Abide Retreat
This year’s theme:
🌿Beauty in Brokenness🌿
DETAILS:
📍 Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center in Toano, VA
📅 October 24 - 26, 2025
Dear Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Moms:
You carry stories shaped by resilience, heartbreak, and fierce love. You hold space for healing, carry the weight of others’ pain, and keep showing up — even when it’s hard.
This retreat is for you.
Join us for a weekend of rest, renewal, and honest connection with a community of moms who “get it.” Together, we’ll explore the beauty that can only be found in the cracks — the kind God doesn’t cover up, but uses to renew us.
At the retreat, you will have:
🕊️ Space to breathe
🕊️ Time to rest and recharge
🕊️ Opportunities to connect with other moms
Come as you are — let this weekend refresh and restore you for the journey ahead!
What moms have said about Abide:
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Attending Abide was just what my soul needed. It was a wonderful weekend connecting with other moms and reminding me of my purpose and calling to become an adoptive mama. I'm looking forward to next year!
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I just loved that I could talk to other women/mamas that actually hear me. Most women I talk with just listen but don’t understand. It was so different here.
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I enjoyed the restful time away and the ability to reconnect with the Lord. It showed me I am not alone and various moms have the same struggles as me!
“The Abide Retreat is unlike any other retreat. For my foster mama heart, it is exactly what I need. To know my struggles, heartbreak and happy moments are validated by others in a similar position, to work through secondary trauma I didn't know I had, and to love on other mamas who get it!”
schedule (tentative):
Friday:
4 PM Check In
4-5 PM Welcome Reception
6 PM Dinner
7 PM Wagon Ride
7:45 PM Worship and Encouragement Session #1
Saturday:
7 AM Pilates Class with Marlisa
8 AM Breakfast
9:30 AM Worship and Encouragement Session #2
10:30 AM 1st Breakout Sessions
11:30 AM 2nd Breakout Sessions
12:30 PM Lunch (on your own)
Free time until Dinner!
5:30 PM Dinner
6:45 PM Worship and Encouragement Session #3
8:00 PM Popcorn & S’mores Bonfire
Sunday:
8 AM Breakfast
9 AM Prayer and Closing Session
11 AM Check Out
Meet the Abide Team!
🌿 Marci has led worship at the Abide Retreat for the past three years and loves walking alongside the women who attend. She and her husband, Chris, have been married for 26 years and have three children. Together, they run Kingdom Recovery, faith-based sober living homes for women and children. Since opening their first home in 2022, their mission has been to provide a safe, Christ-centered place for healing from addiction. Marci and Chris lead weekly Bible studies and joyfully walk with the women in their care as they grow in faith and hope.
🌿Rachal has been married to Eldon for 32 years and is a mother of five children, whose ages range from 17 to 30. Three of her children are biological, and two are adopted. She is also a trauma-informed family coach. As a transracial family, she understands the unique dynamics involved in transracial adoption. In her free time, she enjoys sewing and spending time with her family, especially at Disney.
🌿Marlisa is excited to return for her 4th Abide Retreat! Marlisa and her husband of 26 years have 5 kids; the two youngest were adopted from Ethiopia 13 years ago. They are also “Mia and Papa” to 4 grandchildren (1 more will join the family soon!)
Marlisa is owner of Carriage House Pilates & Wellness, has a M.A. in pastoral counseling and has a Christian coaching and spiritual healing practice in Winchester, Virginia.
🌿 Amber and her husband Caleb have been married for nearly 11 years and have two children who they adopted into their family. Amber has a heart for creating community and supporting foster and adoptive families. Their family loves to travel, spend time exploring and they love this season of homeschooling!