FOOD FOR LIFE. STRENGTH FOR LIFE

From Susan:

You Are Welcome!

We are starting already to anticipate the blessings sure to come of the week end many of us will enjoy together at the third Hope at Home Conference, September 27-28.  Our Hope at Home Team is so looking forward to giving a smile and love and a warm hug to everyone who walks through our doors! We are excited at the wide variety of walks of life that you will represent…adoptive parents, foster parents, waiting parents, friends and others called to encourage those who are caring for the children of the world – those children who are so loved by their heavenly Father.

Signing Up!

So, we want to describe what you will be signing up for, with the hopes that you will join us! You will be signing up for sharing a week end with others who have felt a call to give and receive God’s love for God’s children. You will be signing up to be welcomed with loving arms by others who share your call, passion, hopes, dreams, struggles, testimonies, prayers, and joys. You, who spend your lives caring for others, will be signing up to be cared for yourselves, in a way that will equip you to return home and be strengthened to enjoy and care for your children.  

Food for Life, Strength for Life

Our time together at Hope at Hope 2013 reminds me of a familiar picture we have all seen. It is the simple sketch of the man with a fishing pole, with the caption,“Give a man a fish and you feed him today; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”  

I would love to have a picture that says, instead, 

Hold that hand and you strengthen that person for today; place their hand in God’s, and you strengthen them for a lifetime!  

It is what I think of when I read I Samuel 23:16. Jonathan first helps place David’s hand in God’s, “Jonathan rose and went to David and strengthened his hand in God.” 

Then, 7 chapters and many challenges later, David is equipped to access the needed strength for the life that lay before him, on his own:  “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” (I Sam 30:6).  

Growing in Love

And the simple truth is that we expect that together we will grow in the height, depth, length and breadth of the love of Christ for us, in a way that directly influences our ability to love our children well, not so much in response to how well they love or appreciate or please us, but rather in response to how well our Father has lavished His own love upon us and upon them! 

We go forth to Rest in Lavish Love. With Real Families, Real Help, Real Hope!

We can’t wait to see you!

Register For Hope at Home 2013 Now!

WELCOME HOME!

From Beth:
Some of my favorite photos in my facebook feed are the WELCOME HOME adoption pictures. And the videos-- oh my goodness! Those are so moving and truly beautiful. 

They speak to me of Love, Family, Safety, Adoption, Community, Support, Help, Abundant Life, Joy, and Hope. 

I remember coming home both times from Russia with our children and the experience of being embraced by love. There was such Celebration and Joy, full of kingdom purpose and life. And it was always with such a sense of privilege that we would load up our family to trek down to the the Atlanta airport to greet the new sons and daughters God was bringing home over the years. 

I love the phrase in Romans 6 declaring that you and I are "called of Jesus Christ and invited as you are to belong to Him." This idea of invitation to belong is what Susan and I are hearing as we prepare for Hope at Home 2013. We hear God's voice in our spirits saying to us, WELCOME HOME! Just as we welcomed our children into the loving embrace of our homes and hearts, so our Father God is doing with each one of us mothers and fathers. At any moment in my day, if I attune my spirit, I can hear my Father saying, 

Welcome home Beth. Come on into my embrace. Come away from the striving and 'survival mode' of parenting on your own and come into my heart of love for you. Come into the safety, warmth, provision and rest that is my Heart, that is HOME. 

It's this constant invitation to belong to Him, not because we are away from Him necessarily, although sometimes we may wander and forget Him, but rather it is a heart cry of accepting, hope-filled love, a love that we echo when we adopt our children. For really, our adoptions and fostering are simply an outworking of this call to come home, aren't they? Come home to the embrace of love and acceptance and safety. As believers we are embraced by the strength that comes from provision and sustenance that is home, encircled by the very rest and peace that each one of us desires to provide for our families. 

We parents are children of our Father, and He is calling out to you and me, 

Welcome Home into my embrace today my son, my daughter. 

It's as if there is a constant airport welcome home party waiting for us every day. A constant celebration of hope for us parents, just as there was at our children's home-comings.

Our Hope at Home Team is busy in preparation for our September 27-28 conference here in Atlanta. And we hear our Father God calling out to us all, Welcome Home! Come on and join us as we enjoy rest, provision, comfort, support, community, joy and hope at HOPE AT HOME 2013. 

Registration is open and we are waiting with open arms! We have some amazing speakers lined up!

For I am yearning to see you, that I may impart and share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen and establish you; That is, that we may be mutually strengthened and encouraged and comforted by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. (Romans 1:12)

Join our Facebook community! We'd love to keep connected with you.

HOPE AT HOME 2013, SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS

from Beth:

We have a very special guest who has committed to join us for this year's Hope at Home gathering. We've been in communication with him all year, and even enjoyed some face-to-face meetings with him and our team. We are so excited! You are not going to want to miss this! His heart for adoptive, foster and waiting mothers and fathers is the driving force behind all that we do at Hope at Home. We've heard what he has to say about us parents and our families--his words never fail to direct, strengthen, encourage and help parents in their adoption and fostering stories. He's asked us if it is alright if He brings his son along, as well as his friend, who is well-known all over the world for his work amongst believers. That was an easy decision for our team-- YES! 
These guys are a amazing together. It has been inspiring for our Hope at Home team to watch how they work together as a unit. There is such a refreshing and powerful oneness in all that they do. 

So let me tell you a bit about our main speaker's friend first. As the planners of the event, we love that he comes ahead of time to prepare the way and then stays afterwards to finish the work he started. He's been known to actually come into your home and work alongside you as you parent your children. His help and wisdom is priceless. There have been times where he has contacted us about a matter regarding our adoptions or parenting, and he has always been spot-on! If you haven't already met him at other events, you are going to love him! 

And the son... oh my! Seriously, we've never met a kinder person. He is so generous. So gracious. If you needed a shirt, he'd give you the one on his back. He wouldn't hesitate to lay down his life for a friend. It's strange to say, but in our experience he seems to always have the right solution to our parenting concerns, and whenever he speaks it's like this unexplainable peace comes over those who listen. He's never arrogant about it, as some speakers might be, but he really does seem to have the answer to everything; it's like he IS the answer.

And then there's the dad, our main speaker... well, like I said, you seriously do not want to miss this. When he's come to other events we've been to he seems to be so happy; we've heard it said of him that he is always in a good mood. And it blesses us greatly that he seems to be genuinely excited to bring in other speakers to partner with him. He's already been communicating to our team about who amongst us he wants to speak alongside him. It's super-humbling for all of us, and a bit scary for some, but it's so hard to say "no" to him once you've gotten to know him. It's like he knows how it's all going to turn out and is ALWAYS assuring us that he'll be right there to cover any blunders on our part. 

If that is not enough, wait til you hear this--they've all three agreed to meet with each one of you personally. I know, crazy right?! How could that even be possible? If I hadn't seen it before at our previous Hope at Home events, I would be doubtful myself. But sure enough, somehow he pulls it off. Our suggestion to you is to plan on meeting with all three; you may have some questions or areas of interest you want to address with each one. Some of us have learned how wonderful it is just to hang out and enjoy the privilege of having one-on-one time with speakers of this caliber. 

Oh yes, one more thing... they are trained in healing of all sorts, both physical and emotional, so if you have a healing need be sure to look for them. They've been training some of our folks here at Northlands to be physician's assistants over the past few years, so we are pretty excited to be able to participate. It is so touching that all three seem to care so very deeply about each and every one of our children-- adopted, biological and foster. It's almost like they love them more than we, their parents, do. Really! I can't explain it, I'm just telling it like it is.

This is all to say--we are so filled with hope for Hope at Home 2013! And our hearts are full with anticipation to spend September 27-28 with you here in Atlanta, Georgia, along with our awesome God--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To take advantage of the early bird registration rate and to read more details REGISTER NOW. (It also helps us a lot in our planning:~)

To keep up with Hope at Home 2013 news and to enjoy ongoing encouragement and help, Find us on FACEBOOK.