Believe it or not, I was an excellent student who always turned in her work on time. I probably would have had a panic attack if I got to school and realized that I was missing an assignment and would lose points due to it being turned in late.
Then, I became a mom. ;) It's January 1st and that means I should get going on my New Year's resolution--get caught up on 4 months worth of the blogs I owe you, my fellow MOPS moms. I know you'll forgive my tardiness, because you get it. The timing is perfect because both my husband and my mother-in-law are here entertaining the kids while I hide up in my bedroom, sipping my mint condition mocha from Caribou while furiously typing away...
...Never mind. I have a visitor already.
Ok, I think that's a sufficient amount of backstory and excuses... Let's get to it!
We kicked off our first meeting by playing a game. The rules were simple, if the statement read applied to you, you were supposed to stand up. Here are some of the things we asked:
Have you ever...
Studied abroad?
Eaten something you caught yourself?
Lost a valuable piece of jewelry?
Been to Alaska?
Owned your own business?
Come in 1st place?
Come in last and been proud that you were even in the
competition?
Been out with the kids and discovered at the worst moment you
are out of wipes?
Worked hard to make a delicious meal and then not one in your
family would eat it?
Spoken out in anger at your spouse or children and then felt
like a terrible mom?
Decided motherhood is actually downright hard?
Felt lonely after days of feeling shut in?
Wondered how to answer a question your child asks about God
or about life and why we are here?
Had those questions yourself and not known who you could talk
to?
Wanted
a community of women you could count on, who when you need to share, they would
get it, no matter how gross, how personal, how seemingly small but affecting
you so much?
Basically, the point of this fun little exercise was to help you find common ground with someone--a starting point for a conversation, and hopefully a starting point for a new friendship! Making new friends comes naturally to some and is much more challenging for others--and that's okay! In our group, we want to help you build relationships with each other and with Jesus. Motherhood can be a lonely, challenging time sometimes and we want MOPS to be a place where you feel welcome, loved, and free to share your thoughts and experiences with others--good or bad!
After the opening game, our main goal was to let you know what our group is all about, and how it runs. Brenda Boone, one of our co-coordinators, gave you all the information using a great analogy of how our group is like a village. I know there are several of you who missed the first meeting with all of this information, so here is what Brenda had to say on that first day:
You are in the right place! A common ground place to meet other
moms and grow and learn and share. See, when you come to MOPS, you are a part
of a community. A village. We are all moms and we all have things in common.
When you join our MOPS group, you are assigned to a table.
You sit at the same table (though it may be in a different spot in the room!)
throughout the year with the same women so you can get to know a small group of
women well. This is kind of like a neighborhood within a village. You are around
each other, you know what is happening in each other's lives, you help each
other out when needed. There is always a familiar face when you come. One of
the greatest gifts of MOPS is being able to come to the table and sit down with
moms who may do things or experience things very different from you but you can
share in this experience of parenting little ones and support each other
despite those differences.
Every table has a DISCUSSION GROUP LEADER, kind of your
neighborhood organizer. They will help you get to know one other and direct our
activities and discussions throughout the year. They will also organize
activities outside of our regular MOPS meetings so you can really get to know
each other and have longer conversations.
Also at your table is a MENTOR MOM. They are your seasoned,
more senior moms who have been through the trenches of early motherhood and they
are here to support and advise and love you. If you are ever having a tough
morning and you arrive and just need to change gears before the meeting, Mentors
Moms would be happy to pray with you!
Every meeting here at MOPS will be different. Sometimes we will
have a speaker or a topic we will focus on, sometimes we will be doing a craft
or an activity, sometimes working on a service project and sometimes just
relaxing and laughing together. Our hope is that you leave each meeting having
learned something, connected with someone, feeling inspired or more relaxed or even
with a plan for action. And always we will begin with a feast that we will take
turns hosting. Two tables at a time will host breakfast together and at each
meeting we will vote for the very best dish. The winner gets the highly coveted
Silver Spoon Award!
Overseeing our village are STEERING TEAM LEADERS and they
work together to plan and make our year happen. Each person also has their own
individual area they work on, including coordinators, service, publicity,
hospitality, finance, MOPPETS, creative activities, and discussion
leader/mentor mom coordinator. We are talented moms just like you who have
chosen to take on the challenge and joy of leading our MOPS. Are we all experts
at MOPS? No! Some of these ladies may be newer to MOPS and new to Steering. We
are all learning from our roles as we do them and we voluntarily spend many, many
hours to give you our best. If something is not quite right for you, we are the
ones we would like you to talk to. Please let us know and if you can, even
bring us an idea of what could help. This is OUR MOPS! If you ever need to speak with one of us, please
do!
When you entered the village, you paid $25 and that money
goes to MOPS International, which is kind of like paying your federal tax. MOPS
International is kind of like the country we belong to. They set the theme for
each year and they give us our structure and support and rules to play by. None
of that money stays in our village.
What we do instead to keep MOPS affordable to everyone is, we
have invited local businesses to support us. Our corporate sponsors you will
see on your tables and on our shirts and some of our flyers. You will even get
to meet some of them at one of our meetings or try some of their goods when we
do giveaways. We ask you to shop these businesses if you can as a way to show appreciation
for their support. The rest is up to us. We will be doing a couple big
fundraisers this year. As a part of our community, we really need everyone to
take ownership in these fundraisers because without them, we cannot have free
childcare for you and we cannot have our meetings. It is an important way to
help your village thrive.
Speaking of child care, MOPPETS is our program for your young
ones and we know it is often one of the first experiences for your child to
practice separating from you. We work hard to find qualified and loving workers
and many of our care providers have been helping us for a few years! MOPPETS is
one of our greatest expenses to our program as we pay our workers in order to
keep consistent faces in the rooms for your child to get comfortable with. Please
read the guidelines included in the handbooks you received. Also, please
understand that on occasion there will be times when we need extra help in the
rooms for various reasons. We want our children to always be safe and well
cared for, so if you are asked to help, please realize that we wouldn't ask if
we didn't have to and consider it just part of being part of this village.
The final thing I want to give you is this. Don't just come to
MOPS. Be a part of MOPS. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it.
Being here is important because you may have the words someone needs to hear
one morning, or you may be the one with the smile someone else needs to see.
You can make a difference, just by being here. So participate in the activities,
introduce yourself to people you do not know, bring breakfast when it’s your
turn and make an effort to attend the social events planned for outside of our
meeting times. When you are waiting in line for food or an activity, introduce
yourself to others you do not know! (Your baby is so cute! I love your scarf! I
don't think we've met... I think your child is in the same room as mine.)
Our theme for this year is We Are the Starry Eyed. The theme
comes from MOPS International and when you get signed up with them, you will
receive a packet in the mail with some goodies, including a devotional and some
other fun items. Our MOPS chooses to use the theme a little less than other
groups, putting together more of our personal ideas and using the feedback from
the end of year surveys each year. So, we use the theme to inspire our decorating
and then sprinkle it here and there in what we do.
The idea behind this year's theme of Starry Eyed is that we
are looking for light even when darkness is enveloping. We are encouraged to
live fully in both sunlight and moonlight and witness God's presence guiding
things seen and unseen, comfortable and uncomfortable. It’s seeing the light in
the darkness and choosing to live courageously in both. Opening our eyes to WONDER
and choosing HOPE over fear. Starry Eyed is significant acts of KINDNESS that
send ripples of light into the world. It is a choice to live fully and wholly
and to breathe our way back to life.
One thing we are going to do this year at each meeting is
sharing Starry Eyed Moments. We will put out a question or situation and if you
have a story about this, we have a prize for you! If you have the best story,
you win!
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* Typically, at the end of these blog posts, I will feature the Silver Spoon Award winner and their recipe and list any announcements you need to know for the next meeting. Since I'm playing catch-up, I decided it would be a good idea to combine all of the 2016 fall/winter award winning recipes in one blog post--to be completed soon (I hope). ;)
