It’s hard to believe that it was about 7 years ago that this whole thing was birthed originally. Imagine a long table at a cafe with maybe 12 women gathered around it. There was lots of laughter and so much heart, so much intention. How could we join arms to serve moms through adoption better. That was our mission that Sunday evening. We talked grand ideas and dreams as a faithful brain trust. When the last mug was set down and the last chair pushed in, we were resolved to do something very different than what we thought we might be doing. We needed something for marriages not for women alone. Serving a community of mamas would be good; but intentionally building marriages would be best.

That’s how Together Called started. Just a handful of women who wanted to serve and wanted their own marriages to be served as well. We all wanted what we thought Together Called could offer. We wanted space to reconnect with our husbands. We wanted to have someone stand before us and speak to our weariness and remind us that God has called us to pour ourselves out. We wanted to hear that He is pleased with us despite our own messages of incompetence.

That just doesn’t get old. We don’t grow out of needing that.

I guess that’s why we’re still doing this thing. I’m so glad we are.

“How many more of these do you think you have in you?” someone asked me that this past weekend. It was a good question, and one I didn’t answer quickly. We’re in a different place than we were 7 years ago. Our babies were still babies then. Now, we’re closer to an empty nest than we are midnight feedings. Mark and I are in a different place than we were 7 years ago. We were still figuring things out for the first time then, everyday learning about what godly trauma-informed parenting looks like. I guess we’re still figuring that out now as everyday is a first. But, the foundation is firm with years of practice. We love Together Called now for different reasons now than we did in the beginning. But, we do still love it.

I don’t know how many more of these we have in us. We’ll keep going as long as we feel together called to it. For now, we do. Together called to provide space even if for only a few days for married couples caring for kids from hard places to laugh, reconnect with each other, experience the joy of community, reignite hope even in the darkest places, be challenged to be intentional in their families and in their marriages.

We are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect story of bringing good into our lives, for we are His delight, His people who have been together called to a glorious purpose.

{my paraphrase of Romans 8:28}

It’s amazing outside today. The trees are so colorful, and the air is simply quintessential Fall. It’s the perfect afternoon to sip on a hot decaf coffee (which I’m presently doing), and the perfect afternoon for our men to head out to recharge.

I’ve had very little to do with the whole plan for the next 3 days really. Last winter, Mark approached me at my desk and announced that he and his buddy Matt had decided to do a men’s retreat. I was kinda shocked given that I’m usually the one to make crazy statements like that (which in the past have led to hosting a marriage retreat or something like another child, just for two examples). These guys championed this whole darn thing including choosing the menu and booking a ropes course 40 feet up in the air. All I did was help to promote it a little–okay, Matt’s wife Wanda and I may or may not have also gathered a few goodies for each guy and s’more supplies.

It’s 2pm now, and I’ve already gotten a text from Matt with a picture of all the name tags and swag bags set up, seemingly bragging that they were able to get it done without any help from the ladies. I’m told that by 4pm, Matt, Mark, and Zach, who got roped into this whole deal, will be standing next to all those goodies ready to welcome the rest of the dudes. I’m smiling just imagining the scene sans the social girls by their sides. They’ll eat dinner together tonight and then meet for the first of four gathering times over the next three days where they will hear truth, be challenged, and encourage each other.

I have no idea what it will look like. I guarantee that it won’t look the way our marriage retreat looks or the way a women’s retreat would look or the way I WOULD want it to look if I were running this thing. But, I’m not. They are. And, that is such a good thing. Because, you know what? It really doesn’t matter what it looks like; what matters is that there are 23 men on their way out now or heading out soon who are gathering together, all sharing the desire to grow and do what they’ve been called to do more fully, as healed, whole, and holy men. It’s pretty overwhelming to think about.

Would you join me in praying for each one of these guys–Matt, Zach, and Mark included–that God would meet each one of them wherever they are as they arrive tonight, that they’d know more deeply God’s love for them, and that God would use these next 3 days to recharge them to be the men, husbands, and fathers that He wants them to be.