This weekend, I had the privilege of leading a breakout session at Together Called, one of my most favorite weekends of each year.  I’ve written about TC in the past (here and here) and always look forward to the restoring, God-filled time.  The adoptive couples’ marriage retreat is hosted by The Sparrow Fund and is always a very-well done, pampering event.  This year was a bit different for us because Dumpling is so newly home.  I was initially going to attend alone to lead my session but after realizing it would be too detrimental to leave him overnight, we asked to bring him and just keep him in our hotel room.  DH and I got to keep our diehard TC’er streak even though it looked different for us this year.  We both attended a few of the sessions individually and I led my breakout, but we didn’t attend any of the sessions together.  It wasn’t the typical TC marriage weekend for us, but we were blessed to be there and fellowship with our friends.

I also had a lot of fun with my breakout session, Choosing Wisely: Building Your Adoption Library.  During the session, I outlined my process for choosing both parenting and children’s books.  I also explained what I look for in deciding whether to keep the books in our library for implementation (parenting books) and story time (children’s books).  I included a long list of my favorite suggestions too.  We had a boatload of books to look through and I hope the couples in attendance walked away with some new information to build their libraries.

If you are an adoptive couple and are able to make a weekend away work, this event is one of my favorites!  Just do it!  You will be blessed by the worship, the speakers, the breakout sessions, and the fellowship.