created for care.

Created for Care.

why yes I am.  Especially as a momma.  We need care, we need to be refreshed + renewed.  We need time away from the every day life to rest.  We need to hear from God!  and for me, when I'm away, undistracted, and still... I can really hear God.

Last year, this adoptive momma retreat blew me away.  and usually experiences the first time set the bar  for greatness + the second and third time don't measure up.  Not this time!  It blew me away again.  There is just something about getting in a room with 450+ mommas that all have a heart for adoption....think about that.  450 women from all over the country!  God is for sure moving in the hearts of families all over our great nation and it's amazing to put so many of us in the same room for the weekend.

I have much left to process, and many a blog posts to come about what the good Lord spoke to me, but for now I wanted to write about my overal expiernce and share some pics of the beautiful girls I got to spend the weekend with!

first let me say, that you KNOW you are at a retreat with mommas when you all collectively get really excited about renting a MINI VAN.  (sisters, don't hate).  We had a good laugh about that.
But it was just amazing how God ordained the four of us to be together.  Lauren (on the right) was my roomie last year!  We met for the first time "in real life" as roommates and THEN god was so faithful to fulfill a dream to be TOGETHER in Ethiopia this summer!  (I got to take pics of her + her hubby meeting their daughter, Arsema!)  she has a beautiful story + writes it so beautifully on her blog.

Tara (middle) and I have been email/phone friends for about a year and a half and JUST met in real life this weekend!  she is a jewel of a friend with a similar story to mine and I am SO GLAD we got to spend so much time together this weekend talking, praying, crying, laughing and remembering god's faithfulness!  Just this time last year neither of us thought we were anywhere CLOSE to know who are children are & now we both have them all home!

Shelby (left) is a doll.  she's a baylor girl too (her & tara were roomies!) and we quickly realized we had a class together back in the day.  you just never know when you are going to meet a friend-for-life and that's exactly what SHE is.  I love her!

We made it to Lake Lanier (thanks to my mad driving skills ;) and had fun eating dinner & staying up late talking.  we all (minus Lauren) slept until 10:30 the next morning!!!  tired mommas ;)  it was so nice.  my sweet husband surprised me with a gift for a MASSAGE!  from camp + asher ;)  started the weekend off right!

I could really go on, but I'll spare you every detail of the weekend.  

lets just say there were late nights, tears, lots of coffee, shopping, worship, new friendship, teaching, praying, laughing, healing and dreaming. 

and lots of friends.  old friends.  new friends.  blog friends.  instagram friends.  life long friends. real life friends. africa friends. airplane friends. 

seriously.  so much to process and take time to write.  and I can't wait to share what I learned + share more of my heart.  It was healed more than a little bit this weekend.  God is good.  

One of the songs we sang that captured my heart, is "I know who goes before me, I know who stands behind, the God of angel armies is always by my side.  the one who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine!" (Whom shall I fear by Chris Tomlin)  it's become somewhat of an anthem. 

If god is for us, who can be against us? 

PS- my new friend from this weekend, Megan & her hubby are on Give1Save1 this week.  go watch their video, and give them $1 or more!