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Yay!!! It’s officially time to register for the Created for Care retreat! The dates are January 27-29th. The registration fee is $165 which is fully refundable up until December 27, 2011. After that–if you find out you are traveling–you can sell your spot to a friend or someone on the wait list! If you have any questions please let us know. If the retreat fills up and you are unable to register–you can be added to the wait list and we will contact you in the order your wait list request is received. We are SO excited about the next C4C retreat and can’t wait to see you there!!!

You can register here: www.createdforcare.org

OR

By simply going directly to this link: CREATED FOR CARE 2012 REGISTRATION

Y’all have a great night–and can’t WAIT to see many of y’all in less than 5 months!!! WOOT! It’s gonna be so awesome!

Andrea

Here is an updated list on breakouts, their descriptions, etc. If you are planning to register for the retreat, you will be able to register for your breakout session when you register this Thursday on September 1st. Registration begins at 12:01am EST. The registration fee is $165 and covers all your retreat materials, retreat tee-shirt and all your meals for the weekend beginning with dinner on Friday night to breakfast on Sunday morning. All registrations fees are refundable until December 27th–after that date if you find out you are traveling for your adoption on the retreat date–you can sell your spot to a friend or someone on the wait list. You may reserve a room at the retreat center after October 1st. Rooms are $109 per night and may be split up to 4 ways. You do not pay for your room until you check out on January 29th. Other than your room, your registration fee covers EVERY THING and you should not need any additional money for the weekend (unless you are tempted by 147 tees;).

Any other questions??? Please send them my way–but I’ll be out of pocket homeschooling my kiddos all day and will do my best to answer them:)

***Friday sessions will not be recorded. If you can’t decide–all Saturday breakouts will be recorded and available for purchase.

Friday, 01/27/2012 Breakout Session 1 4:30 – 5:30pm
Pick one of the breakouts to attend following registration & Check-In on Friday…

1. Blogger Panel sharing Using Your Blog as Ministry with Lovelyn (Moments with Love), Missy (It’s Almost Naptime), Kristi (We love our Lucy), Lara (The Farmers Wife Tells All), Gwen and Suzanne (147 Million Orphans). Shelly Owens of 60Feet will be facilitating this session. This is sure to be a super fun interactive session and one you won’t want to miss!

2. African American Haircare with African American Hair Stylist Nisia Murray and her lovely Regan assisting (Come learn about different hair textures, hair products and simple styles) Get ready to laugh and be entertained by Nisia–and of course…there will be time for lots of Q&A at the end!

3. Photography 101 with professional photographers Shannon Holden and Tammy Dugger. Come learn and be inspired by Shannon of Shannon Holden Photography and her sidekick Tammy Dugger. Shannon’s work is published in boutiques, catalogs, online publications and “Professional Photographer” magazine. Tammy, a former professional photographer, will be tag-teaming this session with Shannon. Tammy, being a mom of 3 toddlers under 3 years old, will have some tips and tricks for photographing your toddlers–whom so often seem impossible to catch on camera. For mom’s who don’t have time to take photography classes–this will be a real treat!

4. Creative Quiet Time – It’s time to change our minds and routines for our quiet times with God.With the physical and emotional demands of parenting, not to mention the lack of alone time, how can we satisfy our spiritual needs?  The Good News is that God has a plan to meet all your needs and it’s all about His love and desire to be with you.  Come hear and experience new ways to increaseyour personal intimacy with the Lord and share some of your discoveries, too! (Jenni Means)

5. FUNdraising Your Adoption – Come be inspired in different ways to fund your adoption. Martha Cook of Promise686 will be sharing how their organization supports local adoptions through grants and how your church can potentially do this too. Also hear from ministries who are here to simply assist families with ways to fundraise, and find out how to get going with creative fundraising with their ministries!

Saturday, 1/28/2012 Breakout Session 2 2:00 – 3:30pm

1. News about HIV & Orphans and Realistic Expectations in Adoption – Dr. Susan Hillis, HIV research scientist, will be sharing news about HIV concerning orphans in today’s world. Then hear from Suzanne Mayernick (one of the 147 Million Orphans mom) and hear her personal journey of saying yes to HIV adoption.

2. Adoption and Current Need in the U.S. – Domestic Adoption , Open Adoption, Foster Care & Foster-to-Adopt – Aimee Powell (wife to Mac Powell of Third Day) will be sharing their family’s journey through domestic adoption. This session will also talk about needs in the US–as well as different domestic topics including open adoption, foster care and foster-to-adopt. Angie Gue, an adoptive mom, with three very beautiful open adoptions will be sharing insight on how to trust the Lord through the twists and turns in open adoption–and how beautiful it really can be for the baby, the birth mom and adoptive parents.

3. Yes, you CAN do this! Encouraging and Equipping Moms for Post-Adoption Success – We wait and wait and wait–and then we bring our new one home…and many times find ourselves tired, feeling unequipped and not connected to our child. Come be encouraged by Cris Peters with practical steps and ways to get through the first days, weeks and months–and ultimately create a strong foundation for your family to grow together on. This is a perfect session for mom’s waiting, close to referral or newly home.

4. Empowered to Connect (Session 1)- Adoption from the Inside Out – One of the most often overlooked aspects of the adoption and foster care journey is the need for parents to turn the focus on themselves in terms of dealing with their own past hurts and losses, looking honestly and realistically at their motivations and expectations and learning what it means to be “fully present” with their children. “Adoption from the Inside Out” — is necessary if parents are to help their children experience healing and transformation. This process requires that parents be willing to look back and make sense of their own past, look forward and honestly examine their motivations and expectations, in order to be free in each and every moment to be “fully emotionally present” with their children to help them heal and become all that God has created them to be. (Amy Monroe with Empowered to Connect)

5. The Joys and Challenges of Parenting a Child with Special Needs – This breakout session is led by two moms with two very different but amazing special needs adoption journeys. Come be encouraged and inspired from Emily Alexander and Gwen Oatsvall–how their journeys began, how the unexpected has changed their families and how blessed they feel as they continue to trust the Lord through this ever-changing and miraculous journey. (Practical Q&A time at the end)

6. Nurturing Your Marriage – There is no greater blessing we can give our children than a strong marriage. And yet many of us find that the ongoing issues of adoption can sometimes actually diminish intimacy and communication with our husbands. In this session we will be encouraged as wives and women to love our husbands well amidst the competing demands of mothering. (Beth Templeton)

Saturday, 1/28/2012 Breakout Session 3 3:45 – 5:15pm

1. Empowered to Connect (Session 2) – Attachment & Practical Realities of Connecting While Correcting – Adoptive and foster parents realize that connection is essential to help their children develop trust, heal, and grow. But they know that correction (i.e., discipline) is also important. This session will focus on practical insights and strategies for parents who want to better understand the “how and why” of connecting and correcting. Using a variety of everyday situations for parents of children of all ages, this session will illustrate the principles and strategies developed and taught by Dr. Karyn Purvis, co-author of The Connected Child. (Amy Monroe) [This session follows the 1st Empowered to Connect session well–but they also stand alone. We do recommend buying the track to both of these sessions if you are a pre-adoption family and are unable to attend both sessions. ]

2. Helping Your Child Know and Experience God – Our heart’s desire as mothers is to see our children walking full of faith in a love relationship with God. We will explore ways to create an atmosphere and culture where it is natural for our children to encounter Jesus, to know their Heavenly Father, and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We will learn ways to help us hear God as parents and to help our children hear the voice of God for themselves.  This is a real key to break the orphan spirit and come fully into our identity as sons and daughters of the Lord

3. Becoming an Orphan Advocate Right Where You Are – Come learn how you can get involved and be used greatly to serve orphans right where you are RIGHT now! Come hear from different ministries that all began through adoption families, and learn how you can join them and use your gifts to serve orphans all over the world.

4. “I Drive a Bus” – How to Thrive as a Growing (and some times BIG) Family – Get ready to laugh and enjoy this session with some of our favorite bus-driving adoption mommas and how they they thrive as they grow. Come hear how they not only survive but thrive as a growing family. The laundry, the homework, sports, date night (really–a date night?!), romance (really–that too?), connecting with each child and loving their mommy callings. (147 moms, Emily Alexander, Joy Portis & Kristi Johnson)

5. Parenting In Grace – What does the Good News of God’s Unmerited Favor look like in our homes? How does it affect and inform how we parent? Does an understanding of the difference between Law and Grace cause us to parent differently than our worldly neighbors? Let’s take a look at how we can love our precious children according to the gospel, bringing forth LIFE into every area of these lives entrusted to our care.

6. Practical Advice for Parents in Wisdom and Revelation – An interview with Shelly Owens and Susan Hillis on practical parenting your biological and adopted children. This interview session was a no-brainer for us after we heard how Shelly was impacted from a mommy/coffee interview with practical parenting with Susan Hillis. So impactful–we want to share it with each of you! We so often hear teaching on how to deeply love and connect with our children. In this session, the day-to-day is painted for you–giving you practical nuggets learned from this mom of 10 to take home and apply right now with your family.

The registration link will be posted on Facebook, emailed to everyone on the Created for Care newsletter list (you can sign up to be on the email list on the newsletter signup list on the bottom of the Created for Care website, AND it will be posted on the Created for Care Facebook page on our website. Registration begins at 12:01am on Thursday, September 1, 2011. Registration is complete when registration fee is paid, and registration is on a first come basis. Please read the FAQs on the website regarding roommates, bringing children, travel, etc. Any questions not answer in the FAQs please feel free to contact me or ask here. Thanks y’all!