WITH OPEN HANDS

A Sacred Weekend Retreat for Foster & Adoptive Mothers

A retreat.
A community.
A catalyst.

For finding grace and grounding through the grief, loss, and sacred complexity of foster and adoptive motherhood.

Catskills, New York · October 2-4th 2026

Mama,

You carry so much that MANY MAY NEVER FULLY UNDERSTAND.

You carry their stories, and your own.
You carry the love, the heartache, the joy, and the struggles that are unique to foster and adoptive motherhood.
Maybe you hold the dreams that didn’t unfold the way you thought they would.

Maybe you carry the grief of what was, the grief of what never was. And the grief of what still might be.

Like a devoted mother, you learned to keep going- even through the complexity and the kaleidoscope of emotions. You’ve committed to be strong and keep caring for everyone else. Even as parts of your own heart shattered. Even as the exhaustion and the grief became too much. This challenging journey can lead us to feeling burned out (disconnected from our bodies, from felt safety, and rest). It can even feel like we’ve become disconnected from God and our community.

Sometimes it feels safer to push it down. To numb it. To tell yourself you should be grateful…

But a heart that closes to pain also closes to JOY.

We were never meant to carry this alone.

I’ve learned over time (and always still learning) that there can be another way.

A way to hold both grief and hope. Both sorrow and joy. Both death and resurrection. And that we need to do this TOGETHER.

Introducing the With Open Hands Retreat

With Open Hands is a 3-day, in-person sacred retreat in the Catskill Mountains created specifically for foster and adoptive mothers.

This is a safe and prayerfully held space where you can finally exhale.

A space where your story is honored.
Your grief is witnessed.
And your heart is gently tended to.

Together, we will create room for God to meet us in the tender places.

To bring beauty from ashes.
To allow God to breathe new life into our weary souls.

This Retreat Is For You If…

• You are a foster or adoptive mother carrying grief, loss, or a weary body/soul/heart/nervous system

• You feel emotionally exhausted but keep pushing through

• You long to feel grounded, present, and whole again

• You’ve lost parts of yourself in caring for everyone else

• You want to reconnect with God in a deeper, more embodied way

• You crave community with women who truly understand

  
  

WHATEVER YOU’VE LOST, IT DEEPLY MATTERS. 

AND YOUR WELL-BEING DEEPLY MATTERS, TOO.

What You’ll Experience

This retreat gently weaves together Christian spiritual formation, nervous system healing, and embodied restoration.

Over our time together, we'll move slowly and with intention.

Woven throughout the weekend are gentle, embodied practices — breathwork, grounding, simple body-based rhythms that help your nervous system remember what rest feels like. For many of us, our bodies have been in survival mode for so long we've forgotten there's another way to inhabit them. These practices are an invitation back.

Nourishing meals and snacks for you! You don’t have to worry about a thing- it’s taken care of for you!

We’ll meet in what I call “sacred circle”: A space to honor what we’ve experienced. A faith-rooted conversation where grief is named, trauma is held with care, and God's presence is invited into the places that have felt too tender to touch. A guided space for your story to be spoken aloud and witnessed by women who understand what it cost you.

You'll receive a Soulbook — a beautifully designed retreat guide with journal prompts, prayers, and practices you can carry home with you. Something to return to when the noise creeps back in.

And then there is the gift of the women themselves. A small, intimate circle of foster and adoptive mothers who don't need you to explain the hard parts. Who will sit with you in the grief without trying to fix it. Who will laugh with you, pray with you, and remind you, by their very presence, that you are not as alone as it has sometimes felt.

Creation is part of the healing, too. Time outside. Quiet mornings. The particular mercy of fall light through trees.

What Makes This Different?

This is not a conference.
This is not a place where you have to perform strength.

With Open Hands Retreat is a sacred container.

There is nothing you have to prove and you don’t have to hold yourself together.

You are allowed to come exactly as you are. You’ll be witnessed, held, and gently reminded that you are seen and supported.

What You’ll Leave With

You may leave with a deeper steadiness in your body. A grief that feels less like a weight and more like something that has been witnessed and honored, even just a little. You may leave with practices that help you return to yourself when the overwhelm rises. With a restored sense of who you are beneath all the roles you carry.

But perhaps what stays longest is simply this: the knowing that you are not alone in it. That your story matters. That your well-being matters. That there is a God who meets us in the tender, broken places — and that He longs to be with us through it all.

The Setting

Nestled in the beauty of the Catskill Mountains in peak fall season, this retreat space is intentionally chosen to support your healing.

Crisp mountain air.
Golden leaves.
Quiet mornings with God.

Nourishing Meals together.
Sacred conversations by a fire.

Creation itself becomes part of your restoration.

Retreat Details

Location: Catskills, New York
Dates: October 2-4th 2026
Length: 3 days / 2 nights
Group Size: Limited to an intimate group of mothers

Cost: $825 includes lodging, all meals and snacks, along with all the goodness I have planned for the weekend! A depost of $225 will hold your spot.

Imagine This October…

You step away from the noise.
You breathe deeply for the first time in a long time.
You feel God’s presence in places that felt numb.

You remember yourself again.

You begin to come back to life.

If your heart is stirring, I invite you to reserve your spot or join the email list to get updates. You can also contact me for questions!

You don’t have to carry this alone anymore.

Come with open hands.

Leave nourished.