Abide: 2025 Retreat

Are you grieving the loss of a baby?

Do you wonder if you’ll ever be okay again?

First, we’re so sorry.

Second, you can be okay again (even on this side of heaven) with Jesus! He can heal you in all the ways you simply can’t heal yourself. To help you along the way, we want to invite you to our next Hope Mommies Retreat.

When you arrive at our Retreat, you’ll quickly see that we all have different stories, struggles, fears, and feelings. We might all stand at different points in faith. Some of us are years of tears past the days that wrecked and reset our lives; yet for others of us, the loss is so fresh we can’t remember what it’s like to not feel raw. Our stories won’t be the same because they are uniquely ours, but what’s universal is we all carry stories of heartbreak and grieving for a baby and a life we had planned for ourselves that didn’t turn out the way we thought it would.

Over the weekend we will head directly through that suffering, not around it. From the stage and in your small groups, you will hear fellow Hope Moms pull back the curtain on what it has been like to navigate the loss and devastation. We will shine light on where we have fought, where we have failed, and where we found the kind of peace no human effort can explain. We are inviting you to walk with us, as we’ve walked with the Lord through our own grief.

We aren’t experts on grief and suffering, just women who long to love and honor the Lord, while treasuring our babies in heaven. We are here to reach a tender hand into your story and to remind you that you aren’t alone. We want to assure you that while it feels impossible now, nothing is impossible with God, including healing, restoration, and renewed life.

So come spend a weekend with us! Let’s look to Him, be kind to ourselves, and tell the whole truth about our pain. Let’s celebrate that joy and pain that are not mutually exclusive, and let’s surrender our hurts to the one source that can truly heal.

The Hope Mommies Leadership Team

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When: February 28 – March 2, 2025. Arrival is between 2 and 4pm Friday, with departure promptly at 11am Sunday.

Where: We will be at Rest Yourself River Ranch in Mineral Wells, Texas. The location is within an hour and a half from DFW, it’s a beautiful ranch on the Brazos and easy to get to for anyone flying in.

Registration: $415
This includes a 2-night stay in a courtyard room, all speaking and worship sessions, prayer room access, 5 catered meals, beverages, snacks, activities, and gifts. Payment plans can be arranged with a $200 down payment to hold your place and the remaining $215 paid in full by January 31, 2025. You can choose this option during registration check-out on our website. Once your down payment is received, we will reach out by email to arrange the payment plan for the remainder of your balance due to HM.

Accommodations: Space is limited. Most rooms are double occupancy, but a few are for singles, and another select few can sleep three. All rooms (shared and single) have a private bathroom, mini-fridge, microwave, and coffee station. If you are coming with a really good friend, there are two king suites that could potentially sleep two women to one bed, if you are okay with this it would allow us the opportunity to serve a couple more Hope Moms this year! Also, keep in mind that some Hope Moms who are attending the retreat may have been trying to conceive again after the loss of their child and could be pregnant at the retreat. If you are in a place where rooming with a Hope Mom who is pregnant would be very difficult for you, please let us know during registration. Requests are not guarantees, but we do try to accommodate all wishes that we are able to.

Theme: Abide. We’ll be looking at John 15 and what it means to be close to Jesus and abide in His word through suffering.

Verse: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
– John 15:1-9 ESV

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See what women have said about our past retreats:

If you’ve lost a baby and are considering the retreat, I’ll say this: the Hope Mommies Retreat was a transformational experience for my grief. Its impact on my life didn’t just last those three days. I took from that weekend encouraging words that will shape my thoughts all the days of my life as I walk the road of grief. I met friends who have suffered unimaginable losses and are seeking to bring their grief before Christ, fellow warriors who “get it” more than most. As I continue down this grief road, I look forward to returning to a retreat again in order to seek respite in this beautiful place where Abby and her mama are fully known and loved, where grief is completely acceptable, and where I listen even more carefully for how God wants to shape me along this difficult journey.
– Kristin Naylor
Hope Mom to Abby

That weekend I got to be Harrison’s mommy, not just Amanda. I loved every minute of it. I left that Sunday encouraged and reminded of God’s great love for us. Although I never asked to be on this journey, I know I do not have to do it alone. We serve a God who is good, merciful, strong, and always faithful. And I am one day closer to seeing my sweet boy again! I’ve prayed over and over and asked the Lord to use me and use my story. I believe this is just the beginning.
– Amanda Phillips
Hope Mom to Harrison

I think the best things I took away from the weekend were that I’m allowed to still be grieving, and that I need to give myself a break when I have bad days and to extend grace when I don’t respond the way I want to respond. God knew my children from before the beginning of time. His purposes for them were not thwarted in their death. And God still has a purpose for me, during my grieving and after my grieving. As much as He knows and loves my children, He knows and loves me. He has seen all the days that are still before me and I am never, ever alone. I went to the retreat with fifty-some strangers and left with fifty-some sisters.
– Erica Bushong
Hope Mom to Oliver and Emery