Dear Friends of Tapestry,

We are pleased to announce Ryan North as the new Director of Tapestry. He started his new position on August 1, and hit the ground running working on this year’s Tapestry Conference.

Ryan and his wife Kayla have been part of the Tapestry community for nearly seven years, and have been serving on the Tapestry Leadership Team since early 2013. We believe they will help lead Tapestry in a new and exciting directions as we continue to connect, encourage, and equip adoptive and foster families — and resource other churches to do the same.

We have spent the past couple of months with Ryan and Kayla planning for the future of this ministry, and we are confident that Ryan can effectively lead Tapestry forward as we strive to execute an ambitious multi-year ministry plan. At the same time, we plan to continue to serve and help lead the ministry alongside Ryan and Kayla.

Please pray for Ryan, Kayla, and their family during this time of transition, and please continue to pray for Tapestry during this important time.

Blessings,

Michael & Amy Monroe

Here are a few words from Ryan.

What is a tapestry? One source defines it as “a fabric woven together by hand to produce a rich and complex design, often consisting of multi-colored threads”. Come to think of it, that’s a pretty good definition of my family.

We have six kids and have fostered many more over the last decade. Some of those placements have stayed for a few weeks while others have been in our home for years. I have been asked many times why we chose this for our family and my answer is always the same — it’s what God has equipped us to do.

We have learned over the years that the only way to parent our kids well, to parent them in a way that promotes healing for their relational wounds and allows them to develop into the people God made them to be, is to have the love and support of people who are trying to do the same. We were made to live in relationship with each other, God didn’t make us for isolation.

Even more than the understanding and support of like-minded people, we have found the training, equipping, and encouragement we have needed over the years through Tapestry. I can’t imagine what our family would be like if we hadn’t been given the insights, principles, and strategies we learned through Tapestry.  These have been the foundation and the tools that we have used every day with our kids, and they have helped to change not only them but us as well.

I am thrilled with the opportunity to lead this ministry that has helped so many families just like ours. I am excited to lead Tapestry forward toward new initiatives and plans, as well as the chance to complete some of the exciting projects that are close to seeing the light of day.

This ministry remains focused on serving families along the adoption and foster care journey, the way it has been doing for almost a decade. No matter where families find themselves along the journey – from considering to waiting, to celebrating many years or many placements – our goal is to meet the needs of adoptive and foster families.

At Tapestry we frame everything we do in terms of Real and Hope…because the true sweet spot of parenting is found in that place between extreme reality and nothing but hope. All real and no hope can be hard and often too great a load to carry, causing families to buckle under its weight. All hope and no real can leave families with overly romantic ideas about the journey and unrealistic expectations for the future. We believe that families need Real Hope, and this is why it is our privilege to connect, encourage, and equip families on the adoption and foster care journey.

We are excited about what lies ahead and proud to be a part of this ministry that has helped so many families over the years.

God bless you,

Ryan and Kayla North