Our very own Dr. Tim Kimmel will be speaking at both Dallas and Louisville D6 Conferences this year and will be featuring his newest publication “Connecting Church & Home”.

If you are unfamiliar with what D6 is all about: Deuteronomy 6.  The D6 Conference is all about Generational Discipleship and how to apply Deuteronomy 6 to family ministry.

They are currently open for Early Bird Registration for Dallas  and Early Bird Registration for Louisville (Early Bird prices change after May 7th).

For even more information about D6 and the D6 Conferences, go here!

If you are Social Media Savvy, here are some ways to follow along with everything and anything D6:

Twitter: @theD6conference – They will be using these hashtags for updates and comments #d62013 #d6days

Facebook: D6 Conference

Speakers: Dr. Tim Kimmel, Peter Bartolini and Susan TeBos.  The speakers plan to give these parents a message of grace, but also HOPE.

Topics: Raising Foster & Adoptive children, The Four Freedoms, 3 Inner Needs and perspectives from Foster and Adoptive parents.

A “Q & A Panel” made up of our guest speakers will answer any submitted questions by the attendees.

FREE LUNCH provided by Chick-fil-A!!

This event counts toward education hours for Foster Families!

Interested in attending the Family Matters “Foster & Adoptive Parenting Conference” – Click HERE for more information.

When my second child decided to run away I knew in my heart to give him the space to do it.  He was twelve, swimming in the confusion of puberty, attacked by hormonal changes and sifting through some junk in his heart.  He needed to run, clear his head, and go it alone, for a little while at least.  After three hours I started to worry.  I called a few neighbors and one had spotted him walking toward the main road. Where was he going I thought?  This isn’t just a little venture through the neighborhood anymore.  It was super-hot that day and the son was high in the sky.  I jumped in my minivan headed in the direction of the pool we belong to in another neighborhood.  Maybe he went there.  When I finally spotted him I slowly pulled my car alongside him and rolled down the window.  “Do you want I ride”, I gently asked. “You look tired”.  Reluctantly he agreed and he slunk his body into the seat.  He looked exhausted, physically and emotionally, his face sunburned too.  “Let’s stop at Robinette’s Farm and get a cold drink or an ice cream.”  “No, I’m not hungry or thirsty”…this from a child who wears a size 13 shoe. But I stopped anyhow and asked him to come and sit under the big oak tree, the one we played and climbed on when he was little.  He slid down the trunk on to his bottom in the dirt and started to cry and cry and cry.  And I sat next to him and received his tears, his hurt, and his confusion and offered grace. No judgment, no guilt trip.

You see all my children are adopted and they are just like all kids in most ways.  They get sick of their world and us and just need their own version of time-out, or control.  Yet my kids are different in that sometimes they bump up against the hurt of relinquishment and the confusion of being let go.  Their thoughts and feelings get mixed up inside and sometimes yuck comes out.  They wonder at times if things would have been different, better somehow. They wonder about birthmom, which is really big to them. And most of all they wonder if we, their parents, even care.

Before You Were Mine, Discovering Your adopted Child’s Lifestory, Zondervan 2011.

Several years ago I co-wrote a book to help adoptive parents help their kids understand where they came from and who they left behind and why that hurts sometimes. The goal was two-fold: To help parents prepare their hearts first and develop compassion for their child’s story, birth family and the brokenness they experienced. And secondly, to help parents sift through the details of their child’s relinquishment and create a truthful story that would honor their child’s past; A connection that every adopted child needs.  Before You were Mine, Discovering Your Adopted Child’s Lifestory was born from a need that all adoptive parents have—A need to help their kids heal more fully from the loss of relinquishment and move forward in life secure in who they are and who God made them to be.

And so my child ran away that day.  He was experiencing a perfect storm, hormones, confusion, the works. But on that day he wept for the loss of his birth parents.  You see, he has always known his story, but now he was beginning to understand it and feel it for the first time.

Family Matters is hosting an adoption conference on March 23 at Central Christian Church in Mesa. They’ve asked me to come and share my heart and experiences and teach those attending why story matters so much to our adoptive kiddos. So come and learn. Find out how you can help your child heal through story.  Find out too how grace based parenting really works in the adoptive home.

Interested in adoption or fostering a child? Attend Family Matters “Foster & Adoptive Parenting Conference” – Click HERE for more information.

Family Matters is partnering with Phoenix Suns Charities to bring you: Foster & Adoptive Parenting Conference!

Click HERE to register for the event.  Although the conference is FREE, there are a limited amount of spaces – so register today!

This event is also sponsored by the following:

Central Christian Church

Chick-fil-A

KPXQ Radio

Thrivent Financial

Christian Family Care

Have you heard of the Allume Conference (formerly the Relevant Conference)?! If not, you’ve been missing out! Here’s their Mission Statement:

“Our goal at Allume is to minister to the woman, the blogger, the story teller. We want to love well, encourage, and spur women on to shine the Light that lives within them. We want to serve you in ways that cultivate the Light in you, help you expand your influence, use your influence well (in your home, your community, or around the world) and encourage you with stories of those who are living out the Light.

How cool is that?!  We sponsored this event the past two years and loved it so much that we’ll be sending two Family Matter’s representatives again this year!

We were also blessed to be able to give away an Allume ticket to one of our wonderful blog readers,  Kim Sorgius from Not Consumed. Kim’s post, Shampoo or Souls (thoughts for the hurried), was selected as the winner of our giveaway back in April.

For those of you wonderful ladies who will be attending this event…please also be sure to say hi to our Family Matters Representatives, Karis Murray and Stephanie Flies, who will be attending the event.

Hint :: We’ll be doing another Twitter giveaway (think Kindle Fire) throughout the event and the only way you’ll be able to enter is if you speak directly with one of these ladies (and get one of her business cards).

Here’s a little about Karis and Stephanie…

{Karis Murray}

Karis Murray is a Scottsdale, Arizona native, wife to Mike and mother to daughters Riley, age 8 and Lydia, age 6. She is currently the Creative Director for the Family Matters Minute Radio Show and serves as Lead Writer and Editor for the show. She and Steph Flies co-manage the Family Matters Blog. Karis is a writer for Scottsdale Mom’s Blog, where she shares her experiences as a mom with irreverent humor. For her unfiltered and uncensored musings, visit her at her blog Candid Motherhood.

{Stephanie Flies}

Steph Flies is the Social Media Director for Family Matters, Director of City Moms Blog Network and the Co-founder of Scottsdale Moms Blog. She is mamma to Nora (July 2009) and Elsie (May 2011) and wife of Alan. She’s a recovering legalist and loves learning how to create an atmosphere of grace in her home.

Check back next week for  pics and thoughts about the event!

Every Parent wants to raise great kids, yet often we fall short of our dreams. Sometimes we’re just too busy and distracted. Some of us had less than ideal role models. Some of us are working at it, but we just don’t have a good game plan. Are you willing to invest one weekend  in order to empower your kids… forever?

We are bringing the Parents Conference to the Charleston, SC area THIS weekend and we’d love for YOU to join us.  Here are the details…

South Carolina Parents Conference

April 27-28, 2012

6:30 pm – 9:30 pm (Friday)
8:00 am – 12:30 pm (Saturday)
Doors open at 6:00 pm on Friday

$39/person

Childcare registration HERE

**all pastors & spouses in the community are Free (please call 800-467-4596 to register)

Click HERE to Register for this Event

Help Us Promote This Event

OR would you like to WIN 2 tickets to this event??!!! Like all of our giveaways, you have to do a little something…

====================

IN IT TO WIN IT!

*One entry per person per method of entry. Be sure to enter a separate comment for each method of entry (one comment for Facebook, one comment for Twitter, etc.). This way you have a higher chance of winning.

1. COMMENT: Leave a comment on this blog post telling us why you’d like to attend this event.

2. TWITTER: Follow Family Matters on Twitter – just copy and paste this message into your tweet Hey! @Family_Matters is giving away 2 tickets to their Parenting Conference in Charleston THIS weekend!

3. FACEBOOK: Like Family Matters on Facebook.

4. EMAIL/RSS: Sign up to receive our blog updates via Email or RSS feed.

====================
Giveaway ends Wednesday, April 25th, 2012. Winner is chosen randomly and will be announced as soon as they’ve accepted the prize. Good luck, everyone!

We can’t wait for all of the great events that are on our Family Matters Event Calendar this Spring!

Be sure to check below to see when we’ll be in your city…

March 2-4

FamilyLife Weekend to Remember

Appleton, WI

****

March 10-11

Good Shepherd Community Church Pulpit

Boring, OR

****

March 16-17

Raising Truly Great Kids

Ada Bible Church

Grand Rapids, MI

****

April 13-15

FamilyLife Weekend to Remember

Oxon Hill, MD

****

April 20-21

Raising Truly Great Kids

Good Shepherd Community Church

Boring, OR

****

April 27-28

Raising Truly Great Kids

Cathedral of Praise

Charleston, SC

****

May 19-24

European Leadership Forum

****

July 22-28

Pine Cove Family Camp – Crier Creek

Columbus, TX

****

Aug 31 – Sept 3

Cannon Beach Family Camp

Cannon Beach, OR

This year is the 30^th anniversary of Family Matters. That’s right folks! We’ve been at this thing for three decades now! We have met so many wonderful people, partnered with some great ministries like Focus on the Family and Family Life, and God has used our efforts to touch the lives of countless families with the message of His grace. Praise the Lord!! One of the ways we would like to celebrate what God has done in us and through us is to highlight one resource a month as a way to familiarize you with what Family Matters has to offer in order to minister to you better.

*********************************************************

This month’s resource highlight is:

Basic Training for a Few Good Men by Dr. Tim Kimmel (1997)

This book and corresponding interactive video study were created in response to the declining role of fathers and men in our increasingly feminized society. More children were, and still are, growing up fatherless then ever before. Dr. Kimmel knew that by encouraging and equipping fathers and men of all ages we could start to reverse this detrimental trend. His message is still fresh and relevant nearly 15 years later. Boys need to learn to be men, fathers need to learn to be present and accounted for and men at every turn need to step into their God-given roles of warrior, provider and first line of defense.

Society rises and falls on leadership. Men have been given the responsibility to lead wherever God has planted them, whether that’s as a husband, father, grandfather, mentor or a friend. This book and video study would make a wonderful individual or group study for the spring! We have discounted the prices on both of these resources to make them more affordable then ever.

Buy Basic Training for a Few Good Men ($11.88) : 30% off in January

Buy Basic Training for a Few Good Men Video Study ($49.99) : over 60% off in January

Have you heard of the Relevant Conference?! If not, you’ve been missing out! Here’s their Mission Statement:

“The Relevant Conference exists to offer a place of face to face interaction with Christian women bloggers who want to be relevant in the larger blog and social media world. Our goal is to go beyond the surface into intentional blogging and real life living. We support women turning their hearts toward home and using their blogs to bless their families while also engaging the world for the glory of God. Relevant is a one-of-a-kind conference that seeks to engage women by teaching blogging techniques and social media skill while also urging and encouraging women to live fully integrated lives with their faith and family.”

How cool is that?!  We sponsored this event last year and loved it so much that we signed up as a sponsor again!

We’re also blessed to have the opportunity to sponsor two amazing readers who are bloggers themselves – Kristen Welch of We are THAT Family and Cherie Froelich of Heart and Soul Reflections.

For those of you wonderful ladies who will be attending this event…be sure to check your gift bags for a number of awesome (at least we think so) items from Family Matters.  Please also be sure to say hi to our Family Matters Representative, Karis Murray, who will be attending the event.  Hint :: We’ll be doing another twitter giveaway throughout the event and the only way you’ll be able to enter is if you speak directly with Karis (and get one of her business cards).

Here’s a little about Karis…

{Karis Murray}

Karis Murray is a Scottsdale, Arizona native, wife to Mike and mother to daughters Riley, age 8 and Lydia, age 6. She is currently the Creative Director for the Family Matters Minute Radio Show and serves as Lead Writer and Editor for the show. She and Steph Flies co-manage the Family Matters Blog. Karis is a writer for Scottsdale Mom’s Blog, where she shares her experiences as a mom with irreverent humor. For her unfiltered and uncensored musings, visit her at her blog Candid Motherhood.

Check back next week for  pics and thoughts about the event!

There’s still time to sign up for one of our Fall
Raising Truly Great Kids events!

**********************************

Bemus Point, New York

Friday, October 7th – Saturday, October 8th, 2011
6:00 pm Registration/Check-In
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm Friday
8:00 am – 12:30 pm Saturday

Bemus Point United Methodist Church
4954 Bemus Ellery Road
Bemus Point, NY 14712

Map to Church

**********************************

Windsor, Ontario

Friday, October 21st – Saturday, October 22nd, 2011
6:00 pm Registration/Check-In
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm Friday
8:00 am – 12:30 pm Saturday

Windsor Christian Fellowship
4490 7th Concession
Windsor, Ontario Canada N9A 6J3

Map to Church

**********************************

Temple, Texas

Friday, November 11th – Saturday, November 12th, 2011
6:00 pm Registration/Check-In
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm Friday
8:00 am – 12:30 pm Saturday

Temple Bible Church
3205 Oakview Drive
Temple, TX 76502

Map to Church

]]> http://familymatters.net/blog/2011/09/30/attend-a-parenting-conference/feed/ 0