In 2019 Alex’s Army held our first ever Couples Retreat. Alex’s mom & dad know firsthand the hardships that a marriage can go through when you have a child with a medical condition and they feel blessed to be able to provide an opportunity for other moms & dads to have a space to take time for each other. This event was formed to provide an opportunity for couples to come alongside other couples who know these challenges and also to provide a weekend away for reconnection, rest, and of course a little pampering! The weekend for couples includes a Couples Connect session which is an opportunity for the couples to meet and join in fellowship with each other, followed by a nice dinner and social time. There is ample free time also where couples have the opportunity to be pampered with a couples massage, take walks around the beautiful and tranquil paths of Poplar Springs Manor, spend time relaxing by the pool, and of course overnight accommodations as the Poplar Springs Inn.

Alex’s Army provides this event FREE for our moms & dads thanks to our generous donors and supporters! While we were unable to host this event in 2020-2021 due to COVID, we believe in the need for this event and it is our hope to be able to host this event annually as long as we are able.

If you’d like to make a donation to specifically support of our Couples Retreat events, please use the below donation link to do so. The cost of the weekend retreat for one couple is $400, a donation of that amount will sponsor a couple to attend OR a donation of any amount helps! All donations are greatly appreciated and will be allocated towards the continuation of providing this event for our families.

In 2022 we hosted an intimate group of 5 total couples, but wonderful all the same. Together the couples who were able come shared time to re-connect, spend time with other parents who know the marital challenges that come along with having a child who has had to fight cancer. The weekend was such a blessing to all!

Special thank you to Bernadette & Kevin, Connor’s mom and dad who helped make our 2022 retreat amazing!  To our dynamic duo of Alex’s Army Photographers – Raishad & Hollie – for once again capturing beautiful pics for our couples to take home and treasure. Thank you to Jennifer Goeller, Lily’s mama, at Cedar Lake Farm for donating the super sweet honey for our couples welcome baskets and to Lisa, Owner/Instructor at Yoga Shala (https://www.yogashala.life) for donating her time to lead a couples Yoga session Sunday morning! Thank you to Dr Suzanne Nixon at Integrative Counseling & Relationship Therapy, Inc. for her time in sharing some of her expertise in relationship counseling and to the always beautiful Poplar Springs Inn and Spa for helping us host a wonderful event yet again!

This past weekend was beautiful beyond words. Alex’s Army hosted our first ever Couples Retreat and we truly feel like it couldn’t have been any more perfect.

The couples, the conversations, the weather…all of it…every single part was absolutely perfect in every way.

Life leaves us broken at times and we don’t always understand the “why” when painful things happen. We can be left feeling alone…alone as individuals and alone in our marriages. But then there are people that God brings into our paths, not by coincidence. People to lift us up, to walk alongside us, to hold our hands, to listen, and to love us in our brokenness.

This weekend a common thread was finding the beauty amongst the pain, the light shining through the darkness. It was about marriage, family, healing, and new friendships – it was about faith, hope, and love.

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT