The 2009 Tapestry Adoption & Foster Care Conference was a tremendous success. With over 450 adults, 200+ kids and dozens of volunteers, we not only had a great turnout but we also enjoyed many terrific sessions covering a wide range of topics of interest to adoptive and foster families.
In the coming weeks we will be posting links to many of the handouts and other materials from this year’s conference sessions. But for now, we would love to hear what you thought. What was your favorite session or your favorite aspect of the 2009 Tapestry Conference?
We’re obviously biased, but we’re excited about how this year’s Tapestry Conference is shaping up. For starters, it looks like we’re going to have a great crowd, but we still have a little space left for adult registrants. If you (or someone you know) need to join us this year, here’s the registration link. The conference promises to be a great opportunity to connect with other foster and adoptive families who are on the journey — and registration is FREE — so please, don’t miss out.
Another reason we’re excited about this year’s event is the breadth of sessions being offered. There will be sessions for foster and adoptive families in all different stages and circumstances as you can see from the Sessions page. While many who are familiar with Tapestry will already be familiar with presenters such as Dr. Karyn Purvis, Greg & Tracey Fields, and Paula St. John (who always do a fantastic job), we’re excited to host some speakers who you may not have heard before.
Tabatha Gunn & Tiffany Taylor are going to talk about sensory issues, Travis Jones is going to address the importance of a strong marriage in the context of an adoptive or foster family, Kara Holt is going to talk about the benefits of play for families, and so much more. Again, if you or someone you know would benefit by joining us next Saturday, October 24, please do so.
There is tremendous power in our stories – not just for what they tell, but for what they reveal. As Madeline L’Engle writes, “Stories, no matter how simple, can be vehicles of truth.” This reality is best reflected by the master storyteller himself who explained to his disciples why he told stories: to “create readiness and nudge people toward receptive insight.” (Matthew 13:12, The Message)
As a community of people who share in one way or another the common bond of loving and caring for children that are not “of us” but are “ours” nonetheless, we know firsthand the power and importance of stories. For many of us it was an adoption story, in all of its hope-filled reality, that finally allowed us to dream of loving a child again. For others it was a story that stirred our hearts with compassion and prevented us from ignoring any longer the God-kissed promptings toward adoption or foster care.
Our stories reveal our hopes and dreams, our hurts and fears. They tell of the road we have traveled, the places at which we have arrived along the way and the destinations we have still yet to reach. Our stories reveal what has shaped us, who we truly are and all that we hope to become. And it is in our stories that our adoption and foster care journeys are fully revealed and best understood because they are, after all, ultimately God’s stories.
Frederick Buechner speaks best to this truth when he writes: “My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours. Maybe nothing is more important than that we keep track, you and I, of these stories of who we are and where we have come from and the people we have met along the way because it is precisely through these stories in all their particularity, as I have long believed and often said, that God makes himself known to each of us most powerfully and personally.”
We believe that everyone has a story. No matter where you are in the adoption or foster care journey, you have a story to tell. And your story is not just about what has already happened, but what is happening and what is yet to come. Thus, one of the most important things we can do as a community is to tell our stories. And in the end, we believe that these stories – our stories – will beautifully reveal the redemptive love of God and point to the true miracle of adoption.
Over the past years we’ve had the privilege to tell many stories in the pages of the Tapestry Newsletter, on our website and at many of our past events. In the coming weeks we will highlight many of the stories that God has written with the lives of those in the Tapestry community.
We thought we would kick things off with Being Thankful for the Broken Things — a story written several years ago by Michael Monroe as he reflected on how God takes our brokenness and creates from it something truly beautiful.
Empowered to Connect is a great new resource that provides adoptive and foster parents with the practical tools they need to forge meaningful and lasting connections with their children. It is also a great tool for church ministry leaders that can help them more effectively meet the holistic needs of the families they serve.
Empowered to Connect is a collaborative effort among Michael & Amy Monroe and Dr. Karyn Purvis (Director of the TCU Institute of Child Development). Listen to Michael and Dr. Purvis share about the heart of this new effort:
Empowered to Connect has created an online library of articles, audio and video presentations covering a variety of relevant topics. In addition, they are developing a study guide that will be available later in 2009. Great for individual use or small group discussions, this study guide will highlight and examine many of the Biblical principles that serve as the foundation for the approach and interventions taught by Dr. Purvis in her book The Connected Child.
Stay up-to-date on all of the future content and resources provided by Empowered to Connect by visiting their blog to subscribe to receive email updates or the RSS feed.
