It’s what no one wants to talk about: the pain and difficulty of sending children out to their adult callings.  Even when it goes well, it’s traumatic.  We experience our success in raising effective children as loss. We spend endless energy on preparing our children to leave, but no one prepares us to be left. Cultural norms in this area are grim: Empty nest, helicopter parents, boomerang children. And the roots of these phenomena reach back into our children’s early days.

“Age to Age: Parenting for the Transitions of Life” is a weekend retreat that speaks to the hearts of mothers as they walk through the transitions in family life from the birth of their children to the founding of a new extended family.  We look away from cultural norms to ask, “What patterns for parenting has God given us?”  Surprisingly, we experience the Father’s heart as never before.

Schedule one for your group. Contact Kim at workshops@countdown2college.net

Friday

Session 1 A Psalm for Empire-Builders

Our culture tells us we are headed for the Empty Nest, but God’s compass points to a different destination: the Extending Family. Contrast God’s patterns of empire-building with cultural norms of inter-generational self-indulgence, and discover a vibrant perspective on your past and your future. (Lecture & film. 1 hour)

Dinner

Session 2 Motherhood’s Legacy

Motherhood has changed you. Your children are beginning to change the world. Reflect on the ways God has stretched and grown you as you have worked with your children. Take stock of your new skills, insights, strengths, and the fresh opportunities those open for you. (Lecture & individual skill/personality assessment. 1 .5 hours)

Session 3 Memory Lane

BYO favorite photos of your family. Choose no more than a dozen. Begin to create an Intentional Legacy Scrapbook, as you discuss the photos with others in your small group and begin to discover how God has shaped your family, and to what purpose. (Lecture, small group discussion & scrapbooking. 1.5 to 2 hours)

Saturday

Session 4 God’s Patterns for Launching Arrows

Learn God’s parenting methods as He prepared His son, Israel, for mature service, shared power and the weight of glory. Consider the expanding responsibilities and extending scope of the work of Israel’s offices as priest, king and prophet. Learn to let go by bequeathing legacies. (Lecture & large group discussion. 1 hour)

Session 5 Priests, Kings and Prophets at Home

Assess your family’s callings and your children’s maturity levels according to the Biblical offices: priest, king and prophet. Brainstorm family projects that will extend your family to the next level of influence and responsibility. Develop an Intentional Legacy prayer journal. (Q & A, small group discussion & individual reflection. 2 hours)

Lunch& Free Time (1 ½ – 2 hours)

Session 6 God’s Recipe for Homesickness

We all love what has grown to be familiar. It calls to us. Learn how God leveraged those longings in the cultural institutions He designed for Israel at Sinai: the Law and the Passover. Explore the cities of refuge, the sanctuary and the festival calendar with new eyes. (Lecture. 1 hour)

Session 7 God Calls You Home: Refuge

Identify your Father’s refuges in your own perilous times. Rest in His comfort as you consider how to remove the roadblocks to refuge which stand between your children and your home. Run to meet your Father as never before. Add to your Intentional Legacy prayer journal. (Lecture, film, self-assessment & individual prayer time. 2 hours)

Session 8 God Calls Us Home: Celebration

It’s about time. It’s about space. It’s about giving Creation its true voice, the voice that calls us together to enjoy our Creator. Hear, taste, and see how to use Old Testament patterns to create celebrations that commemorate what God has done for us as His covenant people and for your family in particular. (Lecture, group discussion. 1 hour)

Dinner

Session 9 Celebration Starter

Prepare for the nearest holiday with a craft project to present to your family or to share with them later. Choices include: Epiphany treasure-mapping (Christmas/Epiphany), Ukrainian egg decorating (Easter), Rite-of-passage tea or tool scrapbook (Trinity/General), Pierced tin signal lamp (Independence Day), Reformation-era heraldry (Reformation Day), Herb wreaths (Thanksgiving). One craft per retreat. (2-2 ½ hours)

Sunday

Session 10 Sanctuary and Sabbath

See the whole homesickness package in microcosm in the Sabbath principle. God means to turn our mourning into dancing by creating an Extending Family instead of an Empty Nest. (Worship time of singing and prayer. Lecture. 1 hour)

Final session Sunday Dinner Feast

Crystal, china and tablecloths evoke the full-dress joy of Sunday. Bring favorite Sunday dinner menus and recipes to exchange and add to your Intentional Legacy scrapbook.