This morning, I’ve been sipping coffee and reading over 60 or so responses to a feedback form for Together Called. For the most part, it’s a good thing. Reading the words of people who were there brings me back to it which is good because the weekend just goes by so fast.

It takes a year to plan Together Called. It’s not labor intensive in the beginning. We just have to make sure we nail down dates and negotiate a contract with the resort and caterer, that we start pursuing speakers and get a team in place. About 9 months out, we start working on sponsorships and funding, then registration. About 5 months out, things really pick up. There are so many logistical pieces to fit together ahead of time and when we are there, each one laden with purpose, each one we want to get just right. Mark and I, the list-makers and doers that we are, could just hang out right there in the doing, in the logistics, dotting our I’s and crossing every T. But, we don’t want to. We don’t want to be professional event planners; we want to be instruments in the hand of a God who wants to change people’s hearts to love each other and their families better.

I was so thankful for the times that we were able to spend with people further along the adoption journey than we are. In such a short amount of time, I really do feel like we were mentored by so many wise people! That happened throughout the time together, woven into all aspects (structured and unstructured) of the weekend.

I came not knowing how much we needed this. Thank God for making it possible for us.

Just want to say—keep focusing on the details. We feel loved and refreshed.

We mark our years by Together Called weekends. We wouldn’t miss them. It’s kind of crazy but somehow God always seems to use them to give us exactly what we need right then.

This was our first time attending and we are very eager to try and come back! We were blessed us in ways we never thought possible.

What a blessing this morning to read their words and get a glimpse of how couples have been impacted. Every effort in planning is worthwhile for even just one of these responses. We’d be willing to do it all for even just one of these families.

We came home from Together Called to some hard things. I know that even as we served, thinking we were pouring ourselves out so that God could speak to the hearts of husbands and wives there, God was speaking directly to us. I’m sitting here reading all these responses but maybe mine should be among them.

It’s not an easy thing to stay connected as a couple as we face the daily demands of all that we’re called to–children, work, ministry, home, school. The list of what’s tugging on our hearts and energy can seem overwhelming, so overwhelming that we could find ourselves giving each other what’s leftover which, frankly, isn’t much. I’m so thankful for the reminder that WE matter, that our pursuit of each other matters, that we are better able to experience all that God has for us when we are able to press pause and draw close to each other. It won’t make life easier. The demands aren’t really decreasing. That’s just not how things work. But, man, we sure are able to navigate it all with less of a sense of being burdened and more of a sense of joy when we make our connection to Him and to each other the top priority. Every detail of this weekend—literally every part of the program, every centerpiece, every raffle, every cup of coffee brewed—is somehow aimed to communicate that. I know that because I’m behind all those parts. But, even still, God used them. He used the very things that I worked out to work on me.

Sometimes I wonder if He’s called us to this work as much for us as for all the people He’s placed before us.

March 31st-April 2nd has been marked on our calendars for literally over a year now. On those dates is our largest event of the year in terms of numbers and likely logistical effort. It was born at a cafe (arguably, all good ideas start with a cup of coffee). A group of women gathered there to talk about how we could better serve the needs of adoptive moms, how we could support women locally, how we could come together in unity to encourage and bless each other. We sipped our lattes and shared challenges and ideas in this faithful brain trust and landed on something big that kind of took all of our breath away. We needed something for couples, not women alone, not for simply a community of mamas; we needed something to build us up together, to build our marriages.

I think Mark may have gasped a little that evening when I came home and told him that The Sparrow Fund may or may not have just added a marriage retreat to our program repertoire. But, it didn’t take him long to catch the vision for it. It just made sense. The best way to serve families is to build up the partnership between a husband and a wife.

We started with 60 couples in 2013. In 2014, we added a few more couples, forcing us to have overflow housing at another hotel. In 2015, we moved to a larger place to open it up to a few more people while still keeping a small retreat feel. In 2016, we had about 100 couples from 12 different states around the country. We somehow arrived to 2017 and to our 5th Together Called happening in only a few days now with about 110 couples coming, filling the entire resort. The magnitude of the impact of pouring into these 220 parents who are in turn pouring themselves out is incredible.

As this weekend has gotten closer and closer, the magnitude has become more and more apparent but also has the mess that often comes with that. Where there is a place for transformation, life change, and healing as these marriages are and can be, there is also opportunity for weariness and a sense of never, impossible, and stuck to creep in. We need prayer in a significant way as Mark and I lead the charge for a team of us–all of whom come with our own stories–to serve each one of these men and women and enter into their stories. We could ask you to simply pray; we know many of you would do that. But, we want to be intentional to have consistent prayer coverage over the course of the whole weekend. The needs of the couples coming are that great—our needs as a couple seeking to be an effective conduit of His mercy and hope are that great.

If you want to pray at any time however you are led, please do and let us know that you did because it will build us up and encourage us as we press on. If you want to pray over a specific time frame to be a part of consistent prayer coverage for specific needs that we’ll provide to you, then let us know by signing up on the Google form HERE.