Created for Care

***We have TWEAKED and even ADDED a few breakouts for the March 2012 C4C Retreat! Please read below to learn more about each breakout that will be offered. We do ask that you ONLY attend the breakout sessions that you sign up for as we are assigning rooms by number of attendees and some rooms at the resort will only hold certain numbers. If you want to keep the same breakouts you registered for--please go ahead and sign up for them again to help us keep all the registration forms in one place! We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for taking the time to sign up again! ***ALSO Breakout Session leader bios to follow for you to get to know some of the C4C team before the weekend! Friday, March 23, 2012 Breakout Session - 4:00 - 5:30pm African American Haircare with African American Hair Stylist Nisia Murray and her lovely Regan & adoptive mom Erica Shubin. (Come learn about different hair textures, hair products and simple styles) Get ready to laugh and be enterta...

For those of you who have attended a Created for Care retreat, you know we LOVE kicking off the weekend celebrating what the Lord has done and is going to do in our adoption journeys. It is always so encouraging to see family after family---truly a STORY behind EVERY picture!!! If you are signed up to attend the MARCH 2012 retreat--we would LOVE to celebrate your family with you and what the Lord has done and is doing in it! We are requesting 3 portrait categories : 1. WAITING FAMILIES : Please send in a picture that shows your family "waiting" for your next little one/s, pictures of your family in the adoption process or something fun that represents your family's wait (maybe your family holding wait list numbers). 2. GOTCHA DAY/FAMILY DAY If you are already home with your child, send us that picture that still melts your heart of you finally together at last! It can be at the orphanage, an airport homecoming, your family all together once home or the first momen...

From the very beginning of Created for Care, we said we have stepped out to serve based on what we see around us (the need)--and then opened our hands to say "Thy will be done" giving the Lord complete freedom to change anything and everything whenever He pleases. SO--in September 2010 when I felt we should step out in faith and plan a retreat for 25 and 250 registered...we rolled with it. THEN in September 2011, remembering how there was a wait list ("making a decisions based on what we see")--we decided we'd plan on stretching ourselves to serve more. Instead of 250 we'd plan for 430. Sure it'd take longer to fill up--but we were sure it would. AND it did fill up--in about 9 hours. I felt we were extended enough, but after a week and seeing 200 on a wait list, we opened our hands and said we would do anything He called us to--so the March 2012 retreat was planned...and with great purpose. We coined the phrase "Well, the Lord just wants to do s...

We always start the retreat off with pictures of families attending the retreat that have been emailed to us. (If you are coming to the March retreat--we'll post here the email instructions for pictures soon!) I just LOVE starting our weekend out with this. This year, I described it as AN OFFERING to the Lord for all that He has done in our children and in our families. So...sit back--and celebrate His goodness with us. EACH of these pictures--tells a beautiful story. A story of a family being called...a story of a child needing a family...a story of a family stepping out in faith--and waiting--and longing...and willing to do anything to get their precious one home...a story how the Lord brings all things together--and makes every part of the journey WORTH it. Celebrate with us...all that He has done in the families represented at January's Created for Care 2012 retreat... Looking forward to celebrating again in March with another beautiful stack of pictures. How amazin...

One of the things we get SO MUCH feedback on from the Created for Care retreats are the Date with God times. Different stations are set up for moms to go to where they can pray and reflect in different areas. It's hard to explain--but trust me...if you come to a retreat--the first thing you will want to do after you register is to make sure you sign up for a "Date with God" time for your weekend! After last year's retreat--there were days I desperately needed a quite time yet my kids were under my feet. Instead of withering away and letting frustration of needing REST and QUIET compound--I just took my littles with me, and I would recreate one of the Date with God sessions right here in our home. Modeling my time with the Lord and even how to have creative quiet time not only stilled my heart--but it is amazing to watch your kids rest with you. We even have had play dates where we invited our friends to join us in the fun! There are so many nuggets I feel the Lord...

You can help Sole Hope further the mission to provide jobs & shoes to orphans and widows right now and it won't cost you a cent! Sole Hope has been selected as one of 30 charities in the running for a $50K grant! A large portion of this money will assist in the construction of a building at WIPHAN to be used by the widows in the shoe making program. This building will free up more classroom space for the school and also allow the Sole Hope ladies not to have to pack up and move sewing machines and suitcases of material everyday! Please go to http://www.cultivatewines.com/cause/4856/ and vote!! It takes no more than 15 seconds and it would mean SO MUCH! VOTE DAILY & SHARE!!

Tonight at Bible study, I was sharing with a dear friend who is waiting (as patiently as one can wait) to bring home a son from Ethiopia. It blesses me to see her want to absorb anything she can to prepare to bring home her long awaited for child, and tonight we were talking about how the transformation of orphan to being a loved child doesn't happen over night. I thought brining home a 1 year old would be quite different--I mean, he was too little to know he was an orphan...right? Boy was I wrong. I will never forget the weeks of night terrors, changing bassinet sheeting in the middle of the night from drenching sweats or his having to touch my cheeks throughout the night for fear I might go away. I remember the months of wondering how long it might last--and although we've been home almost 2 years, there are still times I have to be sensitive where unfamiliarities are involved that quickly trigger fears or panic in my sweet boys spirit. I have seen leaps and bonds of growth...

We've been so busy planning retreats--that we are just now getting around to posting a blog! PLEASE SHARE THIS BLOG link with anyone you know has gone OR is going to a retreat OR any family adopting, who has adopted or is considering anything from an adoption ministry a their church to just supporting a friend who is adopting! We will be sharing RETREAT NEWS, upcoming adoption related events AND we will also have our session leaders and breakout leaders share each month here also! We will also post little videos throughout the year to encourage our Created for Care mommas--so be sure to sign up to follow the blog--AND you may even want to subscribe by email so you don't miss our weekly posts! We'll do our best to keep you in the know of other adoption related news and events throughout the year--but more importantly we want to encourage you throughout the year in between reteats! We just finished our FIRST retreat of 2012--and it was AMAZING. Can't WAIT to update y...