd think that at an adoption retreat my experience would be learning about adoption.  But that was only a small part of it.  The bigger portion of it was reconnecting with my Savior.  I came away from the weekend strengthened in my faith, overwhelmed by His love for me, and ready to face life with a new reliance on the Holy Spirit.

Everything about this retreat was amazing.  I was expecting lots of seminar sessions and discussion about adoption.  But it was so much more!  The first thing I went to was a break-out session called "Creative Quiet Times."  I thought it would just be practical tips for having devotions in the midst of young children.  It was that, but it was also the BEST personal time with God I've had in . . . . well, maybe ever!  We had time at different stations to talk with God about different things and to just listen to Him talking to us.  At the end, the lady leading the session prayed with us individually.  What she prayed for me was exactly what I needed.  I have never had anything like that happen before--where someone spoke God's Word to me as if they knew my heart and knew exactly what I needed to hear.  The rest of the weekend continued to be moment after moment of God speaking to me, restoring me, challenging me.  I hadn't expected to worship together there, but at every main session we worshiped together through music and praise.  And this was not just singing some songs; it was (at least for me) an experience of genuine worship that doesn't happen all that often.

There was also an amazing sense of bonding among the women there.  I didn't know them, but I could almost feel that these other 450 women and I all shared something profound.  Adopting and/or having a heart for orphans must radiate from within.  It was like we all understood God's heart in a special way, and we all shared the very deep experience of adopting (or waiting to adopt), that can't really be explained.  There was one break-out session called "Hangin Tough."  There were 8 of us in that group, and it was a Bible study and prayer time for those of us going through challenging times in our adoptions.  Well, we've had challenging times all along with Tabitha, and the camaraderie I felt with those women was surprising!  I wished they all lived close to me so we could meet for prayer and support all the time!

It was also really exciting to hear about many different ministries out there that exist for helping orphans.  God is doing amazing things!  Several of these ministries were started by just regular little people.  The lady who started the retreat just wanted to get about 20 adoptive moms together last year.  It turned into 200+!  This year she had to open a second retreat because the first one filled up so fast!  One "normal" person has touched hundred of women's lives in just over a year.  Another lady and her husband had a 2-year-old son when they decided to move to Uganda to await the adoption of their daughter, and started a ministry helping women earn money while they were there.  Other women had "accidentally" started a ministry just by doing one small thing to help and having it turn into something extraordinary.  It is so exciting to get out of my little American bubble and see what God is doing through normal people, just like us, all over the world!!  Heath and I are working on starting an adoption ministry at our church, and all of these ideas got me really excited for the potential of what God might use us to do!  The passion at this retreat was very, very contagious!

To top it all off, we were in an absolutely gorgeous setting, with the most perfect weather.  We had lots of good food, lots of fun, lots of fellowship, and a weekend without any interruptions or responsibilities.  This was truly a time of refreshment and restoration, and I am so thankful for it!  And thank you to my dear friend Kelly for telling me about it and getting me there!  Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Beauty everywhere we looked!

Kelly and me at lunch
(I love the verse, but the grammar error plagued me all weekend.)