Created for Care

Sometimes in the never-ending, always-repeating, happy-mostly, tired-usually life that is motherhood to many small children, the opportunity comes up to step away. To leave the precious babies in the capable hands of their father, and go be with other women whose heart beats to the same rhythm as mine, in a place where we ask God to meet us.

I'm sure there are multiple ways to find this type of retreat. But for me, Created For Care is one of the highlights of my year. For the third time (and they've only had three years of it!), I've gone away with some of my favorite people to be not only rested, refreshed, and renewed, but to be challenged, convicted, and changed. It's the type of retreat where there are quiet places for being still, times of incredible, life-changing corporate worship, plenty of laughs and conversations that go deep, and practical teaching that affects my parenting, marriage, home, and life, and walk with Jesus.

(Hearing 450 women who have stepped onto the hard and uncharted paths of adoption and foster care singing Jesus' promises back to Him and declaring Him strong, good, loving, faithful, full of restoration...it was almost too much to take this side of heaven.)

The fact that these ladies who truly are some of my favorites on planet earth go too is too good to be true.

 (Adrienne, Laura, Alison, me. We all travelled to Rwanda together to bring home our kids. So thankful these women are in my life.)

It was so good, too to meet more Rwanda Mamas and connect with some I hadn't seen since the last C4C. I love the Rwanda adoption community!

Thanks to some car trouble, Adrienne didn't get to meet Mason and the big boys. Sad! I'm glad that Laura and Alison did. Did I mention I love these three ladies?

And while I'm sad that C4C is over for another year (for me anyway; there's another one in March!), I'm glad to be back doing more of this:

...and doing my best, by the grace of God, to steward these blessings in my care. And listening to Candi Shelton on repeat. :)