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Don't miss this opportunity to hear from renown adoption experts:
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DEBORAH GRAY
Deborah specializes in the attachment, grief, and trauma issues of children in her practice, Nurturing Attachments. Her methods of working with children and families reflect her strong developmental and infant mental health perspective. Her passion is to help families develop close, satisfying relationships. She has worked 20 years in children’s therapies. |
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DR. JULIA BLEDSOE
Julia Bledsoe, MD, is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, and is one of two staff pediatricians at the UW Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Diagnostic and Prevention Network in Seattle. She founded the Center for Adoption Medicine and has worked in the field of international adoption for over a decade. She provides pre-adoption consultations, post-placement evaluations, and ongoing general pediatric care for adopted children. She has traveled to orphanages in Romania, Russia, China, Guatemala, and Korea. She has two children who were adopted from Korea. |
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CLAUDIA FLETCHER
Claudia and her husband Bart, a United Methodist minister, are parents of 12 children. Their kids were born between 1986 and 1998, ten adopted domestically from the child welfare system and two adopted internationally from Guatemala. She is a former college administrator and has been working in the adoption field since 2002. She has served as a post-adoption support specialist for the State of Minnesota, an adoption worker for Permanent Family Resource Center and currently serves as a Family Life Advocate for Downey Side Families for Youth and as an Adoption Specialist for the Adopt America Network. She trains and speaks nationally to both parents and professionals. |
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GARY BENTON
Gary frequently is asked to present seminars on the topics
of: Managing Change in the Workplace, Improving Communication, Living With Teens, Developing a Vision and Mission, Dealing With Difficult and Angry Clients, Domestic Violence Treatment, Stress Reduction and Grief and Loss and more. He works at the national level with teachers on the topic of: Succeeding with the Difficult Young Child, and his workbook for parents of difficult and angry children, Firespitters, was published in 1999. |
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DR. RON RUTHRUFF
Ron lives and ministers in Seattle and has traveled extensively to better understand the plight of the hurting worldwide. His education is an eclectic blend of social work, counseling, and theological studies including a B.A. from Western Washington University, a M.S. from Pepperdine University, and a Doctorate of Ministry in Complex Urban Settings from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston. For his latest adventures check out Street Bean Espresso. |
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MADDY DAY
Maddy Day has worked in the field of foster care and adoption since 2003. She specializes in transracial parenting and working with children through grief and loss. Maddy received her Master's of Social Work in 2011 from the University of Washington and currently serves as the YFC Foster Care Director for Youth for Christ Seattle-Metro. |
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MIKE HOWERTON
Mike is an adoptive parent and lead pastor at Overlake Christian Church. He's quick to say he loves Jesus, and hates "churchy." With that in mind, Overlake is forming a church family that isn't churchy, but loving. Most people think that church is boring, but Mike believes the most powerful, dynamic, loving, impactful moments of your week ought to happen while intentionally focusing on God, whether at church or anywhere else. He's a big God... If you're bored, it isn't God you're focused on...
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JOSH MCQUEEN
Josh McQueen is a pastor on the Serve the World team at Overlake Christian Church. He has been married to his wife Neely for over 13 years, and they have three beautiful, high-energy children Simeon, Bethlehem (adopted from Ethiopia), and Jedidiah who are to blame for their big smiles and sleepy eyes.
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JOHN STEARNS
John has been the worship pastor at Overlake Christian Church since March of 2011. The Refresh Conference is ecstatic to announce that John and his team will lead our worship sessions! John believes “worship” is a fully surrendered life to the will of God through Jesus Christ (Romans 12:1&2), and that will be evident throughout our sessions. |
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LISA QUALLS
Lisa Qualls is the mother of eleven children ranging in age from 24 to four. Her adoption journey has been marked by many joys as well as challenges of trauma and attachment. She earnestly believes in the power of God to heal children’s broken hearts and wounded minds, and is privileged to participate in that process with her children. Lisa writes and speaks for Empowered to Connect and writes the blog, One Big Thankful Mom. |
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KATHLEEN HAMER
Kathleen Hamer has been married to her very best friend for almost 35 years and is the mother of 5 children (2 sons adopted from Kenya over 7 years ago) and one darling daughter in law. Kathleen has her masters in marriage, family and child counseling but mostly has used her gifts in ministry working with at-risk kids from Orange County, CA to Kenya. The entire Hamer family is passionate about Africa, orphans and street children, helping churches around the world expand their capacity for caring for the orphans in their community, and serving God wherever He calls us.
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Experience a time of refreshment and reembrace the call of God... |
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We will accept walk-ins at the Information Center from
5–6pm Friday and
Saturday morning starting at 8am.
We look forward to seeing you there!
How Registration Works:
The Refresh Conference has partnered with its host church, Overlake Christian Church, for registration. When you click the link below, a new window will open to create/sign into your account. It only takes two minutes, and will allow you to securely enter your registration info. We look forward to seeing you in January!
How Volunteering Works:
The Refresh Conference has partnered with its host church, Overlake Christian Church, for volunteer registration. When you click the link below, a new window will open to create/sign into your account. It only takes two minutes, and will allow you to securely enter your info. We look forward to seeing you in January!
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